10 time-tested tips to grow website traffic using social media | B2B Tips

Nowadays, more and more people are using social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Twitter to find new websites, companies, and products that they may be interested. 

With the right approach, you can grow your website traffic by 10, 20, or even 100% or more.

So, how did we manage to grow this technology company’s social media web traffic soar to 1,161%? Oh, it even surpassed web traffic brought by paid ads! We have the tips below.

Now, if you are looking for the secret sauce to our social media strategy to grow organic traffic using social media channels, you won’t find it here. There is simply none.

Note: This blog post is part two of a two-part series on growing website traffic using social media networks. Part 1 of this blog article on inbound traffic is all about preparation; this last piece of blog content is on the tedious day to day details that we need to do.

10 Tips to grow website traffic exponentially using social media

Using social media profiles may seem like a fad to some; there are few that have been around long enough for your company to establish a presence there.

And as the saying goes, the more you put into something, the more you get out of it. It’s true of gardening, it’s true of fundraising, and it’s true about growing your social media networks.

If you want to get more traffic back to your website through social channels, you need to work at it.

While social media marketing is a great way to increase social media traffic, it isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Here are some tips on how to use social media platforms to help you grow your website traffic exponentially.

10 Tips to grow website traffic using social media marketing

Create and share posts that your audience likes | Tip 1

Think: What is in it for them?

How do you figure out the “your-audience-like” part?

You do not need a crystal ball for this. You can use social media analytics and insights that are available at your fingertips.

Note, however, before your head spins when staring at ANY social media metrics (because there will be a LOT), only look on the KEY METRICS that matters to your business.

We sometimes call it as key performance indicators (KPI). It’s your success metrics.

Note: You can find out more social media metrics here: 65 Top social media metrics to match your business goals or objectives

For instance, if we are trying to use social media’s traffic referrals, then I’d look at clicks and visits. Google Analytics has a way of showing you the source of traffic from a social media platform that leads to your site.

For social media posts and if customer engagement to a post is essential, then look at audience engagement. 

Facebook

Look for posts with high engagement rate.

It is a Facebook metric implying that your audience demographics like the post and you should, therefore, consider posting more of it.

Where to find your audience engagement rate?

Go inside Facebook business page:

1. Click, Insights
2. Click, Posts
3. Then you will see your “All Posts published” dialog box.
4. Click the grey drop down button in “Reactions, Comments & Shares”
5. Select “Engagement Rate” (Same location as #4 but you have to click the grey drop-down arrow).

(Note: This is how the Facebook Page Insights look like. But by end of June 2021, this will probably look different).

Google Business Profile

Note: Google+ was shut down by Google on April 2, 2019.
Google My Business is your alternative now. As of 2022, Google My Business is now called Google Business Profile.

UPDATE: Although Google+ Insights data is no longer available to us Google+ users, the post format engagement for these types formats is consistent with other platforms.
Google+ Insights is not as rich as Facebook’s.  I would test the type of format that gets more engagement.
Like the image below, what type of post do you think would we be sharing often?

Although the report is already gone, from micro-testing that we are doing, images still get a lot of engagements.

Google Business Profile has metrics dashboard now like the above.

Twitter

Check the tweets that are getting a lot of engagement by checking the its Analytics dashboard.

Look at Twitter Analytics’ highlights section. 

See which media and posts are getting a lot of engagement and shares.

Also, check the engagement rate.

Repost those types of content with links back to your landing page, a blog or a product/service page, if relevant.

Pinterest

Of all social media platforms, Pinterest is the one that is not stingy in getting your company or brand get seen shown more. So, if you are new, do not disregard Pinterest.

Pinterest has rich analytics that you can use to your advantage.

So finding out what your audience likes, check what your followers click and save often by checking analytics for Pinterest.

Google analytics

Sometimes you don’t have to go through the social media channels’ insights or analytics to find out what is getting engagement or clicks. Just go to Google Analytics to do this.

So how do you find out what social media platform brought traffic to your site and through what link?

In Google Analytics:

1. Select, “Acquisition.”
2. Under “All Traffic”, select “Referrals.”
3. Click, “Source” tab; and then click the secondary dimension drop-down button. Then select “Acquisition” and then select “Medium.”
4. Then click the “Landing Page” tab; and then in the secondary dimension drop-down button, select “Social” and select “Social Network.”
5. You will find a list of all social networks that brought traffic to your site.

For the above tips, note that data change often.

Information you gather today is not set on stone; hence, check it regularly.

Add a link on your social platforms’ bio that will lead a person to a web page | Tip 2

You see, the link does not have to be your homepage.

The link can be a product page, promotional page, home page, or other website URLs that can be relevant to your target audience and important to you.

If using Instagram, where do you add a link?

• bio (this is clickable)
• post description (add a bit.ly URL, not clickable)
• product tags for online shops (clickable)
• Instagram ad (clickable)
• Instagram story (clickable. Note: must have 10K followers or account is verified)

When sharing website links on social channels to get referral traffic, remember these:

1. If you are going to leave the link in a place where it is not clickable and you would use bit.ly, it is important to keep the link short and memorable.
   Not like this: thisismywebsite[dot]com/gohere/likeit/download/please/123y708uyh/soclicknow.
   
2. Also, this is not an ideal website link structure for you if you want to grow traffic to your site using social media. Well, basically even if we take social media out of the conversation: yourwebsite[dot]someoneswebsite[dot]com. If sharing that on social media, the social media referral traffic goes to someoneswebsite[dot]com not yours. That kind of link will not help you if one of your goals is to grow website traffic to your site using social media. However, if a link to your site is embedded in that page then, by all means, share away!
3. If you ask me what is the best link you’d put in your bio, I’ll say there is no perfect answer to that. I’d ask you this: “Of all the links you own, which would contribute to your goal at the moment?”

Add link to your social media posts if appropriate and if there is space | Tip 3

If you want your social media users and potential customers to visit your site to grow referral traffic to your site, then remember to add links to your social posts.

Here, I am not just referring to your bio but to your company information.

Here is one situation.

On Facebook, whenever companies change their cover photo, they often forget also to include texts and links in the description or caption section of the cover image. And to me, that is a wasted space and opportunity.

It appears on the news feed so your fans and followers are notified whenever you change your cover photo. The link in the description or caption section is always clickable, or live, so use it.

See how LMTOnsrud did theirs? It is PERFECT. Crisp cover photo with a link to their website.

Make it easy for others to social media platform any piece of content from your website |Tip 4

There are two kinds of social media buttons that your website should have.

1. The social profile buttons – that takes your audience from your website to your social media profiles.
2. The social share buttons – these are social media buttons that enable us to share a page or a blog to our social media sites.

I have seen businesses that are having only the follow buttons but not the social sharing buttons.

Wait a minute, aren’t we supposed to drive people TO the website FROM social media channels, instead of the other way around?

This may seem contradictory to what this blog is about; but why in the world am I saying this? Bear with me.

You see, this tactic actually works two-ways.

When people visit your site, they might see a post they would like to share to THEIR followers so their followers could visit your site too and check it out.

Now, how could they share it if you do not have social sharing buttons on your site? You see what I mean here?

I highly recommend that you install the social share buttons if you haven’t done this yet.

Check out social sharing plugins like:

1. Jetpack
2. Add this
3. Social Warfare
4. Pin button
5. Novashare
6. Easy Social Share
7. AddToAny
8. Click to Tweet

If you are wondering which social sharing button I use, that would be #3.

Publish a good ratio of social media posts with relevant link back to your website consistently | Tip 5

As an example, if you aim to share three social posts per day on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, make sure that you have at least one post with link back to your site.

You might ask, “How MANY links from your website should you post consistently?” Some say use ratios like 70/30, 80/20, etc.

But there is no perfect answer to that.

There are variables we check, including usefulness and mindfulness. We look at volume, relevance, available for your social media strategist and many more.

Test the performance of your social posts by going over the data. Look at what people what is getting a lot of engagement.

Repurpose your content | Tip 6

When I say re-purpose, I do not mean cross-posting it.

Repurposing content means using a content that you own, like a blog or a sales page, or a sales sheet by recycling it into different formats or content types to share on social networks.

Here is an example of a repurposed blog for home sellers:

Ways to repurpose content:

Note: Check out more information here on how to repurpose content for your company: “72 Genius Ideas to Repurpose Your Content.”

• Click to tweet. Get a quote from your blog that is relevant. 
  Social media platform: Twitter
• Quote or Tip on Image. My favorite. 🙂
  Social media networks: Twitter, Google My Business, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. Also, note to optimize image dimensions according to the social media platform because it varies.
• Infographic
  Social media networks: Pinterest, Google My Business, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. You can even go further by slicing and dicing a long infographic into several sections to post other social media platforms. 
• Slides
  Social media networks: SlideShare and Facebook Also, you can slice and dice it to different images.
• Video
  Social Media networks: YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook video, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google My Business.
  You can even convert your slides to a video.
• Podcast

Note timing when posting on social media channels | Tip 7

According to Benjamin Rey of Wisemetrics on tweets:

You have a window of less than 30 minutes to get user engagement on Twitter, then your Twitter post gets buried by other fresher content.

That information is from a recent study. Also, I did a quick test of that study one Friday morning when my audience was actively engaging on Twitter.

It truly is only under 30 minutes. 🙁

When sharing the SAME post from your website to the same social media platform, spread out the schedule of within the day.

Also, using any of your favorite social media management tools, you can set it up as a recurring social post.

If you need to post a time-sensitive news or information as social media content within the same day, post it in segments of time, say, morning, afternoon, or nighttime.

Add your social media link to your traditional marketing collaterals and other digital assets | Tip 8

Don’t forget telling your email subscribers to follow and to connect with you on your social media accounts.

Always have it on your email signature.

For your marketing slicks (list or brochure), my suggestion is to put only the logo of the social media platforms [a lot of businesses do this] in the marketing slicks if the company name and social media name is the same.

However, if your social media network’s name differs from one social media site to the next [which happens!], then add the short name next to the social media icon.

Scale inbound marketing traffic by running social media advertising | Tip 9

All the tips I have mentioned up to this point are all organic; this one is not.

As the digital marketing space is getting crowded more and more, running content promotion by running social media ads on either Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter makes absolute perfect sense.

Truth be told, you can only do so much with organic (zero-ads) social media marketing. It is difficult, nowadays, to stand out and get qualified traffic to your site in such a crowded space.

If you are dead serious about getting your company seen out there as your social media goal, make it a decision to include content promotion and advertising in your social media strategy.

Compliment organic social media marketing with a social media ads.

If you are new to Facebook advertising, check this blog. But if you need help, to get your social media advertising going, let us know.

Keep it natural | Tip 10

I know we are all busy so we want things done fast but don’t just drop a link from a blog post or your sales pages as social media posts. it as post. 

Let your potential leads or audience know what it is about. 

Don’t assume that they will click it or read it. Many won’t.

This is one of the reasons we look at analytics tools (see tip number 1).

And that is, of course, to know the relevant content that your audience like and to keep publishing or creating that type of content. 

You see, our audience can help move the needle to get clicks and referral traffic to your site if you give them the right content.

Ready to Grow Traffic to Your Site Using Social Media?

It’s no secret that social media can help boost website traffic.

In fact, more than 800 million people use Facebook to connect to their friends and family, and another 200 million use Twitter for the same purpose.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, using social media to get more website traffic is a great way to boost your site’s visibility.

That’s because social media allows you to enter the conversations that are already happening on the Internet.

By sharing something valuable on a relevant social media network, you’re more likely to get noticed by the people who are already talking about the topic you’re addressing.

Additionally, by using social media to reach out to your audience, you’ll be able to listen to their feedback and find new insights on how to make your site even better.

If you are one of those businesses that need help to grow website traffic using social media, check out how we can help you with our services. Give us a call.