A whopping 92% of small business owners believe that social media is essential to their businesses in terms of brand awareness, customer engagement, and community building. In short, it will grow one’s bottom line. But combine that with websites and e-commerce sites, and businesses will bloom and reach their potentials. Some may even far exceed what their owners had in mind for them.
While you already know that social media will raise awareness about your brand, many don’t understand how to use it to drive traffic to their websites. Because as much as social media is important, so does organic website visits and e-commerce sales. No matter how engaged your customers are on Facebook, that means nothing for your business if they don’t visit and buy from your e-commerce site.
If you’re new to social media for business, you might constrict yourself to a few options such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. But there are other platforms through which you can reach your audience. Pinterest is a great way to share visual content, while TikTok can document behind-the-scenes of your business through short video snippets. Reddit will improve your knowledge of what customers want. It will also help you engage with your community. Any one of these platforms will help drive traffic to your website if you know how.
Optimize Your Profiles
The first thing that social media users will notice about your business is your profile. When they arrive on your profile page, they will look at the “biography” or “about us” portions. Use this opportunity to provide the URL address of your website. Link your social media profile to the website. Aside from that, use relevant keywords on your biographies to attract people to your profile.
The buck doesn’t stop there, however. Once the customers are on your website or online store, they should want to continue navigating the site. How can you assure that? The simplest way is to use eCommerce SEO services. This way, every aspect of the website will be geared toward encouraging sales and customer engagement.
Engage with the Target Audience Consistently
How many times in a day do you speak with your target audience? If you can count it, then you are not doing enough. Do you know that a million followers do not do brands good if the followers are not engaged? What good will it do you if you have a million followers but only a handful of them read, share, like, and comment on your social media posts?
A highly engaged audience is one that you can also persuade and encourage to check out other aspects of your business, such as the website and online store. When they learn to listen to you because you take the time to exchange with them, a rapport is built between you. That is a golden opportunity to give them a link to your website. And because they trust you enough, they wouldn’t think twice about giving the site the time of their day.
Post Content Regularly
Similar to engagement, if you can count the number of times you post in a week on the one hand, then you are not doing it enough. As a general rule, post 15 tweets a day on Twitter, one post daily on Facebook, and one to two posts per day on Instagram. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, so you can be more active on Instagram if that’s where most of your followers are. But since Facebook has more than 2.7 billion active users, you should probably never underestimate that platform.
Don’t Be Afraid to Advertise
Subtle advertising works, but why are you afraid of advertising your website? Why is it so wrong to ask your followers and target audience to visit your website? Is something amiss on your website? You’ve spent thousands of dollars on it. You created content that targets your audience, so why not ask them directly to give your site a tour?
Collaborate with Influencers
Influencer marketing is a key business strategy because they have the power over their followers. One post on social media asking followers to check out your website will generate many unique visits to your site. It is essential, however, to find the right influencer for your business. You need to look for someone who will reflect the values of your brand. Stay away from online celebrities and influencers who might raise questions about the integrity of your brand.
While there is nothing wrong with focusing on your social media presence, you should also use that opportunity to shine a light on your website. At the end of the day, website and e-commerce sites stand to be the best representation of who you are as a brand. They show your brand’s personality through colors, layout, and themes.
