Would you like to have more visitors to your website?  The more traffic you have to your website, the higher your business will rank on Google, leading to more clicks, exposure, and sales.  Instead of wasting money on costly Google ad words, try using your business social media profiles to help direct customers to your website.  Here are five ways you can use social media to drive more traffic to your website.

1.     Offer a promotion – If you’re offering a promotion, sale, or coupon, be sure to announce it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Include a link in your post that directs them to your webpage where they can claim their coupon, discount code, etc.  Make the call to action very clear in the post (Click here to get your discount code) and don’t forget to mention the expiration date or sale date to create a sense of urgency.

2.     Share your blog – Does your website have a blog?  Blogs are a great way to share updates with your customers weekly or monthly.  People like to know what’s new with your business.  What new products do you have this season?  Has your staff recently gone through training?  What educational tips can you share with your followers?  Plus, updating your website periodically keeps your website fresh.  Google likes websites that are constantly updating which also helps with your ranking.  So go ahead and share that link to your blog on social media too.

3.     Run a contest – Get creative with fun contests.  Engage with your fans by offering a giveaway and direct them to your website for rules or to enter.  It could be as simple as entering their name and email into a signup box, or submitting a photo using your product/service for a photo contest. I once had a client run a contest where they asked a trivia question on social media and said the answer could be found on their website.  Needless to say, their website traffic grew immensely that month.

4.     Share events – If your website has a calendar of events, share the link to your social media so your followers can get more information or register for that event.

5.     Social Media Ads – A guaranteed way to get more visitors to your website through social media is to pay for it.  Facebook, Instagram, Twiter, etc allow you to run ads on social media with the objective to get website clicks.  For example, you can choose to:

• Grow Sales – Get people to complete transactions on your website.
• Get any action you want – You can define the action you want, from visiting your site multiple times to adding something to their cart.
• Increase traffic – Encourage people to visit a specific page or your website in general.

Lean more about Facebook advertising.  How much are you willing to spend on social media marketing?  According to The Next Web, a study revealed that the average business spends 9.4% of its marketing budget on social media. That number is expected to grow to 13.2% over the next year, and to 21.4% over the next five years.

With the holidays coming up, now would be a good time to really ramp up your online presence.  Social media can be a great tool to grow your website traffic and increase sales.  Remember to measure your efforts so you know what tactics work best.  What ways has your business increased website traffic? Share your comments below.