What are the best ways to direct more traffic to your social media sites?
I manage the social media sites for a start up event planning, design, and catering company. The social media presence for the company has improved, but is not where we want it to be. Any suggestions?
Expert Answers
Sort by Date
Sort by Votes
May 15, 2014
For better traffic try to publish unique content on your website. Do local search engine optimization in which you have to target local keywords Or you can buy traffic from some expert on SEOclerks.
Jan 30, 2014
Lots of good points here! I'd just start by saying build a culture of championship; this is through the right content. Try to limit the discounts and freebies while doing this - you want to get relevant, high quality followers. Networking offline in the right people and directing people through conversation and business cards, helps.
Dec 8, 2013
One great thing it to go out and find local businesses and groups on Twitter or Facebook and like or follow their page. Find news, radio, organizations, local businesses, museums, and other groups for your business to follow or like (add all of them in your area). This gets your name out there in other ways besides just adding content, you want to be seen on other pages as well. Plus, many people will follow and like your page out of respect.
Try to avoid negative Twitter or Facebook pages that are made to be against a business or groups because it gives you a bad reputation even if you do agree with them.
Aug 18, 2013
What do you mean the social media presence has improved?
How are you measuring success? What was your goal with your social medial efforts?
Are you using Social media to BUILD YOUR PROSPECT LIST? Can you measure/track initial engagement to conversion?
I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like you have not established specific goals for your clients social media efforts.
Social media sites are marketing tools... a means to an end not the end.
Having thousands of likes on Facebook or thousands of followers on Twitter means nothing unless you can convert a good percentage of them into PAYING CUSTOMERS. That should be the END GOAL.
Aug 18, 2013
Blog frequently providing information of value for your customers and prospects. The more you blog, using keywords, the more pages your website will have which will generate more traffic, leads and sales.
Aug 18, 2013
Aren't you looking at this backwards? Social media attracts individuals, So you rely on those individuals to spread the word about your site. A small theater company I know used Pinterest to post a pic. of their latest show poster, then offered a 50% discount on tickets for those that shared the picture on their facebook accounts. This linked directly to their show and event page.
Aug 17, 2013
By steadily adding value to your community, garnering engagement with your business niche authority players, understanding your customers needs, wants, desires and most importantly being where they hangout.
Rome wasn't built in a day is an old cliche but is apropos in building a strong following.
Aug 16, 2013
Have both share & follow buttons on your website. Post not just your content, but content from industry experts & influencers. Think like your target market. What would they like to see? Upload pictures. They get a lot of action. Videos also. Thank people for liking. "Like" other related or partner businesses with your FB page not as an individual. When you're in FB as your page, click on "Home" and you'll see the news feed of all the pages you've liked as your page. Share, like & comment to their posts and you'll get noticed. Note: When another page likes your page, it doesn't count as a "Like".
Giselle
Aug 16, 2013
All of the advice given thus far is excellent, you have to cross promote, generate content that stimulates engagement and must importantly interact with your audience. Social Media is all about two-way conversations!
I am not sure what platform your client is using for their newsletters, but Constant Contact has a great offering called Social Campaigns (http://www.constantcontact.com/social-campaigns) that is designed specifically to help increase one's Facebook presence.
It may be worth it to check it out!
Aug 16, 2013
Get involved with and participate in groups by posing and answering questions. Build the number of people you engage with by actively promoting likes on Face book and by beginning relationships any way you can. In your business which can have a large visual context I suggest getting involved with Pinterest.
Just as involvement leads to Trust in personal networking and sales, the same is true on line.
Aug 16, 2013
Social Media should create a Buzz and be used to keep your customers up to date on events and happenings. Engaging your customers is key, I personally like contests. Some sights have trivia, news stations have people posting video, others have designing logos, voting for the best. participation and interaction is key.
Aug 16, 2013
Agree with most comments here - I tend to look at this the other way round.
For me the point of social media is a mechanism to bring people to you, not the place to build a presence as it were. I look at it through three lenses - PR (content to communicate a message) branding (where you create content to illustrate your point of difference) or inbound marketing (where you create useful SEO-oriented content that adds value to your audience).
Generally I'd use social to find and engage people but the aim is to be building a solid base of customers who connect with you direct, not necessarily a large list of followers, likes etc.
Aug 15, 2013
Cross promote the different sites. If there is a Facebook page, occasionally mention the Twitter or LinkedIn account. If they follow the one, it should carry over to the others. A couple time a week is more than enough, so you don't loose connections, likes or followers. And schedule your posts so people can expect your posts. 2- 6 times a day on most platforms doesn't over burden them or you.
Aug 15, 2013
A few things:
Engaging content and don't over do it! If someone or a business posts multiple things back to back to back, I have a tendency to just scroll past their posts. I don't want to be bombarded.
Also, timing and relevancy are key factors, but so is the human element! Don't have your posts be too staunch or 'corporate'. A little humor and wit goes a long, LONG way!
Aug 15, 2013
Content is king! Give your audience the engaging content at the right time. You need to study the analytics (where available) from your chosen social media account and use it in creating your social media calendar.
As with all marketing, social media takes time. So you need to stick to it. You don't necessarily need to be on all social networks... chose the ones that you're engaging most with your audience and stick with that.
Aug 15, 2013
Social media is not only about how you engage your audience, but where you engage them - do the sm sites you spend time on fit your business? In other words, if you're B2C oriented, Facebook and Pinterest are 2 great platforms to reach your demographic. If you're B2B, then Twitter or Google+ are better for you. LinkedIn is great for all business! Most of these sites have groups you can join that are specific to your industry, which is a great way to refine your target demographic. Posting content to these groups (both shared and original), commenting on other posts and inviting them to connect (on LinkedIn) will definitely strengthen your engagement and attract them.
Aug 15, 2013
Interactivity is a two way street. Doing all the basic things -- including a mention of your Facebook (or whatever) in all your advertising, business cards, packaging, etc -- will bring traffic, but getting repeat attention depends on you doing regular updates to your page.
Offer coupons on there that are not available anywhere else. Run polls asking people to choose their favorites between your offerings...maybe even do a tournament pitting the doughnuts against the bearclaws and the cupcakes vs. cookies.
Chuck in the kitchen messes up the decoration on a cake? Tell people that if they come in and say "You've gotta do better Chuck!" they'll get a free piece of the messed up cake that you were going to throw away.
Tell funny bakery stories. "This one time, Chuck had to go to the doctor because he plugged his ear with icing when he..."
Put a tablet up on the counter running your Twitter feed so people can see messages as they come in...even encourage happy customers to use that tablet to post happy comments right then and there for a free cookie.
Whatever. Just be there as often as possible, be as creative as possible, and use common sense. What could a business do online that would make you think happy thoughts about them? Do that. A lot.
Aug 15, 2013
Many people think that, as a business, G+ is becoming more and more important. Of course you interact often (everyday may drive people away in my experience, but a few times per week) and you offer good content or compelling reasons for an audience to share your content, i.e. prizes, etc...
The reason I mention G+ is because Google search rankings are taking into account social media more and more, and G+ has shown a positive correlation between interaction and improving one's position in their search rankings, an important source more many businesses incoming leads. Hope that helps.
Aug 15, 2013
There are lots of tactics to get the traffic via social media. I hope below article will help you.
http://www.quicksprout.com/2013/08/15/7-simple-yet-effective-social-media-tactics-you-should-leverage-today/
Aug 14, 2013
Some great advice above. We are a small company and find it very hard to keep up with all the different SM sites. It is a full time job if you want to do it properly.
Aug 16, 2013
Paul.. you are right that it is a full time job. There are many companies that can manage it for you. Some have a dashboard that you can schedule you post months in advance.
Jan 30, 2014
True, Jennifer. Outsourcing social media is your best bet for doing it well with all small businesses have to joggle - and yes it's worth the cost even if it takes time to grow a relevant community. Choosing the right consultant or manager to outsource to is important. Find someone who 1. talks about metrics (KPI) in a meaningful way, 2. ties decisions to business goals, 3. Doesn't promise thousands of leads/followers in a short time. 4. Has similar temperament, schedule availability and business values. 5. Speak your language - you need to understand when they explain things.
Matthew ~
So creative! As someone who manages inbound marketing. branding, and a wealth of content development/social media engagement for clients, I appreciate all the suggestions on here, and: yours adds that extra dollop of usefulness. Stories in all media are a superb way to connect. It's what humanizes us — and our businesses. Thanks!