Make customers happy. Sell more. Those are every business’s main goals. But for both things to happen, real connections with your target audience must take place. Where can you go to foster these relationships? Social media. Here’s a look at three of the biggest social channels, and how you can use them to get more website hits.

Facebook

Facebook is the old standby in social media, but the platform is constantly changing. Aside from regularly updated algorithms in an effort to give users more of the content they want (and less of what annoys them), new ways to advertise keep popping up too. If you want to get people to your website, Facebook ads are a sure bet.

Don’t want to go the official ad route? No problem. You can still set up your Facebook page to maximize the odds that eyeballs will be routed to your site. Analyze the content you’re currently placing.

• Is it valuable to a potential buyer?
• Is it engaging?
• Is it visually appealing?

If not, strive to make all posts fit this criteria. The better the content, the more likely your customer base is to share your posts.

Make content on your website (blog posts in particular) easily shareable through Facebook and other social sites. The easier it is to click a button and repost an article, the better the odds of them doing it.

Twitter

You have 140 characters or less to get your messages out. The biggest secret: avoid being overly promotional. If all your tweets tout your products or services, you’ll lose followers and irritate the ones you keep. Instead, be a resource to those following you.

Lifelock is a good example of a company that does this well. By posting usable information about identity theft and commenting on timely news items, followers get value from reading tweets. Furthermore, Lifelock’s Twitter page also includes links back to specific pages of the business’s website. If you want to get people to look at your website, do the same. A link to your home page isn’t enough. Instead, tweet a link to your FAQs with a teaser; readers will want to know the answer and can click to discover it. If you tweet a link to a recent blog post, be specific and share website links.

Pinterest

It can be tough to come up with a marketing strategy that involves Pinterest. After all, many people just spend hours gazing at the site with no real motivation to take any action. But if you treat it as exactly what it is – a source of inspiration – you can gain traffic from the image-centric site. Create a “Blog Board,” where you pin a short synopsis of your latest blog post along with an image and link to the post. Soon enough, you’ll have an eye-catching and inspirational board with fans all its own. Or start a lifestyle board aligned with your industry. If you own pizza shop, create boards dedicated to the lifestyles of the people most likely to consume your food – sports fans, college students or couples on date night. The types of images you post will likely resonate with some of your target audience, and your Pinterest boards and website will benefit too.

When you want to drive more traffic to your website, don’t discount the power of your social media. Find creative ways to use Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to connect with your buyers, and you’ll see sales as a result.

Contact us if you want help growing your business.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also want to check out these others:

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4 Simple Ideas to Achieve Marketing Success
5 Social Media Mistakes That Will Get You Unfriended/Unfollowed
5 Tips to Get More Visitors to Your Website
7 Steps to Help Your Business “Get Found” on the Web
15 Website Mistakes You Should Avoid (Part 1)
Is There Still Gold in Cold Calling

This article is published by Will Sherwood | The Sherwood Group |Website Design | Graphic Design | Marketing Communications: The Sherwood Group has over 30 years of experience working with all sorts of companies, small and large. Our clients range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 firms, in nearly every business sector, from across the street to around the world (and yes, even Europe, China, and South America). Our goal is to create advertising,  graphic design, website design, and marketing communication that still looks fresh and relevant 10-15 years later. Our mission is to stir your imagination and leave your competition shaken and wondering,  Now what do we do?”  We are located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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