Google loves to see active, engaging web pages and one of the most effective ways of encouraging potential customers to visit your website is through social media.
According to figures from Statista, in the UK we spend around one hour and 49 minutes every day on social media, although some scroll for much longer… But, it does show that utilising social media within your marketing is a good way to engage with customers and potential customers. If you can then encourage your social media followers to click over to your website to find out more, sign up to your newsletter or, better still, make a purchase, then that’s good news.
Social media allows you to interact directly with your audience, ask (and answer) questions and address concerns. This can increase brand trust and loyalty, leading to more website visits. By sharing content and links to your website on social media platforms, you can drive traffic to your site and this traffic will come from users who might not have discovered your website through search engines alone. As we explain to our clients at Target Ink, an active website is not just about good on-page SEO. It comes down to a combined effort – with active marketing, including social media driving traffic your website as well.
The first question clients ask us is which social media platform should they opt for, as there seem to be so many out there from LinkedIn and Facebook to TikTok and Instagram.
We asked Lucy Ames from Smartist Social Media – one of a team of local creatives who work closely with us at Target Ink and she says:
“Not every social media platform is right for every business. The key to thinking about this is to define your target audience and then look at where those people ‘hang out’ based on their age, interests and focus.”
Once you’ve decided which social media platforms to utilise, it’s sensible to create a social media content strategy. We’ve written in previous blogs about ideas for creating content and ways to populate your social media planner but you do need to take a step back first. Think about your target audience and what it is you want to achieve.
In a previous blog, we talked about creating a social media strategy in the same way as an editor would plan content for a magazine. You wouldn’t want to buy a journal full of advertisements. Instead, you need a variety of content and that’s the same on social media.
“Without a social media strategy and plan, posting is generally inconsistent and posted irregularly,” Lucy Ames explains. “Because of this, the brand message is not communicated clearly or effectively. Your desired end customer is either confused about what you offer or have forgotten your brand exists so don’t know where to buy it.”
Again, rather like the magazine analogy, you don’t want to just share words but, instead, visuals – such as photos, infographics or video etc. When you work with photographers and videographers, for instance, make sure you tell them that you need images and short clips specifically for social media. If you can keep visitors interested and engaged, they are more likely to want to find out more, head over to your website and, most importantly, make a purchase.
“Not engaging on social media is akin to turning up to a party, not speaking to anyone and leaving at the end of the night, then being surprised when no-one invites you back to their next party,” says Lucy Ames. “Engagement is absolutely fundamental to the effectiveness of social media. Without engagement by a brand they are simply broadcasting and not building the relationships that lead clients down the marketing funnel from awareness to interest through to commitment to purchase.”
You should respond to comments, mentions and messages, as well as asking questions or perhaps conducting polls. Remember though to keep your brand in mind at all times.
“People go on social media to be entertained, educated or informed; they don’t generally want to be sold to,” says Lucy Ames. “This has led to the widely accepted 4-1-1 rule, meaning that out of six posts, four posts should build relationships and engagement, one post should be sharing original content and one should be sales based. It is important, of course, that when people do want to buy from you that they have the means to do so, easily and quickly. So, one in six posts should directly link to the website or contain an email/phone number or a booking link.”
Social media is particularly important if you launch a specific campaign. In this case, you might then consider social media advertising – as this can be a powerful way to drive traffic to your website. Typically, you can create targeted ads based on factors such as audience demographics, interests and locations.
If you have created a specific campaign, then you will typically include a link to a specially created landing page. In this way, you’ll be directing potential customers to what they are looking for quickly. You can also track the journey that these customers are making and, in doing that, start to personalise their interaction with your brand.
Landing pages are also good news when it comes to improving your SEO. Generally, Google acknowledges that landing pages surrounding specific subjects or products are there to help a customer, so you’ll be rewarded for them.
In many ways, a landing page is the modern version of a direct marketing letter. It will be targeted and there will be a very specific outcome. Used properly, they should offer higher conversion rates as compared with the regular pages on your website, as the traffic which heads there is already highly targeted.
With any sort of marketing, including social media, it’s key to monitor and analyse what works and what doesn’t. All social media platforms provide analytics tools that allow you to track the performance of your posts. These insights can inform your website strategy, helping you understand what content resonates most with your audience.
“There are so many people online telling you what will work and some saying they can guarantee it but after five years in social media, working with over 50 brands, I can tell you that it is trial and error,” says Lucy Ames. “Educated trial and error based on knowing your audience and brand really well, then testing different types of content and checking the results over time. Having said that, images of people – particularly pets and babies – generally win out over any other type of content. Try it!”
If you’d like to discover more about how good social media can benefit your website, contact our team at Target Ink on: 01892 800400
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