5 Ways to Increase Website Traffic From Instagram

This post was originally created as a guest blog post for our friends at Found It Digital.

Now more than ever, business owners across the globe are recognizing the true value that social media can add to their brand and marketing efforts. With nearly every storefront in America temporarily shutting down in 2020, turning to the digital space was a no-brainer! It allowed brands to reach their audience where they were at and move forward with their business in a new way. Read on for 5 ways to leverage social media to boost your business and increase traffic to your site!

USE CTAS

Let’s start off with the obvious. Once your audience has finished consuming your content, you need to tell them what to do or where to go next. There’s no simpler way to increase traffic from social media to your website than by explicitly telling your audience to go there. 

Try ending your next Instagram caption with “Head to our link in bio for more details!” or your next Instagram story with “Swipe up to shop!”  It is important to note that the “swipe up” Instagram story feature is only available for accounts with 10k+ followers. Once you’ve unlocked access to the feature, it’s a great way to direct users to the exact landing page you’re wanting them to see. 

Don’t have 10k followers yet? Don’t sweat it! Milkshake is one of our favorite tools to generate a single link that leads to a landing page containing multiple links. This provides users the opportunity to still have direct access to specific web pages. For instance, if you share an Instagram post promoting a specific product in your online shop, it can be a pain for users to click your link in bio, be directed to your homepage, and then have to search through your site for the item. Milkshake eliminates this pain point by allowing you to link not only your homepage but also specific web pages you want to direct your audience to as well! Just paste the link to your Milkshake landing page in your link in bio and you’re good to go!

You can find an example of our own Milkshake landing page here. Alternative option: create a Milkshake look alike landing page on your own site like this.

FOSTER A RELATIONSHIP

Before you can convert an audience, you must come to know the audience. Create a persona of them so you can fully understand both their demographics and psychographics. Demographics will give you insight into details like their age, gender, location, income, etc., while psychographics allow you to paint a more personable picture of them, including their likes, interests, and frustrations. Creating this persona will allow you to fully understand your target audience and tailor your content and messaging accordingly to appeal to their needs and experiences.

A relationship with your audience isn’t a one-way street. It is almost equally as important for the audience to come to know you. This requires building and fostering a two-way relationship. We like to always refer back to the Know, Like, Trust Factor. First, an audience has to know you. Once they know about you, they can then come to like you. Once they like you, they will trust you enough to buy from you. Check out this graphic for a nice visual representation of this growth process!

Here are a few pointers for fostering a relationship with them:

• Post consistently.

• Engage with your audience in the comments and via DM.

• Engage with potential audience members that are not following you yet. Like their photos and comment on their pictures to get their attention!

• Provide them with free valuable content first, before expecting a transaction.

Remember, when you fully know and understand your audience, you can put together irresistible content and copy that will resonate enough for them to head to your website to learn more. Think of social media as a digital handshake inviting people to your website.

PROVIDE VALUE + GIVE TEASERS 

Say it with us: providing value is key to conversion. If all of your content is constantly pushing sale after sale, it’s likely not resonating well with your audience or doing much in terms of relationship building. Your content should be a healthy mixture of promotional, educational, and entertaining. For tips on how to incorporate this into your content strategy, check out our free 9 Content Pillars Worksheet.

Provide value in a way that links back to your website. For instance, if we wanted to post an Instagram story promoting our 6 Tips to Create an Aesthetically Pleasing Instagram Grid blog post, we would tease it by sharing 3 of the tips and directing users to the post for more! This is a great way to give your audience a taste of what they can expect when they visit your website. Entice them with a sneak peek!

COLLABORATE WITH INFLUENCERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A great way to tap into a new audience is by leveraging influencer marketing and collaborating with influencers on social media. Depending on the size of the influencer’s following, some may charge a fee for their post, while others will be willing to post solely in exchange for the free product.  Consider sending your products to an influencer and having them share their experience with their audience via a feed post or stories. They can then direct their followers to your website to shop the items shown.

Pro Tip: Send your influencer an exclusive discount code to share with their followers for an extra incentive to shop!

RUN A PAID AD

This last point is perhaps the most complex and requires a full blog post of its own to fully explain. In short, paid ads are a great way to increase clicks to your website. Our top recommendation? Do not boost posts. *face palm* There is practically no real strategy behind this feature and it is essentially just an easy way for Instagram to make money. 

Instead, create an official advertisement in Facebook Ads Manager, where you choose a goal, define a specific audience, and publish beautiful content and ad copy that converts. This ties back to the importance of knowing your audience. Never put money behind something that either will not effectively appeal to your audience or reach them in the first place. Know who your audience is and what their interests are. Once you’ve nailed down who your target audience is, A/B testing can help you discover which ads resonate best with them!

We hope this blog post was helpful for you in discovering a few ways to increase traffic to your website from social media. For more social media tips, be sure to follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter!

xx- The Homies of Homemade Social