Using social media to drive traffic to your website is smart.  It’s free and levels the playing field.  It offers opportunities to build brand recognition as well as loyal followers.  In January 2018, I wrote a post called, “Website Traffic Builder: Social Media Checklist“.  In it, I provided 5 sure ways to connect with your social media followers and drive traffic to your website.

Getting social media traffic to your website takes time.  What happens when you don’t have a lot of time?  You start with these 4 time-saving tips.

We are Visual Creatures – We make decisions based a lot on what we see.  Obviously, the text is important but an engaging visual will capture more attention.  Statistics show that 85% of people will make a buying decision when they are able to see a photo or video of what you’re selling.  Imagine using only text to describe a real estate listing.  Next, imagine describing the listing using a video or slideshow.  If you have a cell phone, you have the ability to quickly shoot a video and upload it to social media.

Are You Posting to Instagram?  – As long as you’re creating a video or taking stills, why not post them on Instagram? You can save time by linking your Facebook and Instagram accounts.  A listing photo of the beautiful lake view or the chef’s kitchen with descriptive text will increase your audience’s engagement.

Is Your Content Easily Shareable? – Make sharing your content easy.  Include mobile-friendly share buttons on your social media posts. If you make sharing your content difficult, it won’t get shared at all.

Search Engine Optimization – Use SEO best practices to ensure online visibility and to increase social media traffic.  Pinterest is a great social media platform for driving traffic to your website.  Properly optimized and linked photos and videos are indexed by Google.  Read my post, “4 Tips for Crushing It On Pinterest“.

Google LOVES Pinterest, and is far more likely to give top rankings to a Pinterest board than a small website that doesn’t get much traffic or engagement. ~Kim Garst

Improving your content’s search engine optimization gets more social media traffic.  And, it’s a little time well-spent.

Use these 4 tips to improve your social media traffic.  It takes only a few minutes a day to get the results you’re looking for.

Increasing your social media traffic begins with you taking the time to manage the various social media platforms efficiently. Building your audience will take time, but these tips will help you see the positive effects of your social media traffic.

The post 4 Tips to Improve Social Media Traffic When You Don’t Have A Lot of Time appeared first on Second Self Virtual Assistance.

5 Steps to Success

According to HootSuite, Instagram has over 500 million active monthly users who have shared over 40 billion photos.  That’s an average of  95 million photos and videos shared each day. Pew Research Center did a demographic study of Instagram users.  This is what they found.

Does your demographic fit into this model?  If so, here’s what you need to do to build a popular Instagram network for your business.

Monday through Friday

Post at least one photo to Instagram daily.  While going about your day, take a lot of photos and tuck them away in a folder.  This comes in handy when you are stuck in the office and need something to post.  Although taking photos of your day in the office can be fun and interesting, too.

Make it easy on yourself and integrate Instagram into your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  That way, when you post on Instagram, it will automatically be posted to those accounts.

Share your blog posts.  To add a photo, use your cell phone to visit your post online.  Tap and hold the image and save it to your camera roll.  (This process may vary depending on the brand and style of your phone.)  Your description should let people know what your post is about and where they can see the entire post.  Tag people and share on social media networks your Instagram account isn’t connected to.

People love video.   Upload your short videos to Instagram.  For additional exposure, post it to YouTube and promote it on social media.

Be social.  See what other people in your demographic are posting.  Like and comment.  Extend your reach and build your audience.

You can spend 30 minutes to a 2 hours a day building your brand on Instagram.  The more time you spend, the quicker your audience with grow.  Like all other social media marketing, it takes time and commitment.

Are you using Instagram?  What are you currently doing to build your brand?

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“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” ― Andy Warhol

It’s amazing what happens when you open your mind to new possibilities.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “I never thought of that” when someone shows me a new way to do something.   This happens in both my personal and professional life.  Little changes can make big differences.

Instagram Improvements

Making small changes in your Instagram account can make a big difference, too.  Here’s some super simple tips to help your improve your Instagram reach.

Use Hashtags – Hashtags can be a mystery.  Hootsuite recently posted a great article called, “The Do’s and Don’ts of How to Use Hashtags“.  Instagram, as well as other social media platforms, use hashtags in their algorithms.  When someone searches for a certain term that you’ve used, they’ll find you in the results.  Create a company hashtag and use it every time you add something to Instagram.

Comments – Comment on other people’s photos and they will likely return the favor.  This helps build community and trust.  If you don’t have time, hire someone to post comments for you.

Reach Out to Influencers – Who are the influencers in your market?  Like and share their Instagram photos.  Tag them by using the  ‘@’  sign so they are alerted when they are tagged.  This method can be very effective.  A word of caution…Don’t overuse this method.  Doing this too often can be irritating to the influencer.

Don’t Forget Your Other Social Media Platforms – Make sure you point all of your social media platforms to your Instagram account.  Add your linked Instagram icon whenever and wherever you post and share content.

Listen to Instagram – Instagram’s alghorithm will let them know when you have a connection with someone.  They will then suggest that you follow those people.  Check out the people they are suggesting to see if they are in your market.  Follow them if you feel it will benefit your efforts.

Opening your mind to these possibilities will enhance your Instagram reach.  Consistency wins the race in Instagram.

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