Out of all referral traffic, you can get around 31% more to your site if you use social media properly. According to a report released by content marketing hub Shareaholic, it is found that social media happens to be the number one driver of all referral traffic to websites. Early this decade social media made its presence and potential felt and more and more individuals as well as major brands have been using it to drive more traffic to their website.
The same report showed the gradual change in the traffic pullout from social media. According to the report it was found that:
- In December 2013, about 22.71% 31.24% of all referral traffic was driven from the social media and
- In December 2014 the same figure rose to 31.24%.
The same report also said that:
- Facebook led the pack in 2014 with a total traffic share of 16 to 25% each month and
- The overall growth of traffic share of Facebook over the period of one year from December 2013 and 2014 was 59.58%.
This is perhaps the most surprising finding. The interesting stats for other networks do not end there as the survey was conducted across all social media networks and the results forum were as interesting as the other and are as follows:
- Pinterest was the only other site that witnessed an increase in the traffic share from the previous year and the modest figure proved to be 5.82%
- The traffic share of Twitter on the other hand significantly decreased by 27.03%
- The StumbleUpon’straffic share also dropped by 42.17% and
- Perhaps the most surprising fact is that the share of referrals of YouTubedropped by a whopping 93.24% as compared to that of the previous year.
The facts and figures by it seem to be good news for marketers investing millions of dollars in social media marketing. However, the question that quite naturally may come to your mind is how far these numbers are sustainable? Well, if you analyze the data carefully you will come across some more interesting facts.
Analysis of the data
The data will represent a graph that will show a relatively slow yet steady downward progression in traffic share referrals from search engines or SEO. Especially in the last quarter of 2014 and onwards the social referrals appear to be somewhat unstable over the last half of that year, though there were a few occasional rise sometime in the year.
Moving ahead of 2014 if you consider the SEO referrals once more you will see that the steady rise in this case shows the that social media played an important part in source of traffic for most the websites.
Probing deeper into the matter you will see that on further breaking down of the share of traffic for each social network, there is a significant change over time as compared to the initial year of study by the Shareaholic. The results that you will arrive at on careful analysis may surprise you.
If you look at the social media referral traffic share on a larger scale and even go back a couple of years back you will be able to see the trend quite clearly. The trend will show that:
- Facebook has a very clear and constant upward trend
- Pinterest increasing at a much slower rate for a specific time period and also falling at a notable rate later on and
- The remaining six social media networks show an extraordinarily steady traffic share over the period.
The report suggests that Facebook is the clear winner which is why they even thought of buying Instagram to raise their influence even more by tapping the followers for Instagram.
The report also suggests that it is high time for Pinterest to reconsider their strategy considering their target market. It also suggests a few other things about Pinterest such as:
- It is a condundrum
- It is confusing
- It is a bundle of contradictions and
- It provides marketers with huge potential as well as huge frustration at the same time.
Therefore, select brands have recognizedthe importance and commercial value to reach out to more and more people and looking for alternative sources to do that. What better than Instagram can do that which is why all major brands are investing big dollars on Instagram influencers who can make the best use of their and integrate with social media for the best and maximum returns in social media marketing.
The significance of the findings
As for the other platforms there is high time for them to realize the potential of each and act accordingly to make the best use of it. To do this they must quickly make necessary alterations to shed their for-women-only image that has isolated them from the others and develop a more mass-market appeal.
Given these findings, you may now be wondering how best you can choose a social media platform to drive more social traffic to your own website or blog. Well, given the Facebook’s value it is the number one choice of all and should be yours as well. However, Facebook too has got its limitations in usage and features which is why Instagram leads the race in this current scenario.
There are some strategies you can use to help drive your social media traffic and in fact Instagram followers to your website or blog.
- Provide short quotes: When you postlinks to your blog posts, make sure that you include a brief excerpt or quote to let your fans know what they will get when they click on the link. The quite should summarizethe topic and enticing.
- Images matter: While sharing images make sure that it is of optimal size, high resolution, and relevant.
- Sharing: You must share your posts at the optimal times with careful analysis of the insights. You can use a few free tools to determine the best times to share links in Instagram.
Apart from that, you must make sure that you make the most of the links, pin your blog posts with your website URL.
Author bio
Daniel Mattei is the founder and CEO of content marketing firm in Seattle. He has extensive knowledge about social media marketing and traffic maintenance. Know how to demystify the myths and tricks to increase followers for Instagram reading his blogs.
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