Emily The Bulldog

"What would be your top strategy for driving traffic to a new website?"

            I created my graduation website, www.EmilyTheBulldog.com, to share with friends and family so that they could see my photos and get information about my party. I included the link on my graduation party announcements. After mailing the party invites, view counts began to rise. It was exciting to see how many viewers were coming to my site. However, hits have dropped to zero over the summer. In hopes of increasing website views while in college, I need to change my strategy for driving traffic to my site. I think word of mouth using social media is the best option to get it done.

           Almost everyone is on some form of social media. Personally, I have TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. A campaign of posting links to my website just using my social media would probably net many new viewers. If I asked friends to share my link, it would significantly increase the number of people that clicked on the link and viewed the site. It’s unbelievable how social media shares act like multi-level marketing, increasing the visibility of the website link.

           When relying on social media to drive traffic to a website, you must make sure you are using social media correctly. For social media to be an effective driver, it must be interesting. Posting frequently and engaging with your followers is the most important way to get followers to want to click the link you post. It’s also wise to make sure you have the link in the bio of your social media accounts. People often click on your bio to see more about you. Not having the website listed is a lost opportunity.

           FOMO or fear of missing out is another way to drive traffic to the website. People want to be in the know. They want to include themselves in the latest and greatest fad. Persuading your followers to click through to the website based on a fear of being left out is a tricky, yet effective, way to gain more hits. FOMO is why many companies do things like pre-sales or advertise limited amounts. The fear of being the only one not included is a driving factor for consumers. Posting something that says, “You don’t want to miss this!” and providing a link will almost certainly make people click through. They don’t want to miss whatever it is that could be so exciting. However, you must ensure what they click through to is worth the hype, or they won’t return.

           Sometimes, the simplest way to drive traffic to a website from social media is to share something from the site, like a photo, and then tell the viewer to click for more. For instance, on my website, I have loaded my graduation photo shoots. To gain more website views, I could share two or three photos I have uploaded to the website on Facebook and include the link saying, “Go to my website to see the rest of the amazing photos from my latest photo shoot.” Never give them everything upfront. Make them go to the site to see the rest.

           One final way to use social media to drive traffic to a website is to use hashtags. It is sometimes annoying when too many hashtags are in a post. However, using the right ones can lead people who aren’t your social media followers to notice your post and then click on your website link. For instance, when a new social media challenge is making the rounds, I could upload a video of me or others doing the challenge to the website. Then I could share a still shot of the video and the link to the website for the actual video. Adding the popular hashtags for that challenge to the post would make it appear when someone searches that hashtag.

In the coming years, during my time as social media manager for the Louisiana Tech cheer program, I want to continue updating my website and try to increase the viewership significantly. It is important to me to have a successful website. As a Sports Marketing major, I want to test my skills while getting my education. I want to show potential employers that I was able to market myself and my college journey by utilizing what I know about social media.