Which social media sites can get you lots of traffic?

Traffic is the life of any website. Without it, a website is nothing more than a personal journal. There are many ways to drive traffic to your website. Some are ethical, some not so much. Further, the change in search and ranking algorithms on most major search engines means that ranking high on the results page may have something to do with the number of genuine traffic.

Being not one to use any unethical methods to drive traffic to my website, I have found that using social media is the ultimate free and fast way to drive targeted traffic to a website. However, there are so many social media platforms. How do you know which one will drive a ton of traffic your way? The answer to this provocative question is just straightforward.

It depends on the type of targeted traffic you want and the topic of your niche site. Nevertheless, some social platforms are better than others. Here is a list of the best social platforms that can drive a ton of traffic your way.

1.      Twitter

This one is almost logic. As a very powerful social media platform, boosting of over 340 million users, and seeing over 500 million tweets from over 100 million users per day, Twitter is a ‘web traffic’ haven. This is especially because Twitter is in itself a link based service that you can use to draw users from Twitter and onto your website.

Using Twitter to drive traffic has a learning curve though not a steep one. For example, for a user to click through on a link, the tweet has to be thought provoking and interesting. You can also integrate Twitter on your website to ensure that if someone stumbles on an article he or she likes, and think his or her friends too would, it is easy to share it without navigating away from your website. This can ensure prolonged stay on your website

2.     Facebook

Facebook has over 1.3billion monthly active users and over 890 million daily active users with an average person spending about 21 minutes a day on Facebook. They spend this time viewing posts and articles promoted by friends. You can tap some of these 21 minutes for your website.

Build a facebook page for your product or service. Start posting small content pieces to the page. Invite your friends first to like the page. The more frequent you post contents the more popularity you will gain for the facebook page. Get some great ideas here for "How to make your facebook fan page popular". 

Tip: You may opt to use your Facebook page to share links to your website, use targeted groups for link marketing and dissemination purposes, or opt to use paid advertisement on Facebook to give your links better visibility and gain some subsequent traffic.

3.     Google+

Google+ is not as popular as the two platforms above. However, I find it to be the most effective. Why do I say this? I have many reasons.

#1 One of these reasons is the mere fact that Google, which we all love to hate and love in equal measures, owns it. Because of this fact, optimizing your Google+ with keyword rich content ensures that your sites get better ranking and better quality traffic as a result.

#2 The platform also acts as a link-based service where you can share links to your website or interesting articles.

4.     Instagram

Instagram is a relatively new player in the traffic scene. However, it is proving a worthy contender. I find that Instagram is especially effective if your niche site has relation to something that has a lot of imagery.

For example, if you own an online store, you can use the social platform to drive buyers to your website by sharing photos and videos of the product, Further, the hashtag feature on the platform is an ideal for collating your social media marketing campaigns.

5.     LinkedIn

If your niche site is professional in nature, or is simple a site showing your expertise in a specific field, LinkedIn is the best option for you. You can create quality SEO optimized content and share it with members of groups you are member of. This can drive organic traffic to your website.

6.     Pinterest

Pinterest is one of the social sites that has the highest conversion rate. Although women form the biggest proportion of Pinterest users especially in the crafts and DIY niche, this site has people who are actually willing to spend money now. Just like Instagram, it is best if you are in a niche that uses many photos to illustrate concepts or ideas.