US Virgin Islands Hotel & Tourism Association

Almost every business should have a website in order to be found and sell yourself, but not everyone gets the traffic you want and need. Leveraging social media has the potential to be one of your biggest traffic sources. Honestly, it requires time and effort to maintain; simply putting an occasional tweet or Facebook update isn’t enough to move the dial. Here are a few ways to help improve your current social media efforts and start driving more traffic to your website:

1. Don’t Forget the Link/Call to Action (CTA) – It doesn’t matter how much someone likes your brand, if you don’t ask them to visit your website, they more than likely won’t.
2. Always Include an Image – A majority of social media users are on their mobile devices, so it is important to add images (including video) with your posts. Images increase engagement.
3. Add Social Shares to Your Posts and Websites – Have others do the work for you. If you don’t already have social share buttons on your website, you are missing out on a lot of social traffic promotion from peer to peer.
4. Use Paid Promotion/Sponsored Content – This is a quick and simple way to drive more traffic to your website. You can tailor your reach by location, gender, salary and interests. Facebook is leading the charge, as more and more social media platforms switch their algorithms to a “pay to play” format; basically rewarding those who pay to be seen more.
5. Be Active and Engaged – The only way to get and keep your followers is to post updates and interact with them on a regular basis; otherwise they may forget about you. So keep your channels lively and engaging.

If you have questions about anything ChartLocal is working on for our membership, feel free to email digital marketing specialist Phillip Giles at pgiles@stthomasthisweek.com.