Nearly every business understands the need for creating an online presence so customers can access the products or services being sold. However, simply having a website does not mean potential customers will see it. Driving customers to a website is a necessary aspect of doing business online. However, it can be difficult to choose the best social media or SEO strategies to drive traffic to the site.
What Is Social Media, and How Does It Drive Traffic?
Over the past few years, social media sites have grown exponentially. Anyone online utilizes at least one social media account. These sites provide a platform for individuals to come together and share ideas. It is also the perfect media to gather traffic for a website. Using this option depends greatly on a company’s digital marketing needs.
Social media provides an arena for businesses to proactively promote their business. It takes daily effort to build an active following on social media but can provide a steady stream of traffic to a website. It can even help to build a company’s brand awareness.
Social media can help businesses gain the trust and loyalty of customers. It is the perfect place to engage the community and gain feedback about the company. Some companies even find success in managing their customer service through one or more social media platforms, such as Facebook.
Businesses can organically drive customers by providing a lot of posts and interacting with various online communities. Although this option can take up a lot of valuable time, it is free of cost. However, if a business owner wants to get a jump on its social media influence, they can purchase advertising spots that will be directed to their exact target audience.
One of the biggest disadvantages of social media is that each platform is flooded with companies and individuals vying for notoriety. It can make it difficult for businesses to stand out from other similar companies or content providers. This flooded market makes it very difficult to gain quality traffic and maintain consistency.
What is SEO, and How Does It Drive Traffic?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is just as it sounds. It is optimizing content so that a site ranks higher in a search engine. Nearly every internet user performs a search on Google, Bing, or another search engine at least once a month. When the search is executed, most users only look at results included on the first two pages of returns.
To gain traffic for a particular website, a business owner must get their website listed as close to the top of the search results as possible. Some steps can be taken to drive a website higher in search engine rankings. These steps are referred to as search engine optimization or SEO.
Each search engine utilizes a specific algorithm to find quality content that best matches an individual’s search. Keywords and backlinks are qualifying factors with the algorithms search engines use. Ultimately, the goal of ranking high in a search engine is to provide individuals with content they want to see.
The biggest disadvantage of SEO is the fact that search engines change their algorithms frequently. This changes the criteria needed to get a higher ranking on a search. Often, when the algorithm changes, a business has to restart its SEO work in hopes of regaining its search engine position.
Making the Best Choices
Both options provide a great way to boost traffic to any website. However, a lot depends on how much a company is wanting to interact directly with its target audience and how prepared they are to begin again when algorithms change. For some, a combination of both strategies could be the best option.
