The Benefits of Social Media on Website Traffic

Does participating in social media REALLY help with website traffic?

I know, I know, everyone is talking about social media, twitter this and facebook that! What's it all about? Why is everyone so interested in the minutiae of our lives? Well, I don't know the answer to that but I DO know that participating in social media is very much like participating in business and social networking groups. At first, you meet a lot of people, you shake hands, you engage in small talk and you get to know a little about each other. But after several meetings you become more engaged and more familiar and more trusting of each other. After several months, hopefully, you've gained that person's trust enough to earn business referrals from them. Or maybe even business from themselves.       

        These online social media programs are the same thing - at least for businesses they are. The problem is that sometimes the business folks are mixed in with the social folks. So, the "conversation" that you see on the screen ranges from "Deciding on tuna or chicken sandwich for lunch." to "Found some great ideas on small business marketing - click here." So, yes, at this point we do have to weed out what we need from what we don't need (or care about). But the reality is that the benefits are there.         

        Nothing tells the truth better than numbers, so here are some stats from 4 websites that we're marketing. All four websites are participating in social media programs. All four have blogs that they keep up and all four contribute regularly (at least 2 articles per month) to their blog and social media campaigns.         

        Website 1 - contributes an average of 20 articles per month     

28.33 % came from direct traffic

28.79% came from referring sites

42.88% came from search engines

The referring sites are...

stumbleupon.com

promotionworld.com

ladieswholaunch.com

twitter.com 

Website 2 - contributes an average of 5 articles per month

10.54% from direct traffic

31.05% from referring sites

58.40% from search engines 

The referring sites are...

knolstuff.com

blog

linkedin.com   

Website 3 - contributes an average of 2 articles per month

7.51% from direct traffic

4.93% from referring sites

87.56% from search engines  

The referring sites are...

knolstuff.com

blog

ezinearticles.com

goodsearch.com

geckoe.com 

Website 4 - contributes an average of 2 articles per month  

28.74% from direct traffic

2.01% from referring sites

69.25% from search engines     

The referring sites are...

blog

knolstuff.com

goodsearch.com 

What's interesting to note is the direct traffic stats. 2 of the 4 websites above DO NOT participate in any other marketing besides Internet marketing, not even pay per click campaigns. So, the "direct traffic" visitors are probably coming from referrals from clients and/or referrals from visitors to the social media campaigns. It's hard to tell but it's interesting to note that factor.

        So, you see, there's no doubt that there is traffic being brought in to websites via social media. So, is it worth it for you to take 30 minutes each day to write a short article about what you already know? And then submit that article to multiple sites? If you really don't have the time, consider using a social media marketing program like we have at Eckweb Designs. It does the work for you.