Social media can be a great way to get targeted traffic to your blog. It may take some time to get started, but once your following is high enough or you've spent a decent amount of time, you'll eventually see good results. I've placed the social media platforms below that help me get regular traffic along with recommendations on how to use each. Also note that traffic from search (organic) using technical SEO should be your main focus, as this will provide lasting results and also require less ongoing work. . Here's how to use social media to drive traffic to your blog.
Start with Pinterest, a bookmarking service and great for getting consistent traffic. It can take time for the pins to gain traction, but they can provide a steady stream of traffic once they're up and running. I currently get over 5,000 visits per month from Pinterest, but I know many bloggers who get more than that, and many say it's their biggest source of traffic. As for Pinterest, you should strive to pin content every day and not only from your own site, but also from other sites. Usually the rule is about 20% for you and 80% for everyone else, but some bloggers say that 50% works just as well. A great way to get your Pins visible is to join Pinterest groups like the Pinterest Travel Bloggers Guide and Ultimate Pinterest Groups for Travel Bloggers. However, these will take a bit of work. If you work full time and have trouble pinning, consider using a scheduler like Tailwind. You should also consider joining the Tailwind Community, which makes finding and publishing content even easier. My (very new) Tailwind tribe is called Ultimate Travel Advice and Inspiration.
Blog traffic from Pinterest
Here is some of my traffic from Pinterest from around the last year. Although this might not seem that high, it’s still quite consistent and gives me a steady stream of traffic whether I do anything or not.
Instagram Stories
I found the Instagram story is another great way to get traffic. But you will need a big one and commit to see good results. I am currently sharing related announcements on three Instagram @mickClegphoto accounts, @travanddestinations and @bestcitybreaks. Depending on the nature of the content, on my biggest account (@bestcitybreaks), I can get references since 200600+ in 24 hours. It is again a targeted traffic because my blog is connected and those who follow these Instagram accounts are interested in traveling. You can also put links in your Instagram profile. You may see some traffic/clicks from these links, but I don't find it as effective as Instagram Stories.
Blog traffic from Instagram
Here is a snapshot of my traffic from Instagram. Although there are two options showing below I believe they are mainly all from Stories. I think Instagram changed how it was referring traffic and this affected how it appeared in Google Analytics. The date range is from over the last year but I only actually started using this technique about 6 months ago. I also don’t do Stories with a swipe up links every day so as to not annoy my followers. Instead, I do it every few days.
Even though it's a bit harder now due to scary algorithms, Facebook can still be a good source of traffic. I don't have the biggest Facebook page, but I usually see good referral traffic. This comes from other sites, such as those from tourist boards that share links to my content, such as the one below to my article on the rooftops of Vienna. Sometimes this happens, I can get thousands more hits in 24 hours.
If you have a budget, you can grow your Facebook page using contests, giveaways, and other techniques. There are also many sharing groups where bloggers share content with each other.
Blog traffic from Facebook
Below is a snapshot of some of my traffic from Facebook over the last year. It’s far from huge, but you may have better luck than me when it comes to Facebook.
Mix
Mix is a new social media platform created by the creators of Stumble Upon (mentioned below). Mix is easy to use, and using the Chrome extension you can quickly save any of your favorite articles you discover on the web. It also has a nice, clean and easy to use layout. Although it's still early, I hope that Mix will become a big source of traffic to my blog, that's why I put it a little higher.
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