5 Ways to Use Social Media to Complement Your Website

In today's digital landscape, having a website is essential for any business, but it's no longer enough on its own. Social media platforms offer powerful opportunities to extend your online presence, drive traffic to your site, and create deeper connections with your audience. When used strategically, social media doesn't compete with your website—it complements it, creating a cohesive digital ecosystem for your brand.

Here are five effective ways to use social media platforms to enhance your website's performance and reach.

1. Create a Content Distribution Strategy

Your website might host your best content, but without promotion, even exceptional material can go unnoticed. Social media provides the perfect distribution channels for your website content.

How to implement this:

• Content repurposing: Transform comprehensive website articles into bite-sized social media posts. A 2,000-word guide can become 10-15 social media snippets, each highlighting a different key point and linking back to the full article.
• Platform-specific formatting: Tailor your content to each platform's unique environment. LinkedIn users might appreciate professional insights and statistics, while Instagram audiences respond better to striking visuals and personal stories related to your content.
• Consistent scheduling: Establish a regular posting schedule to keep your website content circulating across social channels. Tools like Hootsuite or Buffer can help automate this process, ensuring your website receives steady traffic from social sources.

Research by Backlinko suggests that content shared multiple times across social channels can generate up to 3.5 times more clicks than content shared just once. By systematically distributing your website content through social media, you create multiple entry points back to your site.

2. Build Community Around Your Brand

While your website showcases your products, services, and expertise, social media excels at facilitating conversations and building community—something traditional websites often struggle with.

How to implement this:

• Engage with comments: Respond to every meaningful comment on your social media posts, especially those related to content from your website. This engagement signals to algorithms that your content is valuable and shows your audience you're attentive.
• Create content series: Develop ongoing content themes that encourage regular engagement. For example, "Tuesday Tips" or "Case Study Fridays" give followers a reason to return both to your social platforms and your website.
• Host live events: Use features like Instagram Live, Facebook Live, or LinkedIn Events to create real-time connections with your audience. These events can direct viewers to specific landing pages on your website for more information or special offers.

According to research from Sprout Social, 64% of consumers want brands to connect with them, and brands that successfully build communities see 33% higher customer loyalty. Your website provides the foundation, but social media is where relationship-building flourishes.

3. Gather Audience Insights to Improve Website Performance

Social media platforms offer valuable data about your audience that can inform improvements to your website content and design.

How to implement this:

• Track engagement patterns: Notice which topics, formats, or headlines generate the most engagement on social media, then prioritise similar content on your website. If how-to guides consistently outperform other content types on social channels, feature them more prominently on your site.
• Conduct informal research: Use polls, questions, and surveys on platforms like Instagram Stories, Twitter, or LinkedIn to gather quick feedback about website features, content preferences, or pain points.
• Monitor direct messages: Pay attention to questions that frequently appear in your social media inboxes, as these often indicate information gaps on your website that need addressing.

These social insights help you optimise your website based on genuine audience behaviour and preferences rather than assumptions. For instance, if your Facebook analytics show that 70% of your engaged audience accesses content via mobile devices, you might prioritise mobile optimisation for your website.

4. Leverage Social Proof to Build Credibility

While your website can showcase testimonials and reviews, social media offers more authentic and varied forms of social proof that can strengthen your brand's credibility.

How to implement this:

• Highlight user-generated content: Share photos, videos, or testimonials from customers using your products or services. Create a branded hashtag to collect this content, then feature the best examples on both social media and your website.
• Showcase real-time feedback: Share screenshots of positive comments or messages (with permission) to demonstrate authentic customer satisfaction. These can later be compiled into formal testimonials for your website.
• Amplify media mentions: When your brand receives media coverage or industry recognition, promote it across social channels before adding it to your website's "As Featured In" section.

According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from other people—even strangers—over brand content. By gathering and highlighting social proof on social platforms first, you create a constant stream of credibility signals that can eventually enhance your website's persuasiveness.

5. Create Platform-Specific Entry Points to Your Website

Rather than using the same call-to-action across all platforms, tailor your website entry points based on each social channel's unique audience and context.

How to implement this:

• Platform-specific landing pages: Create dedicated landing pages for visitors coming from different social platforms. A Pinterest visitor interested in visual content might benefit from a different experience than someone coming from LinkedIn who might be seeking more detailed information.
• Conversion path optimisation: Track which social platforms drive not just the most traffic but the most valuable conversions. Allocate more resources to these high-performing channels and optimise the user journey from those platforms to your site.
• Sequential engagement: Develop multi-step campaigns that progressively move audiences from social media awareness to website conversion. For example, introduce concepts on Instagram, deepen interest through a Facebook video series, then invite committed prospects to a website webinar.

Custom UTM parameters can help you track the effectiveness of these tailored entry points, allowing you to refine your approach over time. Research from Campaign Monitor suggests that segmented campaigns can lead to a 760% increase in revenue compared to one-size-fits-all approaches.

Conclusion

The most successful brands no longer view their website and social media as separate entities but as interconnected components of a unified digital strategy. Your website provides depth, authority, and conversion functionality, while social media offers reach, relationship-building, and real-time engagement.

By implementing these five strategies, you'll create synergy between your social platforms and your website, allowing each to strengthen the other. The result is a more cohesive online presence that meets your audience wherever they are in the digital landscape while guiding them toward meaningful interactions with your brand.

Remember, effective integration requires consistent monitoring and adaptation. Regularly review how your social media efforts are supporting your website goals, and be prepared to adjust your approach as digital platforms and audience behaviours continue to evolve.

Need help integrating your social media and website strategies? Our Website + Social Media Package is designed to create a cohesive digital presence for your business. Contact us today to learn more.