Social Traffic – The Complete Guide to Driving, Converting, and Growing Your Audience

Social traffic means, traffic coming to the website through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads or any other social network.

Whenever someone clicks on any link on social media and goes to the website, it is considered social traffic. Social traffic comes from social media options like an ad, a post, a story, or a bio link.

Today social traffic is necessary for every business, with the changing browsers and entry of AI, social traffic is a good alternative to organic traffic.

Social Traffic

Along with technology, the market has also changed. Earlier, all the websites used to run on organic traffic when there was no popular social media in the market. People also used to visit the website only for work. There is a lot of difference between the business of that time and the business of now in the era of social networking.

In today’s time, the one who has a social audience is called the king of the market. Social traffic is a targeted audience through which your product or update reaches the real audience.

Why Social Traffic Matters

Let us see in detail why social media traffic matters so much in growing a business. What are the factors due to which social traffic is important for any new or old business.

Large Number Of Audience

Billions of users spend most of their time on social media daily. Due to which the chances of clicking on the website link are high.

Targeted Audiences

The audience coming from social platform traffic is targeted such as age, location, interest, behavior and their interest. This directly means that the changes in conversion from social traffic are the highest.

Engagement First

Because traffic coming from social platforms is intent-driven, people not only search for your brand with queries, but also discover your brand through interaction.

Virality Potential

Social media is a platform where the fortunes of a business can shine in a single day, because there are greater chances of going viral on social media.

Types of Social Traffic

Everyone knows about social media but do we know what are the types of social media traffic and which type is right for your business?

Paid Social Traffic

• Comes from ads and sponsored posts.
• Offers precise targeting and measurable ROI.
• Examples: Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, TikTok Ads.

Organic Social Traffic

• Comes from non-paid posts, shares, and word of mouth.
• Builds trust and community over time.
• Examples: A popular tweet, a trending reel, or a viral YouTube video.

Referral Social Traffic

• Traffic gained when influencers, partners, or affiliates share your link.
• Extremely valuable because it carries social proof.

Challenges of Social Traffic

Social traffic is valuable but it also has some challenges of its own. However, social traffic is called short-term traffic because we cannot store the traffic coming from social media anywhere so that users can be re-engaged.

Short Attention Span

Users often click on links on social media out of curiosity but if they don’t like the content they exit immediately, which increases the bounce rate of the website.

Low Conversion Rates

Social visitors coming from social traffic do not have strong purchase intent as compared to organic traffic. This leads to low conversion rates.

In-App Browser Limitations

The website links clicked from social media open in the in-app browser, which has its own limitations like it does not fully support tracking, conversions, or push notifications.

But with Alertise’s NativePush feature, you can send web push notifications to social traffic as well.

Dependency Risk

The algorithms of social media platforms are always updating themselves, thereby making reach unpredictable.

Strategies to Maximize Social Traffic Value

To maximize social traffic, follow the tricks given below, which will help you see a huge increase in your traffic.

Optimize Landing Pages

The landing page should always display the promise made in the ads, reel, post. Users coming from social traffic make their decision within seconds. If they don’t like something, they bounce from the site within a second.

Use Retargeting

Set up retargeting ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google to increase your chances of getting back bounced visitors.

Encourage Engagement

Add CTAs like “Share this,” “Tag a friend,” or “Comment below.” Higher engagement means more reach more social traffic.

Leverage Influencers

Collaborate with influencers who have good followers. Always collaborate with such influencers whose followers are related to your business. For example, if you have an online kitchen appliances store then collaborate with a food recipe blogger.

Convert Visitors into Subscribers

This was a challenge as social media browsers did not support web push notifications because the links open in-app. But AlertWise is the first web push notifications platform in the market that offers web push notifications even on social traffic.

Why Push Notifications Don’t Work in Social Media Browsers

Below are some main reasons why web push notifications do not work on social media browsers.

When traffic comes from social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, the link opens in an in-app browser (not Chrome, Safari, or Firefox).

• These browsers block service workers.
• That means users cannot subscribe to push notifications.
• Your remarketing and engagement potential is lost.

NativePush for Social Traffic

Alertwise has for the first time invented such a technology in the market through which subscribers can be gained through web push notifications even from social traffic

NativePush – Smart Redirect for Social Traffic:

• Detects when a visitor opens your link inside an in-app browser.
• Prompts them to switch to their default browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox).
• Once in a proper browser, users can subscribe to push notifications.

This solution solves one of the biggest social traffic problems, turning short-term visitors into lifetime subscribers.

Universal Subscribe Link:

This is another great feature of Alertwise with the help of which any link will be converted into a subscription prompt. Which can be applied on Instagram bio, YouTube description, or even QR codes and you can gain subscribers from anywhere.

Measuring the Success of Social Traffic

To make the most of your campaigns, track these KPIs,

• Traffic Volume – how many clicks you’re getting
• Engagement Rate – time on site, bounce rate
• Conversion Rate – leads, sales, or subscriptions
• Lifetime Value (LTV) of visitors acquired via social channels
• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) for paid campaigns

Use Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite, or specialized tools like HubSpot to get detailed insights.

Future of Social Traffic

Below are some of the reasons that determine the future of social traffic,

AI Targeting

With changing technology, social media platforms also help in getting targeted audience by using technology.

Video First

The trend of short videos is very much going on in the market like TikTok, Reels, Shorts which people like and the chances of clicking are also high.

Cross-Platform Journeys

Users see your posts, short videos, stories, etc. on different social media platforms and finally decide to buy.

Subscription-Based Marketing

To convert the traffic coming on social media into lifetime subscribers, Alertwise’s NativePush feature is being enhanced, the result of which is quite effective.

Social traffic is a powerful source of traffic that can change the fortunes of any business. The biggest problem with social traffic is that push notifications do not work on social media browsers, but Alertwise’s NativePush feature solved this problem as well.