Businesses of all sizes – from small retailers to large, multi-national corporations – are looking for ways to increase traffic to their websites through social media. Real-time, highly mobile channels such as Twitter are uniquely qualified to convert users to customers, by enabling marketers to use a wide range of popular topics to gain visibility and sales.

Here’s the tricky part, though: how do you align social and web content to help prospects find your website and take the next step in their journey to becoming a customer?

Third-party analytics, used correctly, can provide a wealth of information and understanding for marketers. Audience data helps us identify trends within topics that can be used to direct (or redirect) inquiries to the appropriate site content.

How do successful social media marketers optimize content for increased relevant web traffic? Let’s take a look at one organization that did just that.

Feeding America is a US domestic hunger relief charity that helps feed more than 37 million individuals in need each year. Twitter plays a big role in their efforts to generate awareness, share information, promote events/celebrity partnerships, and stimulate public participation in alleviating hunger.

Through analysis of their tweets and web traffic, Feeding America was able to identify appropriate links between Twitter topics and content within its own website. This insightful and informed content planning helped them boost their Twitter-driven website traffic an incredible 250%.

Take these tips from Feeding America’s successful social strategy to improve your own:

1. Know your audience.

Analyze social media traffic for a deeper understanding of what potential customers are interested in and what they’re talking about. This allows your brand to join the conversation – or even lead it – with something meaningful to say.

2. Inform, don’t sell.

Building your social media community is a great way to build value and trust with potential customers. They stay involved and engaged when you offer valuable, useful information, not a sales pitch.

3. Offer relevant content.

Now that you have a clear picture of what your audience likes and wants, direct them to the most relevant content on your website and around the web. Content that meets their needs and answers their questions often leads to the establishment of a relationship and a new customer.

4. Build your brand through your expertise.

Show your audience you’re in tune with their needs and your industry as a whole by sharing relevant, noncompetitive content and resources. This will reinforce your expertise, offer readers a variety of interesting content, and make your organization even more valuable to them.

Customer insights from social, website and other channels are critical in planning and executing social content that meets the needs of your audience. When that content aligns with their needs and the answers they seek are on your website, the goal of driving relevant traffic to your site is easily attainable.

Have you seen success in driving traffic from social channels to your website? Share your own tips in the comments.