3 Ways A TENACIOUS SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY CAN HELP YOUR SEO
EFFORTS
There has been a ton of back and forth about how social media marketing impacts
SEO and whether social profiles and posts can positively
affect organic search rankings and visibility.
Google’s former distinguished engineer refuted the idea
that social signals were part of the ranking algorithm, the debate regarding
the importance of social media to SEO has only continued in our industry.
Google, more than Bing, denies that Facebook and Twitter posts and popularity
are direct search ranking factors.
“The correlation between social signals and ranking position
is extremely high, and the number of social signals per landing page has
remained constant when compared to with the values from last year’s whitepaper.
… The top-ranked websites in Google’s rankings displays vastly more social
signals than all other pages…. This is primarily due to the overlap between
brand websites performing strongly in social networks and being allocated top
positions by Google.”
Let’s look at three
ways you can include social media
into your SEO campaigns to drive better results.
1. Social Media Marketing = Brand Building
The buying process is often a lengthy one, especially
when buyers are making decisions on service-based offerings or high-ticket item
products like luxury goods.
These types of consumers and business customers do
their research online and do it well. In fact, many times they might start
searching right in a social network, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
Pinterest, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Making your social brand stand out involves
several factors in a social media campaign. Enhancing your strategy will likely
support your SEO efforts. Here are a few things you can improve:
Design of the identity and the brand that supports the
brand intent.
Messaging around the brand to support the brand promise
and target language.
Making an ongoing commitment of original brand content
creation and delivery.
Creating a community of advocates by engaging them with
branded content and contests.
Social media marketing, when developed and managed
correctly, can create such brand trust. This means that companies must consider
the creation and nurturing of their social brands as something critical to how
their target finds them and buys from them.
2. Social Profiles Show up in Organic Search Results
There are instances when people look up other people’s
names instead of companies on Google.
This is how we know to do business with someone. This
can be anyone from a salesperson to a CEO.
Does your LinkedIn profile pop up first? If so, most
searchers will click on your profile.
If the user sees that your profile is unused with no
information, they might go back to Google or even stay on LinkedIn and find
your competitor to give their business.
This is also the case, of course, for businesses.
Meaning that your company social pages, both corporate as well as those for
local stores, are that important.
What can you do?
Have a full, completed, current profile for each social
channel where your brand lives. This means updated imagery, photos, videos,
contact information, calls to action, and ongoing varied content.
Understand that the reputation of you and your company
in social media can be traced back to search queries (or not). Meaning if you
do a great job managing comments and positively interacting with your (or your company’s)
fans and followers, you get to build a good reputation in social. This can then
help grow the shares of your content, gain new followers, and generate click
backs to your site, consequently benefitting SEO. Never mind that Facebook
posts and Twitter profiles aren’t direct Google ranking factors. The sites
themselves are ranked – and that traffic to a well-designed site for
user experience can boost site stickiness and repeat visits.
Have your social profile settings set for success and
understand how each channel works.
You want to make sure if you allow others to write on
your timeline, for example, that the message will be monitored and managed.
If you’re a retailer with many locations, make sure
that you are using the location function on Facebook or on YouTube. On
Pinterest, make sure you have the appropriate Boards or Playlists that
complement your SEO strategy.
3. Social Networks Have Search Engines, Too
People search within the social networks.
Since many of you are business professionals, let’s
talk LinkedIn. Have you reviewed your stats to see how LinkedIn members
discovered your profile? Over 50 percent of views, on average, come in from
LinkedIn’s search tool.
How well have you optimized your LinkedIn profile?
Did you know that your skills, and those related keywords, drive the
visibility of your profile in LinkedIn search?
Here’s one simple thing you can do this week: go review
your LinkedIn profile. Assess your skills and related keywords across each
section – your headline, summary, experience, and so forth.
Optimize your profile for targeted LinkedIn searches.
When people view your social profile or your company profile time and again,
inevitably they will visit your website.
Of course, if you have done a great job with on-site
SEO they will return or share your site pages, helping your overall SEO rank.
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