It used to be that social media sites were solely used as fun places to share thoughts, idle tidbits and photos or videos with old and new friends.
However, these same sites have evolved into business battlefields where savvy marketers square off to drive brand visibility, generate leads, and connect with customers. Now that search engines are indexing the content shared on many social media sites, businesses need to combine their individual search engine optimization (SEO) and a social media strategy into one unified action plan.
Businesses that leverage SEO as part of their brand-building strategy typically focus on keyword research and keyword-rich content on website pages.
Some take it a step further and also capitalize on the power of optimized articles, blog posts, and submissions to various directories and sites with back-linking campaigns. These prove to be very effective tactics for gaining high organic ranking on SERPs (search engine rank pages).
Some of these same businesses also recognize the potential of a social media strategy and separately create Facebook fan pages, LinkedIn business profiles, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, and similar networks to engage their customers. What they don’t realize, however, is this segregated approach doesn’t take full advantage of the link back options or maintain consistency with the keyword content on their site. In short, their efforts may be for naught.
Spiders lead the way.
As you post new content to the Internet and create new links back to your branding site or landing pages, search engine spiders crawl through the sites, seeking quality, original content to add to the search engine indexes. They store this information and release it in response to the queries users put through their search engines, i.e. “I’m going to Google® accounting firms in Baltimore and see what comes up.” To provide better results for online browsers, the spiders have been crawling the social media sites, too, as a way to find fresh, relevant, and popular content.
Improve your rankings by combining your SEO and a social media strategy.
Getting to that top spots of an organic search can take time but by combining your SEO and social media strategies together and following the four recommendations below, you will accelerate your rise to the top.
1. Stay consistent with your brand.
Your target market can connect with you from various sites and networks. They may see your message on Twitter or on Facebook leading them back to your branding site. When you transition their attention from one social media network to another or to your branding page, they expect to see a consistent brand image and “hear” a consistent brand promise. A lack there of will leave you at the status quo or even hurt your rankings. When people vote with likes and share your content, it earns you points with the spiders and helps your SEO.
2. Always consider your keywords.
Keywords aren’t just for web pages anymore. Since search engine spiders crawl social media sites, make sure you maintain keyword consistency in the content you post. This will help people find your content whether you share it as a blog post on your branding site or as a post on your social media networks. For example, if you provide accounting services, and you upload videos to YouTube, your keywords will help you choose appropriate video names, descriptions and tags. So when people interested in learning more about “accounting” or “CPA services” enter these keywords into the search bar on YouTube, they will they find your video instead of your competitors.
3. Take advantage of your linking options.
Social media has become increasingly link friendly. Not only have they made it easy to share content between your social media pages, they also allow you to link from your profiles back to your branding site and any other pages too. According to the search engines, these links count as relevant backlinks, helping your SEO. And by linking between your branding site and your social media profiles, you make it easier for visitors to follow you, leading to more sharing of your content and converting more visitors into leads and customers.
4. Stay active.
Search engines love new content; so do people. The frequency of your posts is just as important as the quality of your content. The proper frequency for each social media site can vary. However, if you aren’t consistently active on social media every day, you’re missing out on opportunities to connect with your target audience, and your SEO will suffer.
For more information about how social media can help your SEO attract and convert more customers, call us at 410-366-9479.
Incite Creative is a marketing strategy and creative implementation firm that works in an outsourced capacity. In short, we become your company’s chief marketing officer (CMO) and do so virtually and efficiently — saving you time and money. Since 1999 we’ve had the pleasure of building and boosting brands for a core set of industries. Our thoughtful process, experienced team, and vested interest in our client’s success has positioned us as one of the Mid-Atlantic’s most sought-after marketing partners for those looking to grow their brand awareness and their bottom line. Stop paying for digital and/or traditional services you may not really need. Our retainer, no mark-up model means our recommendations don’t come with any catch or commission. The recommendations we make align with what you need and what fits within your budget. For more information, contact Dina Wasmer at 410-366-9479 or [email protected].
