There are numerous benefits to engaging in social media marketing. Some are
tangible (number of Likes, Fans and followers) and some are not (enhanced
customer service, brand recognition and developing lasting relationships).
You may not fully "get" social media, but you can't deny that it is
important and should be included in your overall marketing campaign. Social
media is here to stay, and it is up to you to make sure your company uses it
to their best advantage.
SEO is another field of online marketing that has earned itself a permanent
spot in the marketing campaigns of many companies. With millions of searches
being conducted every day, a company that can't be found in the search
engines is practically invisible. SEO isn't just about ranking well; it's
about building your online brand. There are many factors that affect how a
site ranks in the search engines and SEO is about optimizing your site as
best as possible to help it succeed.
However, SEO and social media marketing shouldn't exist in separate silos.
In truth, there should be an element of SEO in all of your online
activities, as well as finding a way to leverage your offline marketing
methods online. As social media marketing matures, it is becoming clearer
and clearer that it has an impact on a site's SEO.
Here are a few ways you can use your social media marketing activities to
aid your SEO:
Create Social Networking Profiles
Aside from the big three of social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter)
there are literally hundreds of smaller social networking sites for every
kind of audience. Each of these profiles has the potential to rank in the
search engines, increasing your brand presence online. Keep in mind that you
should only create profiles on sites that you actually intend to be involved
with. While creating a profile to just get the link is okay, an active
profile is going to be worth much more in the long run. Social networking
sites are a great place to establish relationships with consumers and build
a strong community.
Incorporate Keywords into Tweets and Posts
Twitter only gives you 140 characters, so space is limited. It is a great
way to share a link to your blog, an article, video or any other form of
content. Incorporating keywords into the Tweet (perhaps as a hash tag,
stylized as #keyword) helps that Tweet get pulled into a results page by the
search engines. On Facebook, you have more room to target keywords in your
posts. The title of your post is a great place to incorporate keywords. You
can also write a short description about the content of each post, another
good spot to target keywords.
Drive Traffic to Your Main Site
If you are going to post blog posts on your Facebook or LinkedIn page, don't
throw up the whole post. Include a snippet and call-to-action that drives
visitors from your social networking profile over to your company blog.
Having someone read the whole post on your social profile doesn't give you
the chance to lead them further into your site.
On your site, you can include links to your social media profiles, but they
shouldn't be prominently featured. Why would you want to send traffic away
from your site? What good is getting someone to Like you on Facebook if you
want them to buy your product? They are already on your site, don't send
them away. Otherwise, what is the point all of your SEO? Your social media
profiles should serve as gateways to your main site, not the other way
around.
Reach Out to Influential Social Media Personalities
Every industry has a leader that your target audience looks to for advice.
These influential personalities can help better position your brand in front
of that audience. Connecting with them on social networking sites is the
first step in building a relationship with them. Social media marketing is a
give and take. You can't expect others to share your content if you don't
share theirs. Google has also admitted they take author authority into
account when looking at social media to influence the search results. A link
or story shared by an active user has more weight and worth than that same
link when shared by a spam account. Quantity is great, but sometimes quality
is worth more overall.
Publish Content Within Reasonable Time Frame
Did you know that content posted on a social networking site has a shelf
life? A recent study found that Facebook posts get 50% of their likes in the
first 80 minutes. However, it takes 22 hours for that same post to get 95%
of its Likes. Publishing too frequently means that you'll push your own
content out. Publishing too infrequently means you'll lose the engagement of
your community. Content marketing is a critical component of SEO, but it is
a fine line between too much and too little content.
Many sites allow for "social sign-in," meaning you can leave a comment using
your Facebook login information. Your activity on these sites is then linked
to your Facebook account and gets published on your wall. Depending on how
much blog commenting you are doing as a part of your link building campaign,
you could be flooding Facebook with your actions. Some of your network might
feel like you are spamming them and un-Like your page.
You also have to look at your target audience to best determine when you
should be posting content. Another study found that "companies that post
content on their Facebook pages outside normal business hours see engagement
rates that are 20% higher than average."
If you have any questions or comments please contact me.
Regards Gerald
Website: http://www.webcraft.ws
E-mail: gerald@webcraft.ws
Twitter: WebcraftGuru
Facebook: Webcraft Guru
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