These days, everyone’s talking about SEO. It’s like the Wizard of Oz before he was found out: an ever-changing enigma that everyone follows but no one really knows. Staying privy to search engine optimisation is key to getting ahead of it, but how do you know if your efforts are worthwhile? That’s where social media comes into play. Your social media platforms actually serve to heighten your searchability indirectly, and thus improving your SEO. They help you stand out from the pack, bringing you above your industry competitors on the web. To me, that’s a pretty valuable asset.
Social Popularity Helps You Rank on Google
The more social signals you have, the more likely your page is to show up on Google. For example, if someone searches your business name, they may see your website as well as your LinkedIn or Facebook page.
Users don’t have to search for your brand specifically to find it on Google, either. Facebook groups are a great way to build presence and rank on search engines. Get people talking, liking, voting and sharing…and Google is bound to notice. As you can see already, social media and SEO go hand in hand.
Are Social Platforms Search Engines, Too?
As it turns out, social media platforms act as their own kind of search engines. Google aside, you can do a lot of digging in their confines. Within Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and more, users have the capacity to search hashtags, users, locations and keywords. Twitter is especially adept at narrowing down searches.
Do yourself a favor and take advantage of these micro search engines for all their worth. This means adding locations to your post, mentioning relevant hashtags, tagging users that your audience follows and including keywords they’re likely to search.
According to HubSpot Academy, Google filters results based on intent while Facebook and other social media platforms show results based on interest. Intent-based marketing helps you guide the buyer’s journey and land on page 1. But interest-based marketing (like sponsored ads on Facebook) bring the whole thing full circle.
You can’t have one without the other, so focus on keywords that express what your audience is interested in and how you can help them decide what’s next.
Do you want to save time preparing your social media content? Get our social media content plan here. With the help of this annual calendar, you’ve got your quality content in an instant.
Link Building, the Social Way
Additional backlinks never hurt your ranking. In fact, they propel it forth. Search engines care about ranking signals like backlinks, so the more the merrier. Each social media post has its own URL and thus it’s contributing to your SEO performance. Plus, you can use a business blog to tie these hyperlinks to additional content on your website.
Building Brand Awareness, One ‘Like’ at a Time
Just as social media influences your SEO performance, search engine rankings influence your social media. It’s a cyclical thing. With the right strategy, more and more people will become aware of your brand, following and interacting with you on social media to see what’s next. Building brand awareness also has a direct effect on organic search rankings, meaning more people will be searching for your business directly. What a beautiful thing!
Vying for some serious social media strategy? You’re going to want a content plan. Here are 5 reasons why social media content plans matter (& tips for generating content)
Don’t Be Purely Self-Promotional
No one’s interested in a profile that only promotes itself. Provide valuable content to your audience that helps, interests and guides them. Try the world famous 80/20 rule, with 80% helpful or destination content and 20% promotional posts.
Whatever you do, remember this. Every one of your marketing efforts is interconnected. You can’t tackle social media on its own, nor should you address SEO in a vacuum. If you want to maximise your business’ potential, you need to step back and take a look at the big picture—SEO, social media and all.
