There are numerous benefits to engaging in social media marketing. Some are tangible, such as a number of likes, fans and followers. Other benefits such as enhanced customer service, brand recognition and developing lasting relationships are intangible benefits which can be difficult to measure.
On the other hand, SEO has always played an important role in the online marketing strategies of Sydney businesses. With millions of searches being conducted every day, a company that can’t be found by using the search engines, like Google, is practically invisible. SEO isn’t just about ranking well, it’s also 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 much as possible to help it succeed and rank higher in search results.
SEO and social media marketing do not exist in separate silos and there should be an element of SEO in all of your online activities, including social media marketing.
As social media marketing matures it is becoming clear to digital marketing consultants that it has an impact on a site’s SEO.
Here are a few ways social media consultants work with SEO experts to improve website rankings:
Ranking Social Media Profiles
Social Media Profiles have the potential to rank in the search engines and help in increasing your brand presence online. Keep in mind that you should only create profiles on social media sites that you actually intend to be active in.
While creating a profile with the sole purpose of generating a link is a common practice, an active profile will establish an authority position and be worth much more in the long run.
Targeting Keywords in Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites are a great place to establish relationships with consumers and build a strong community. Incorporating keywords in tweets and posts is a tactic social media consultants use to share links to a blog, article video or any other form of content.
Including keywords in the tweet as hashtags helps tweets get pulled by the search engines into a results page. On Facebook, you have more room to target keywords in your posts. The title of your post is the perfect place to incorporate keywords from an SEO point of view.
You can also write a short description of the content included in each post using targeted keywords. This is another good opportunity to target keywords to drive traffic to your website.
If your social media consultant is posting blogs on your Facebook or LinkedIn page, instead of publishing the whole post, they should include just a snippet and a call-to-action. The idea here is to get visitors to click on a link in the snippet which will take them to your blog.
The reason for this is that having someone read the whole post on your social profile takes away the opportunity for them to engage further on your website where you have more detailed content and offers which increase the chances of converting prospects to clients.
Linking Websites to Social Media Profiles
It’s a common practice to include links to your social media profiles, however, avoid giving prominence to social media icons on your website. When a visitor is on your website, they are most likely looking for more information. Some may be interested in buying your product or making an enquiry.
In these situations, they can easily get distracted and leave your website instead of requesting a quote or filling out a form on your Contact Us page.
Sending traffic away from your website to get someone to like you on Facebook when they are already on your website and are ready to buy your product is a mistake that can cost your business lost sales and leads. Your social media profiles should serve as gateways to your main site, not the other way around.
Linking to Influential Social Media Personalities
Whatever your industry, there’s always an influencer your target audience looks to for advice. These influential personalities can help in positioning your brand in front of that audience. Connecting on social networking sites is the first step in building a relationship with them. The objective is to expand reach through content sharing.
Google takes the publisher’s authority into account when looking at social media which will influence search results. For instance, link to a blog post shared by an active online marketing company in Sydney will have more weight than that same link shared by an occasional user.
Regularly Updating Content
Content posted on a social networking site has a short shelf life. Studies have found that Facebook posts get fifty percent of their likes in the first 80 minutes. However, it takes 22 hours for that same post to get ninety-five percent of its likes. This is why it’s important to be consistent when creating and publishing content.
Publishing content too infrequently will cause you to lose the engagement of your community. Content marketing is an important SEO component, but there’s is a fine line between too little and too much content.
Many websites allow social sign-ins, 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 and some of your network might feel like you are spamming them and there’s a chance they may unlike your page. You need to carefully look at your target audience to best determine the best time for posting content.
These are some of the ways in which social media consultants can make the best use of SEO to improve website rankings for their clients. What’s really important is to have a clear digital marketing strategy and careful selection of keywords to get the best results.
About Nik
Results oriented Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Online Marketing Strategist with over 10 years of professional experience. Had worked alongside a team of SEO Experts in Sydney and helped numerous businesses across Australia in terms of leveraging their SEO / Internet Marketing campaigns and guiding them to success using effective and white hat methodologies.
