In the digital age, marketing is a full-time job.
It’s not enough to have a website and hope for people to stumble upon it. You need integrated strategies that combine SEO with social media if you want your customers to recognize your presence.
In a study conducted by Hootsuite, they tested the SEO results of articles with and without social promotion. The top shares on social media saw an average 22% increase in search engine rankings. This proves how social media is vital for SEO.
So how do you make sure that both social media and SEO are working towards the same goal?
We’ve put together this blog post with tips on how to combine SEO with social media for your digital marketing strategy.
Social SEO
Social SEO is the process of using social media to get your website more exposure. You can use social SEO to post about what you do on various sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It could also mean creating a YouTube video that will generate traffic back to your site.
While social media marketing doesn’t directly affect SEO, it can help increase traffic to your website over time. And when traffic increases, search engine ranking improves.
Social media is a powerful tool for SEO because it builds trust, customer loyalty, brand awareness, and exposure. The more people share, like, retweet, and comment on your content, the easier it will be to rank in Google searches.
Social SEO is more than posting links back to your site on social media. You need to make sure that what you post generates conversation or interest in your product.
For example, if you operate a bakery and want people to visit your establishment, you take pictures after baking a batch of cupcakes. Then share them with followers who may enjoy sweets.
So why is social media important for SEO?
Content Distribution
Social media is vital in SEO because it’s a way to connect with an audience. Your audience doesn’t have time to look for your website every day. But on social media, they’re constantly scrolling through and looking at what their friends are sharing.
By sharing your posts on social media, you ensure a wider audience sees them.
There is no better way to reach more people than through the networks where they already exist and spend their time. Social media sites have powerful search algorithms that find content based on what users engage with most often.
If a post is well-written and timely, it may get more views than if you just posted it on your website alone. And when users engage with that content by sharing, liking, retweeting, etc., those engagements mean additional visibility of the original post.
In addition, the engagements lead to clicks back to your site, thus increasing potential leads. Combine this power with SEO keywords, and you’re bound to see better results.
Content Scheduling
Social media also helps with content scheduling by providing a place to share and schedule posts. For example, you can post an article on LinkedIn, and it will go directly to your followers’ newsfeeds. Thus, they see it in their feed without having to search for the article themselves.
Similarly, when posting links on other social platforms, they are posted immediately onto users’ timelines.
This means that social media platforms allow marketers control over the timing and context of content distribution. As a result, there is no longer just one right time or channel for marketing campaigns.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is a necessary step in reaping the benefits of SEO and social media together. You’ll want to start with the keywords you already know. Then take it one step further by looking up popular hashtags related to your niche on social media platforms like Reddit.
Discovering hashtags can be an insightful way of researching more effective SEO keywords. Once you’ve found some popular words, use Google’s Keyword Tool to see which ones have lower competition. These words have a better chance to rank higher on SERPs.
Content Ideas
Content ideas are everywhere, but social media can help you find them faster. Join a few Facebook groups, Twitter chats, and LinkedIn groups that discuss the topics in your industry or niche. You’ll learn from others in the field and start conversations about what’s relevant now.
Social media is a great place to find content ideas. For example, you can poll past and present customers by asking things like:
- What are you struggling with
- What’s one thing we could help you do better
- How would our product or service make your life easier
The answers will give you valuable insight into what people want from your products. In addition, it’ll allow for more personalized conversations about customer expectations. This way, you’re not just talking at them—you’re having genuine discussions that may lead to increased engagement.
Social Interaction Data
Social media can help you find out what people are saying about your business and which keywords they’re using.
Use social network analytics tools to monitor conversations and scan for mentions of your company name. You’ll be able to see when there’s a buzz around your product. You can then post links back at those users to know where to find more information about the product.
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are great for getting data on social interaction. For example, you’ll see how many people liked your posts and what kind of content they react to the best.
Faster Indexing
Social media sites are also great for getting your website indexed faster. The more links you have from social networks to your site, the higher it will rank in search engine results pages.
It can take weeks for a blog to gain traction, but it can take mere minutes for content on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to go viral.
Improve Local SEO
One of the best ways to ensure that people can find your business is local SEO. This includes filling out all information about your location, such as address and phone number, so people know where to find you. It’s a good idea to be consistent with these details across social media platforms since most profiles have an option for this information.
Identify the Target Audience
First, let’s take a look at how social media can help you identify the right customers.
If your website is optimized for search engines and has good content, it will rank well in organic searches. But even if someone finds your site through organic search results, they still need to be interested enough in what you offer before they buy anything. There are several steps between discovering your company and becoming an actual customer.
Social networks like Facebook provide valuable feedback on who those potential buyers might be. For example, demographics data tell us their age range. Likes/interests tell us about their hobbies or passions. Activities relate info about current interests and behaviors (shopping, traveling).
Longevity
Social media posts have longevity. Posting to various platforms will keep the same message active and available for new audiences at different times of the day or in varying contexts. This also makes it easy for your content to be shared, as those who find it on one platform can share it with others.
Brand Recognition
Social media is a great way to reach potential customers and maintain brand recognition. It’s an easy and cost-effective marketing channel that you can use to:
- Create customer awareness about your company
- Develop relationships with consumers
- Generate new leads
- Distribute special offers or content for promotions
- Provide customer service and gather user feedback
You can also check out some of the latest social media marketing trends that can help you improve your brand recognition.
Why Social Media Helps Rather Than Harms SEO?
If your business has been slow on the uptake of social media because it seems like too much work, then this might be just what you need: already, many businesses are using both in tandem.
But how does combining them help? They’re two separate entities, after all. The answer is simple: if you’re not using social media to get your content out there, it will be hard for people (including Google) to find and rank it.
Combine SEO With Social Media
The main takeaway is that SEO helps with the visibility of a company on the web while social media boosts traffic. Traffic, in turn, drives more leads towards the business.
When you combine SEO with social media, these marketing strategies will help boost both elements in tandem rather than one without the other.
For other interesting articles, keep reading our posts.
