There are myriad reasons why having a social media presence is so crucial for businesses: to strengthen brand awareness, build a community, foster relationships with customers and industry contacts, gain more clicks to your website… just to name a few.
But did you know that you can use social media to improve SEO? It’s true: a strong social media presence can increase your search rankings. Here are 7 ways you can make this happen:
The number of social media followers you have has a major influence on your search rankings. Businesses with thousands of followers on social media are going to reap more benefits than those with hundreds of followers, so it would serve you well to build your following on various forms of social media.
It’s simply not time efficient to be active on all forms of social media, so you have to ask yourself: where does my ideal audience get social? You want to be present on platforms where you can interact with your potential customers and industry colleagues. For example: if you’re in the food or retail business, you’ll want to invest in Pinterest; if you’re in photography or fashion, consider taking up Instagram.
Keep in mind that Google doesn’t treat all social media platforms as equal when determining search rankings. According to research, website links that are shared and +1’d on Google Plus have more impact than any other social platform.
Source: Audience Bloom
The fact is, your followers will be more motivated to interact with you on social media and share your content if you return the love. Always endeavor to reply to all comments and acknowledge all shares with either a thanks or a reciprocal share.
In addition to engaging followers who may someday be your customers, you should also focus on building a network of industry professionals. Start cultivating relationships with other people doing similar business by engaging with them and sharing their content on social media. Not only will they likely return the favor, but it could also lead to some offline opportunities like customer referrals or partnerships.
First, focus on creating high quality content that’s worth sharing. Then, move others to share it by making it easy for them to do so. Use call to actions on your blog posts that say something along the lines of “If you found this article helpful/enjoyable, please share it!”, and install a WordPress social media plugin where they can instantly share it with one click. Remember, the more work required to share your content, the less likely people are to do it.
A surefire way to inspire your followers to like, comment on, and share your content is by offering a prize. You could use something like Rafflecopter where each action (e.g. like you on Facebook, comment on a blog post) is an entry into the drawing; or, you could have them submit ideas for a photo caption and the best entry wins. Either way, you are generating more buzz around your brand and website, inspiring interaction, and gaining more followers as the contest is shared around.
All of the above are ingredients in the recipe for increasing awareness of your brand. The more your brand is out there, the more likely people are to do branded searches on Google, which Google will in turn reward by ranking your site higher for non-branded keywords.
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Rock Solid Marketing is a trusted Mildura marketing agency servicing the Sunraysia and Mallee region since 2017.
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