In our final post on the series of SEO and integration we take a look at how it relates to Social Media marketing.
We break down the easy basics for anyone to be better at using social media and then integrating that data into their SEO strategy. And as many people say to me that they “don’t get this whole social media thing” I’ll make this easy to learn, simple to integrate and the option to call me for more help.
What Is This Social Media Thing Anyways?
The funny thing is we all know what social media is! We’ve been a part of it long before it became a coined term. The truth is we talk to people all the time about our business, our job specifically, our industry. Family asks it when you show up for that holiday dinner. You’ve been asked about your work at a party or when meeting someone new. We share our thoughts, beliefs and much more. Social Media as we see it today is really just putting an online spin to it. Instead of verbalizing you’re typing. Instead of speaking directly to someone you’re speaking through a social profile. So the reality is we’ve all been doing this social media thing already!
How Do I Make It Work In Today’s Online World?
That’s a great question! The answer is simple, the outcome not so much. Write on your company blog. Share your knowledge on your industry, tell people about new products and services, tell people all about what’s new, what’s emerging or anything else that’s relatable. Feel free to share some tips too. Anything that would be worthy of being put out there. Trust me we all have things to talk about so we can just the same type it out too.
Ok. Content done. What’s next? Well, make sure you have some social networks set up like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any others that may make sense for your market like Pinterest or Instagram. So not that you’ve got that content you need to share it with others and you do this through your social profiles. If it’s worthy you’ll have people that like it, share it, link to it, etc.
So create the content is like talking about your stuff. Your social networks are like the people you want to talk to. So far so good?
Got It. How Do I Make My Money Now?
You’re firing on all cylinders right now! I get a lot of emails and see a lot of websites that boast great returns with a social media marketing strategy. The reality is it takes time for this all to work. Ideally what you’re looking to do is get people engaged with your brand. You’re going to want them to become attached to you, to see you as the industry leader in what you do and to begin closing that gap of who they’re going to select to do business with at the time they are ready to make a buying decision.
The tough reality is you won’t be writing a blog and converting those readers into buyers. We’re just not hardwired to do that. At least not yet! But the great thing is companies that are engaged with their social media are proven to generate more leads than those who don’t.
We can also track through Google Analytics people who may have visited a blog post of yours and it resulted in a sale. It’s a tricky enough move but one that a discussion would warrant.
How Does All Of This Relate To SEO?
So the next question is how does this all relate to SEO? There’s a few good things to keep in mind. First, good social media work IS a part of the overall scope of SEO. You’re providing great content and Google wants to rank a great page, not a strong keyword. And the great thing about your social media is you’re answering questions, you’re providing quality content so you’ll more than likely rank for long-tailed keywords, “how to” types of keywords and other low-hanging fruit keywords (the kind that are less competitive but high up on the conversion scale).
The other side is the data you collect from your social media work can then be applied to other parts of your SEO. That means, for example, if your social media work around product X are driving lots of traffic and you see that resulting in more sales then it may be a good opportunity to revamp other parts of the site that may represent product X.
Overall your social media marketing strategy can help your business identify what’s working, what the people want from you and how you can then implement that data to your advantage. I hope this helps you with your social media work!
Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 of this series.
If you need more info on this post or any other in our series please call Patrick at 905-943-2985 x108.
