Without question, social media supports SEO in a big way. How? In brief, because people need stuff. When we want something strongly enough, we do what it takes to get what we want. For online business, when you reach out and act social, you show your target market you’ve got what they want. Know how social media supports SEO puzzle pieces. Practice its concepts. This knowledge helps you most effectively connect, convince and convert site visitors into customers.
Social media marketing and SEO are two tightly interwoven strategies. Both are organic, inbound strategies that focus on building an appealing identity that naturally attracts visitors. Since social media relies on high-quality content and a visible, strong brand presence, the efforts you spend on SEO can doubly improve your social media reach, and as most search marketers will tell you, your social media presence can greatly increase your search rankings.
The Cyclical Pattern by which Social Media Supports SEO
Still wondering exactly how social media supports SEO? Here’s an infographic that breaks down the cycle for you.
Your highly optimized and socialized online content can satisfy the voracious information appetites of your target markets. SEO formatted content gives answers to buyers when they need it by providing it in the way most liked by them.
Business people like to follow proven-to-work systems and processes. If you want to conserve resources, get maximum performance from your marketing efforts, improve productivity and save time, incorporate social media in your SEO.
The Positive Side Effects of Posting – Understanding How Social Media Supports SEO
Now you know the basics as to just how social media supports SEO. Here’s an in-depth explanation of the graphic that details how a brand posting on social media can improve ROI with each social media update made.
1. Publishing of Creative, Inspiring and Informative Content
Look at these stats from the Pew Research Center about visitors who engage in social media. They are your potential customers. Knowing and using this information helps you succeed in your business activities.
Think of your marketing efforts like they are cogs in a wheel. Each marketing cog does something to move potential customers closer to becoming believers in improving their lives, solving their problems and being happy. A happy prospect is one that converts.
As a business owner who cares about serving the market, you need to educate, inform and entertain with your content. This contributes to moving your marketing wheels. Taking all these ideas into consideration, and by publishing creative, inspiring and informative content, your fans become invested in your offer. An invested fan is one with whom you develop a meaningful relationship. Those relationships generate a win-win for you and your customers.
2. Shared Content Increases Link Authority
As with any movement in life, the movement is based on exciting and interesting principles. Publish enough creative, inspiring and motivating content, and those who relate to it will share it with others. Those important content links give your fans an online tool to attract others to your movement or cause.
But where are the most popular global social networking sites? Check out this link to see a list showing 21 of the most world’s most popular sites.
Remember: publish your content only on the sites where your most-likely prospects are already visiting. For example, if you want to reach business people, meet customers, get in touch with vendors, recruit new employees, and/or read the latest business or industry news, go to LinkedIn rather than Pinterest. The audiences at each site are vastly different. Know your audience. This helps you know where to socially network!
Social media is also useful because it encourages external sites to link to your content, and the more diverse external links you have, the more authority you’ll gain in Google’s eyes. Of course, the catch to this is that you must have high-quality, authoritative content to begin with. Otherwise, you’ll have nothing to use to attract links.
3. Social Media Following Increases While the Website Gains Traffic
By offering your business solutions in a particular way, you create a brand or signature to your unique commercial endeavor. In essence, you create a profile of the most likely people interested in your offer(s).
You improve the effectiveness and efficiency of successfully running your business by aligning your social media content with your company brand. Becoming a familiar and highly-liked fan favorite, your social media profile collects loyal and long-term customers.
To search engines like Google, any indication of a verifiable external source validating your brand or your content is grounds for a small improvement in domain authority. So, if you can get five people to share your Facebook post, that’s great, but if you can get 1,000 people to share it, that’s even better.
4. Community Grows Around Brand
Fed-Ex, Domino’s Pizza, Amazon, and other well-known businesses all grew and continue to grow their commercial community around their unique brands. Yes, it’s true, their fans might research new brands. However, loyal fans always come back to their preferred provider.
Loyal fans of preferred companies like to communicate in certain formats. This is actually a function of the brain. The human brain likes consistency; it’s the way we form habits. Once a habit is established in the brain, it becomes a person’s “normal” way of living. So, by using social media content in your company’s unique way, you easily grow your community around your brand.
5. Building Authority with Social Media Interactions Reinforces Reputation
When your fans, prospects and customers identify with and like the way you brand what you do, they actually feel secure visiting you often. They see your content as credible, reliable and desired. The more people who visit your site, the more Google sees your site as providing quality content. That helps your site rank easier.
Increasing your reputation on social media, through increased engagement and high-quality content syndication, will lead to increased online brand presence. That increased brand presence is going to lead to more branded searches on Google, and the more branded searches your brand receives, the higher it’s likely to rank for non-branded keywords.
6. Search Engines Index Websites Higher
Taking the time to publish quality content pleases Google and your customers. It’s an art, a skill, and a process to know how to benefit from writing shared content that interests your target audiences. Consistently and regularly creating and publishing online content in just the right way is the key to ranking higher and being profitable. Being social supports your search engine optimization efforts.
7. Users Find Site Organically Through Search Engines
Just like in the “old days” when the telephone company trained phone users to use the phonebook, prospects today know to use search engines to find what they want from online businesses. Making it your policy to use SEO strategies and principles in your online content helps you be where you need to be when potential prospects are online.
Social Media Supports SEO to Get a Business Visible and Cultivate Engagement
Get in front of your right audience. Make it a good business habit to use SEO in your social media. It’s the way to get the visibility you need for a successful business.
Did help you break the code? What will you adjust to boost social media engagement and keep building the brand? Share your thoughts here in the comments!
Mark Toney
Mark Toney is CEO of Lucé Media – a social and digital strategy, research and content company. He has worked with hundreds of companies small and large to increase awareness, engagement and most important – new business.