Everything is interconnected in digital marketing, even if that connection is not that obvious at first.
Let us give you an example.
High-quality content on itself won’t help your business that much if people cannot find it. And, a good search engine optimisation strategy won’t matter much if the moment people click on your link, they get on a website that is hard to navigate from their mobile devices.
Now, if everything is so interlinked, why do so many business owners still treat SEO and social media as two different entities?
Let’s have a look at how social media can influence your SEO strategy and how you can use your social media profiles to boost your SEO effort.
You might also be interested in WHAT ARE THE TOP TECHNIQUES FOR SEO?
Does Social Media Influence SEO?
This is a tricky question to answer.
Social media doesn’t influence SEO the way you would expect it. Your social media posts don’t send any ranking signals to the pages they link to. Moreover, the amount of engagement you get on a social media post doesn’t count as a ranking factor. Even Matt Cutts said back in 2014 Google doesn’t use social signals (the number of likes, shares, pins, followers, etc. that you get on your social media sites) to decide your search rankings.
So, it’s easy to see why so many small business owners choose to keep their SEO and social media separate.
But, here’s the twist.
A 2018 study found that articles with lots of social shares got an average 22% boost in search rankings. Another research showed that Google looks at social shares when deciding how to rank a page.
So, what gives?
Is there a correlation between social media content and SEO or not?
The answer is that social media influences your search engine ranking, but not directly.
Let us explain.
Social media has the potential to drive traffic to your website. When you create a stellar piece of content and share it on your social media profiles, your target audience is more likely to share it with their network. You’ve offered them valuable information that they now want to share with their friends and family. Your social media posts generate traffic to your website, which, in turn, signals Google that your content is relevant and authoritative.
Google doesn’t count the clicks you get from the content on social media as regular backlinks. That’s because it would be difficult for the search engine to determine what value to give a link from a social profile. But, because your social media shares amplify your content and drive more traffic, Google takes that boost as a sign that your site is worth showing at the top of organic search results.
This is just the tip of the iceberg on how SEO and social media influence each other. We’ve actually written an entire piece about it that you can read here.
What social media strategies you can use to improve your SEO.
Here are some ideas.
The Best Social Media Strategies for SEO
Now that we know that social media has some sort of influence on your SEO strategy, let’s see what you can do to get the best results.
1. Focus on Getting Positive Brand Mentions
Picture this:
You’ve just opened a small jewelry shop and are trying to get some customers through the door. You send flyers and brochures to let people know about your shop. You offer discounts to the first buyers and partner with other local businesses to help improve your community. All this work pays off as more and more people start talking about you and visiting your shop. So much so that you’ve even got the attention of a big retailer and can now negotiate a better price for renting a spot in one of their locations.
It’s like that with Google too.
If more and more people start mentioning your brand online, Google will realise that you are relevant for certain search queries and offer you a higher ranking.
Google’s Gary Illyes actually said that if a brand that was previously unrecognised by Google starts getting numerous mentions online, then the search engine giant might start seeing it as an “entity.” An entity is defined by Google as “a thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined, and distinguishable.”
What can you do to increase the number of positive mentions your brand gets on social media?
2. Create Quality Content
Yes, content marketing is one of the strongest ranking factors, but don’t be in a rush to create content every other day just for the sake of sharing something with your target audience. Quality, not quantity is the key to getting people to talk about your brand and share your articles with their network.
You don’t always have to come up with original content ideas to wow your audience. Look at some of the best-performing articles in your niche and see what you can do to improve them. For example, let’s say that you want to write an article about the “best tips for buying a DSLR for beginners.” Look at the number one result in Google and see what you can add to the article to improve it. Maybe there are some tips that the author didn’t think about or maybe you can approach the problem from a different angle.
Likewise, you can also look for your worst-performing blog post and see if there are any opportunities for improvement.
If you want to create relevant content that really ticks with your audience, then try to get in their shows for a second and understand their needs. And, that brings us to our next point.
3. Build a Strong Relationship with Your Followers on Social Media
When it comes to what makes social media sites so powerful, it all boils down to one thing: relationships.
Nowadays, consumers can interact with their favorite brands from the comfort of their homes and with just a few clicks and swipes. People can simply send a DM or tweet a brand to ask a question, share their thoughts, or complain about their experience. The way you handle these interactions can help you grow your brand.
We know that building and managing a business takes a lot of time and hard work and answering social media comments might look like a trivial task. But, companies who engage with their social media audience have higher loyalty rates. That’s because, by engaging with your followers, you are actually showing them that you aren’t just another business that only cares about their wallets, but someone real who is genuinely interested in their needs and problems.
Here are some ideas on how to build a relationship with your audience on social media:
- Look for questions they might have asked on groups and offer helpful answers without pushing your products or services;
- Answer to their comments even if they are hateful or negative. Don’t be aggressive, but show empathy and try to see the problem from their perspective;
- Ask them what type of content they would like to read on your blog;
- Ask them what they think about your products/content and if they have any ideas for improvement.
You can then use all these insights to create content that they would want to share. And, as we’ve shown, the more people share your content and mention your brand, the higher the chances your ranking will improve too.
4. Leverage Social Media Advertising
We cannot talk about social media without acknowledging the fact that organic reach is plummeting. The average organic reach on Facebook, for example, is 5.5%. So, it can be really hard for business owners to find the motivation to create content for social media. That’s why it’s important to include paid advertising too in your social media marketing strategy. For example, you can create a campaign where you focus on promoting your evergreen content to improve your authority and get more positive mentions.
Over to You
Although not directly, a good social media strategy can help you improve your SEO efforts and rank higher in the search results. In the end, it all boils down to creating quality content and engaging your audience on your social platforms.
But, that’s often easier said than done.
If you need help with your SEO and social media efforts, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with Australian Internet Advertising. We are one of the leading and fastest-growing SEO agencies in Australia and have the experience, tools, and drive to get your website at the top of search engine results.
If you are not sure if our services are worth it, then you can claim your free SEO health check and see what we can do for your business.
Contact us today.
