Social media is a lot of fun, but it can also be great for your business. It’s so much more than a platform for selfies and sunsets. If you are not implementing a social media strategy for your company’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization) you’re missing out on great leads and turning those leads into sales. Make your social media presence work for you. Here are a few tips:
Call to action
So your business is already utilizing social media. That’s great! But it’s not enough to just post a picture – you need a social media strategy. Each social media post needs to be thought about in terms of results. Are you prompting your viewers to visit your website with each post? Are you personalizing your online persona? Potential customers are much more likely to click when they feel like there is a real person behind your social media platform. Make sure you are including a call to action to turn the casual viewer into a potential buyer.
Use analytics
It’s not good enough to just get clicks. As a business owner, you need to know where these clicks are coming from. You need to understand your target demographics and how customers are finding your information. This is where strategic social media analytics come in. These tools give you a better idea of your target audience and their online habits so you can start building content directly pinpointing them.
Keywords matter
Using the right keywords is a critical component of a social media strategy. Certain keywords define your business so it’s imperative to think like a potential customer searching the internet. What are the words they might search that pertain to your company or products? What are the phrases they might type? These keywords should be reflected in your social media posts. Just like with search engines, search features in social media platforms also utilize SEO.
A social media strategy increases shares
Social media is a great way to get new visitors to your website, and the best way for this to happen is when people share your posts with their friends. Shares on social media are crucial because they expose you to an audience that might not have found your business otherwise. This increases your website’s engagement. More shares lead to more visitors, and in turn, more visitors means higher rankings in the search engines. Some experts say that shares themselves don’t lead to higher search engine rankings, but recent studies have shown the correlation between social media shares and SEO are extremely strong.
Boost your brand
Brand awareness has an impact on search engine rankings. There is a correlation between a robust brand presence and SEO. One of the best ways to boost your brand awareness is to have a thoughtful and engaging social media presence. Today’s audience is receiving much of their consumer information from social media platforms, and the more people seeing your brand coming across their feed the better. Social media boosts your brand by:
- Offering direct access to your audience
- Responding directly to customer service concerns
- Posting impactful content
Use geotags
When your business posts on social media it’s essential to tag your location. Studies have shown that local specific tags actually target web consumers in your area. Searchers are more likely to come across your posts when they are searching from the area in which you have tagged.
Interact with local consumers and businesses
When a customer posts a picture of one of your products, interact with them! This is your chance to engage on a one-on-one level and build customer brand loyalty. Not only does brand loyalty help with your SEO, but it also gives the customer an incentive to tag your business in their posts so all their friends can see it too.
The same goes for the local businesses surrounding you. Initiate contact by tagging them first and watch how quickly they mention you back. Remember, their customers will see their posts with your business mentioned.
In conclusion, social media is more than just fun and games. As technology and the digital marketplace continually evolve, an effective social media strategy has quickly become a catalyst for business and marketing. It not only drives more people to your company’s website via direct clicks, but studies have shown that a strong social media presence is an SEO must.