September 26th, 2012
by Muhammad Yasin
The practice of using social media for SEO is becoming increasingly important. In order to have your message resonate on social media, and in turn impact your business as it pertains to search engine ranking and online visibility (and eventually monetarily), there are a number of steps you must take. In part two of this blog series, we’ll focus on the task of creating your own social media communities.
In an earlier post we talked about creating great content. Now that you have some quality content, it’s time to join the platforms that you’ll use in order to deliver this information to your audience. Creating your social media communities is easy enough, if you’re willing to take steps to ensure that your target audience is not only reached, but also remains engaged with your brand. In this part of the series, we’ll discuss how you can effectively use The Big Three of Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest) to build your web presence and draw in your target demographic.
Facebook: Give Them Something to “Like”
Facebook has evolved immensely over the past few years. Arguments can be made for and against this social network as a tool for casual communication, but its marketing benefits are undeniable. Facebook is going to be your greatest ally in pushing out quality content to your clients and customers. Today, a majority of people consult Facebook (both product pages and their friends) before making certain purchasing decisions. This gives Facebook a huge amount of power. It’s crucial that you use this social community to your advantage.
Visual marketing is proving to be more effective than plain-text posts. Be sure to use colorful imagery to draw in an audience and ultimately lead people to your content, such as your brand’s website, where they’ll find more information about your product, organization or company. Treat Facebook as your first impression. Make sure it is organized, up-to-date, free of errors and informative in a brief manner. Facebook should not be the end-all-be-all of your marketing endeavors; it’s merely the jumping off point, which invites audience participation, interaction, and eventually leads them to richer content.
Twitter: Leading Your Followers
Twitter is the perfect tool for sending out succinct messages and calls-to-action to your followers. Being limited to just 140 characters forces you to get your message across creatively and concisely. A typical tweet structure should include a brief call to action, a link and a hash tag for easy searching and archiving. You won’t have the same marketing opportunities on Twitter as you do on Facebook, but you can still effectively implement this tool when using social media for SEO purposes. Twitter is great for link building and driving traffic to your brand’s website.
Another benefit of using Twitter for marketing is the ability to interact with your audience. Live tweeting events are a great way to build brand awareness while simultaneously assuring that your audience feels heard and cared for by your company. Having your Twitter page come up in search results for your industry is a huge advantage, so ensure all of your biographical information is appropriately filled in and your hash tags are germane.
Pinterest: The Future of eCommerce
Once thought to solely serve as a mecca for the craft-crazed, Pinterest is proving to be an exceptionally powerful marketing tool. Human beings are incredibly visual creatures, rendering Pinterest a near perfect marketing platform. Using visual images to lead potential customers and consumers to your blog posts and websites, or just sharing images that keep the community engaged, will draw people in and keep them coming back for more.
Pinterest is establishing a reputation as an ecommerce giant. More people are coming to Pinterest and ultimately making purchases from companies than ever before. Implement this tool wisely to share images of your product, stay on top of trends and lead customers to richer content. Like Twitter, Pinterest provides great link building opportunities when embarking upon social media for SEO endeavors.
This step in the process of using social media for SEO may seem like a no-brainer, but people notoriously misuse and underuse their social communities. It’s easy to push out irrelevant information. It takes time and dedication to manage these communities and have them work for you instead of against you, which is easy to do when used haphazardly. Go slowly and ensure that you’re not only pushing out quality content, but doing so in an interesting and compelling manner. Leave channels of communication open between your target audience and your company and make sure visitors have a reason to stay engaged.