The Benefits of Social Media Don’t Stop at Your Facebook Page

Nowadays social media plays a very important role when it comes to gaining organic traffic to your website. When planning an SEO strategy, it is important to consider your social media channels, and vice versa. There are very simple ways to do this that will help to re-enforce your brand while helping to increase traffic to your website.

It is believed by many marketers that linking to your website from your social media has a definite impact on your domain authority and organic rankings. It is becoming more and more obvious that Google is considering these links as credible backlinks. According to marketing consultant Brian Honigram:

“Today, links are mainly achieved through developing original content that is in turn, shared across social media. Links to your content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube and other social networks help the search engines understand what websites are credible and should be ranked for what keyword phrases.” A simple way to achieve this is by linking to your blog from your social channels, or in the case where there is product, a product page on your website.”

The more followers you have on your social channels the higher the likelihood that these links will be shared, re-shared, re-tweeted, etc, enforcing these links as credible.

Have you ever noticed that your social media channels come up in search engines? I am going to use Central Square Florist as an example. When you type Central Square Florist into your search bar, the first thing that comes up organically is their website. Which is ideal. But you will notice, the second listing is their Pinterest, followed by Yelp, Facebook, Google+, and Instagram. So these profiles are clearly ranking in search engines.

Now when performing this search on a mobile device you will see that recent posts from Google+ are showing up. It is acting as a newsfeed of sorts, and only promotes the idea that relevant and consistent content on your social media channels is important.

With the rise of social channels showing up in search results, there is a growing percentage of online shoppers who are clicking on a company’s social channel before going to their website. It’s a way to interact with a brand and get to know it before purchasing. I know that I personally do that when shopping. It helps me know whether a company is professional or not, and it gives me a chance to look at their reviews and what their shoppers are saying about them.

Consumers are also going straight to these social channels to search. This is why it is important to make sure that your profile page is easy to identify and official. Having duplicate pages can be confusing. You also want to make sure that the category your business page is listed under is relevant, and that your address is correct. This way it will be easier for a consumer to find the correct page and be directed to your store, whether it is through posts, pages, or places.

Last but not least, don’t forget Bing. It is the second most-used search engine, and its market share is on the rise. This is their stance on social media and rankings:

“We do look at the social authority of a user. We look at how many people you follow, how many follow you, and this can add a little weight to a listing in regular search results.”

Social media and SEO are intricately tied together there is no denying that. It is important to have an SEO campaign that works with your social media campaign, and vice versa. It is an easy way to help not only grow your social following, but improve your organic rankings at the same time.