Why Is Social Media Essential For Today’s SEO?

Social media is now a part of modern day life which will never go away – every single second, thousands of people are using a variety of networks to connect with each other, share moments from their lives and useful information, create engaging communities and talk about the latest products and services.

It's no surprise then that Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and the rest are absolutely essential when it comes to modern online marketing strategies for businesses of all shapes and sizes, particularly when it comes to building an engaged community around your brand and utilising your social signals to great effect with regards to SEO.

The Different Social Media Platforms

Of course, different platforms are useful for different businesses, and a company that discovers a whole range of benefits from, say, Twitter, may not find anywhere near the same level of engagement from Google+ or Facebook.

For the most part, this is a good thing as different platforms are usable for a range of different things, are best suited to different types of content and work best when approached in slightly different variations of the same overarching brand identity.

Now, most digital marketing agencies will tell you that you need to be active on every single social media platform, posting a dozen times a day and you need someone watching your various accounts at all times – that isn't true, and definitely not the best use of your, or your employee's, time.

Remember that these social platforms are just a tool; a great tool to help your business connect with interested customers, build a community around your brand and ensure that your unique business personality can shine through in a manner which was previously impossible.

Twitter

Now, Twitter is one of the biggest social platforms out there, especially for businesses. Everyone, from individuals sitting in their home office to the biggest and best multinational corporation needs to be on Twitter to promote themselves and engage with their customers.

This is one of the only sites where we would suggest posting several times a day in order to build an active online community and work on acquiring a reputation as an influencer. Remember to start, join and lead conversations to promote your business through this social media platform.

When possible, try to plan your tweets for the times when they will be most viewed by your interested audience; just before work, during the lunch hours and just after work are usually the best times, as people will be idly checking their various accounts whilst waiting for public transport or just trying to kill time.

Instagram

This is another hugely popular platform. Instagram is all about visual content and personality, and it is moth useful for businesses involved in fashion, food, beauty or other lifestyle businesses, along with luxury brands and individual personalities.

Instagram gives businesses and users the opportunity to present visual content in a completely unique manner, so it is essential that any business with a visual component gets involved. You'll want to experiment with the types of content your present, from short videos to staged pictures and subtle “behind-the-scenes" images.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an extremely valuable resource to businesses and individual professionals, and is a much more serious, specialised place than any other social media. For the most part, you'll only be using this to link to relevant articles on specialised subjects, or to post jobs/company descriptions and any research opportunities.

Facebook

Here we are at last – the big daddy of social media. Here, you can post all types of online content including products, adverts and event invitations. For many smaller businesses, Facebook has been the centre of their world for the past few years, and many individuals conduct all of their eCommerce through this platform.

With Facebook Notes having recently undergone a major improvement, it is also a great place for many users to host long-form content, similar to SEO blogs, as part of their personal account. Facebook is great when it comes to building a community, and keeping interested users updated about your latest products and services.

YouTube

YouTube has become such an integral part of many people's day to day life that they don't really think of it as a social media platform. For businesses, it can really make a difference when it comes to digital marketing. There are entire businesses that specifically make content for YouTube, and nothing else – not to mention the YouTube stars who regularly hit the headlines as a result of the amount of revenue they bring in every year.

Ideally, you'll want your business to get into the rhythm of creating fantastic video content and uploading it on a weekly, or bi-weekly, basis. The content you create can be anything from “How To..." videos to product reviews or interviews with employees or industry specialists.

There are other social websites and platforms, of course, but these are the five which tend to offer the most rewards to businesses of various shapes and sizes. Other social medias include:

• Yelp/Foursquare
• Google+
• Pinterest
• Xing
• Disqus
• Vine
• Tumblr
• Twoo

How Does Your Social Media Presence Affect SEO?

There are a whole host of reasons why you need to ensure that you are making the most of the opportunities that these community-based websites can present, but one of the most important is the effect your social presence can have on your search engine optimisation efforts.

We've talked before about the advantages that social media can provide to a smaller business, but we've never really gone into great detail about the advantages that social media can present to your SEO campaign.

Having a strong social media presence is important; here's why it is absolutely essential to your optimisation efforts:

• You Can Extend Your Online Reach – Link building is still one of the most valuable techniques when it comes to SEO, and social media gives you the opportunity to present your website to potential customers. As part of your overall content marketing campaign, you need to produce great content, and share it across your multiple platforms.
  
  This is where the social component comes into play – you need to engage with your audience and ensure that they are sharing and engaging with the content you produce.
  
  
• They Drive High-Quality Traffic – It's an unpleasant fact that the majority of links which are built by SEO companies do not actually bring traffic to any website – simply, they are used to pass on page rank to your site. When done correctly, guest blogging for example, it can be a great source of interested traffic.
  
  Social media is the main driver of real traffic, high-quality, interested traffic on the lookout for the products and services that you have on offer. If someone engages with your social presence, then there is certainly a shared interest – that is what makes people into potential customers!
  
  
• Social Signals Are Incredibly Important – Social signals are one of the most important components of modern SEO – if your website has an active profile, then that is a clear indicator that your business is doing something right. Google picks up on links to your site, and conversation about your business, and therefore assumes that your site is more relevant to your potential customers.
  
  Essentially, social media can provide you with your own team of link-builders, or Brand Ambassadors, who can effectively work to improve your SEO without knowing they are doing it.

Social Media Is Essential For Any Content Marketing Or Search Engine Optimisation Campaign

Here at Promote, we specialise in helping businesses to build strong social media profiles to support search engine optimisation efforts, and reap a diverse range of other benefits. For more information on our services, or our social media training course, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our team of dedicated social media managers and SEO copywriters today on 0118 380 1002.

Alternatively, you can email any questions or concerns you might have to hi@promote.agency and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.