Ask anyone, and you’ll likely get one of two answers: people either love social media — or hate it. What can’t be disputed, however, is its value in the information world. People now use social media to stay up-to-date with friends, family, hot topics … and even breaking news. So how about businesses? Some use social media more than others for their marketing strategies. But just how important is social media to your business’ Strategic Engine Optimization (SEO)? The answer: social media has become one of the primary marketing channels for businesses and is an absolute workhorse for your SEO efforts. While social media doesn’t directly contribute to SEO ranking, the links you share — and then are shared by others — increase brand exposure and influence SEO. Social media sends social signals to SEO, influencing the factors that Google considers when ranking your website. When you post across multiple social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, etc. — more people share your content, increasing the chances of directing traffic back to your website.
What should you post?
Ever heard the saying, “you get out what you put in”? That’s especially true for your Social SEO efforts. While some businesses elect to schedule daily posts of articles or links, those posts rarely — if ever — show up in people’s newsfeeds because of always-changing social media algorithms. Google values and rewards quality posts, so you should always strive to produce authentic, creative, inspiring, and informative content that your followers may share … and their friends and family may share.
It helps build your brand
Social media helps you build trust by showcasing candid and professional photos of your practice and staff and opening the door to authentic conversations with your audience. Engaging with your followers is important, and you can conduct simple market research through posts and polls on social-media platforms. Asking and responding to your audience’s questions and concerns in the comments section helps you learn valuable insights about your potential consumers. In turn, you can use that collected data to improve your offerings and services. Don’t forget to include what you discover through your social-media market research in your targeted hashtags and keywords and the SEO content you produce! Consumers look for businesses’ social media pages and pay attention to your presence. Do you frequently post? Do you share photos of your offered products and services? Do you engage with your audience? Consumers are looking for this when they seek you out and discover you on social media. They are far more likely to buy a product if they see real people using and reviewing it on social media. Some social media platforms also offer the unique opportunity for consumers to review — and read reviews of — the business itself.
How does social media help SEO?
Social media strengthens social signals and shares the same goals as SEO. People reading your posted content are likely to link back to your original posts, increasing your practice’s visibility and, consequently, its SEO ranking. Despite how it may appear, you don’t have to post dancing videos to TikTok (although those certainly don’t hurt). Simple post-add-ons like hashtags and keywords work together to drive people back to your content and, ultimately, your website. SEO aims to grow your business by building your brand, getting you noticed, and directing targeted traffic to you and your website. Social media is one of the most valuable tools you have to help you achieve this end.
