Nothing seems to polarise opinion more amongst online marketers than the SEO/social media debate.
Those with a more traditional persuasion will never be fully convinced of the inherent value of social media marketing: whilst the newer kids on the block will tell you that SEO is a thing of the past and that marketing has moved on. For these marketers, social media is the New Jerusalem. The question that should be asked, and sadly it’s generally overlooked is, are the two mutually exclusive?
Do SEO and social media strategies exist independently, or is there any element of cross-over for online business?
Well, the answer is wholly dependent on whose opinion you listen to, but we feel that not only is there room for both, but that they can be a great benefit to business and can help to increase awareness and visibility of a brand. So how can a business harness the power of the social media and use it to aid and enhance its SEO? Over the course of the next couple of articles we’ll have a look at ways in which you can use a mixture of SEO and social media to build a business brand.
Create multiple social media profiles.
Social networking isn’t just about the big headline-grabbing platforms Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of them out there, though Facebook and Google seem intent on trying to hoover them up. Each of these smaller platforms have the power to help your business build its online presence, as each profile has the potential to rank in the search engines. Create profiles on as many of these smaller social networking sites as possible, but bear in mind they need to have relevance to you and the goods or services that you offer.
Social networks are platforms that allow you to interact and engage with other users: they’re places where you can build a strong community. Therefore you’ll have to put the work in and keep your profile active and updated. Simply joining a network might bring a link back to your website, but it’s a continued interaction that helps to build the brand and foster that sense of belonging.
Use your keywords in tweets and posts.
Incorporating keywords into tweets and posts will help to get them listed and ranked by search engine pages. Granted, that’s slightly more difficult with the limited character allowance of Twitter, but that’s more than enough to get your keyword(s) in. Link from your tweets to your blog, video or any other form of content you’re offering. Posting is a lot easier as you have more space to use your keywords. Try using them in the title, and write a short description about the content of each post incorporating your targeted keywords.
