Social Media SEO: What is it & why you must focus on it?

Intro

Undoubtedly, you are already familiar with the power of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and its pivotal role in facilitating the growth of your business in the vast expanse of the online realm. Concurrently, you may have been harnessing the potential of Social Media to establish a robust brand presence and cultivate heightened brand awareness among your target audience.

However, what if I were to unveil a strategy that could elevate your online presence even further by seamlessly amalgamating the forces of SEO and Social Media? Enter Social Media SEO – a dynamic synergy that extends beyond being a mere buzzword circulating on the internet. It is a tangible and potent approach that has the potential to reshape your digital landscape.

In this piece, I will explain what Social Media SEO is, How it works & why you must focus on it!

Let’s jump in right away!

What is Social media SEO?

Social Media SEO is the practice of fusing SEO & Social Media marketing strategies to drive more organic traffic to your website. It's based on the idea that Social Media Links & Social Media Interactions are critical in driving meaningful traffic to any website.

Social Media SEO focuses on optimizing the content on Social Channels & Search Engines to appear at the top of Search Results. Social Media SEO is rapidly gaining traction amongst SMB owners & digital marketers as it offers a dual advantage. First, social SEO boosts online presence on Google to drive organic traffic & it helps boost the Brand's Social Presence too.

How does Social Media SEO works?

Social Media SEO is all about optimizing your Social Profiles & make them SEO-friendly. Here's a simple & step-by-step understanding of the concept:

Step 1: Creating & Publishing attractive & inspiring content

People often tend to scroll mindlessly on Social Media platforms (including me!). To grab their attention & compel them to consume your content, it must be attractive & inspiring. So the first step in Social Media SEO is to create engaging & inspiring content that's trending on multiple social media platforms.

But it's essential that the topic somehow relates to your product or services so you can redirect your audience to your website.

Step 2: Sharing & Linking the Content

Sharing created content on multiple social media platforms and linking it to your website is a crucial step in maximizing your content's reach and engaging a wider audience. Social media platforms play a significant role in reaching potential users, although their algorithms may limit organic reach. By strategically sharing content across various platforms, you increase the likelihood of reaching a diverse audience.

Linking the content to your website serves two important purposes. First, it provides users with a direct path to learn more about your brand, products, or services. This integration allows for a seamless transition from social media consumption to exploring deeper layers of information on your website.

Step 3: Website drives Traffic; Social Profiles gain followers

Firstly, the website serves as a central hub for attracting traffic. By creating compelling and relevant content on the website, it becomes a magnet for visitors. This content should not only be informative or entertaining but also have the ability to redirect the audience to the website, creating a continuous flow of visitors.

Simultaneously, the engagement on social media platforms plays a crucial role. These platforms act as an extension of the brand or individual, allowing for direct interaction with the audience. As the content shared on social media is engaging and valuable, it attracts more followers to the profiles. These followers are essentially an extended audience that can be tapped into for various purposes.

Step 4: Brand-building

Brand-building is a strategic process that involves establishing and cultivating a strong identity for a product, service, or company in the minds of consumers. One significant aspect of brand-building is the creation of a community of dedicated fans. As a brand gains a certain number of followers, it has the potential to form a loyal and engaged community around its offerings.

This community serves as a valuable asset for the brand, as these dedicated fans often become enthusiastic advocates for the brand without any monetary compensation. They willingly promote and endorse the brand among their networks, acting as unpaid marketers. This word-of-mouth promotion is particularly powerful, as it is based on genuine enthusiasm and belief in the brand.

Step 5: Higher Website Ranking & More Traffic

Once your Brand becomes popular & the number of site visitors increases, search engine crawlers designate your website as an authority in your niche. This places you higher on the Search Engine Result Pages & you can enjoy massive traffic. Integrating Branding Strategies into Website Design is key to achieving this level of recognition.

For instance, consider incorporating your brand colors, logos, and messaging consistently across all elements of your website. This cohesive approach not only enhances user experience but also reinforces your brand identity. Extremely simple yet extremely effective!

That's the reason why a lot of Digital Marketers swear by Social Media SEO nowadays. With a robust strategy & a bit of work, you can significantly grow your online presence using Social Media SEO.

How Social Media SEO Can Benefit you?

If you think you are doing good with regular SEO & don't want to kick off your Social Media SEO campaign, think again! Here’s how Social Media SEO can benefit your Business:

1. _First, it helps you reach out to the audience you have ignored. _
2. 54% of Social Media users search for products on Social Media. So if you have optimized your Social Media Content & have links to your website, you can gain customers directly through social Media.
3. _Social Media is where people get in touch with your genuine customers. And the users trust these customers more than the claims on your website. So interlinking your SEO & Social Media Marketing makes sense. _
4. Social Media is as popular as Google in terms of Search. For e.g., there are, on average, 2 billion Facebook Searches every day. On the contrary, the number of Google searches is 5.6 billion daily. So imagine what you can achieve by leveraging both!

I hope it’s clear how vital and beneficial Social Media SEO is for the Businesses like yours.

5 simple Social Media SEO tips for you

1. Write Compelling “About us” & “Info” on Social Profiles

People often leave these fields blank or fill them with cliché content. Don't make this mistake. Write something catchy & brief that describes your Business in detail. Optimize your Facebook Page for local SEO by adding an address too.

2. Create attractive & Sharable Content

When you create engaging & helpful content, people tend to share it. And sharing is critical for link-building, which in turn boosts your website traffic. The more quality websites link back to your website, the more authority you will have on Google. And as you know, authority is one of the most impactful factors for ranking higher on Google's SERPs.

3. Don't ignore less popular Social Media Platforms.

I have observed businesses undermine the power of less popular social media platforms like Pinterest & Twitter. But that's a mistake. Such platforms can help you drive immense traffic without working too hard, as the competition is relatively low.

4. Don't forget Google My Business & Google Local Listing.

Google My Business & Local Listing are some of the most powerful tools to focus on Local SEO. Fill in every piece of information, add a crisp "About" section, and add multiple links that link back to your websites, blogs & social media profiles.

Also, Optimize your Local Listing as it allows nearby people to connect with your Business physically. This is extremely helpful if you are managing a brick & mortar store.

These tips are just the beginning. The more you start deep-diving into Social Media SEO, the more you will realize its potential & scope.

Parting punctuations

Social Media & SEO are vital for the success of your Business. But it makes no sense to keep them separated while you can fuse them & drive crazy results!

Also, it's important to note that you won't notice the rise in your Social & Search Engine ranking immediately. It's a daunting task & will take time and effort. Nonetheless, you will definitely see excellent results if you put in constant struggle.

I hope the guide on Social Media SEO has opened new doors of opportunities for you. Please let me know in the comment section if you have any queries. I will do my best to answer them.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)

1. Is Social Media SEO effective?

Yes, it’s very effective if you consistently work on it.

2. Are Social Signals metrics like Shares, Likes & Comments impact SEO ranking?

No, they don't. But they definitely boost your Brand's social presence & can indirectly improve your social ranking.