It should be obvious to any online marketer these days that having a solid social media presence is not optional. It is a mandatory and necessary part of any marketing initiative for a number of reasons. One of the biggest ones is social media’s ability to plug companies into a huge preexisting network of potential buyers. The next-biggest is really on equal footing with the last in terms of importance: taking your brand message beyond the social network and giving you exposure to the broader global internet community.
The Real Scope of SEO
When we think about SEO, far too often we tend to channel the majority of our efforts into optimizing websites. Yes, this is also a crucial part of your marketing strategy, but ask yourself: what did you do, just in the past month, to actively, consciously boost off-page SEO?
For those not in the know, off-page SEO refers to how you use content that is not resident on your website to get people to visit your site (or specific pages on it). Before social media gained a real foothold on how we interact online, that typically meant visiting forums, Usenet groups, BBS systems, and even avenues like IRC chat to drop links and encourage click-throughs to view our content. That was the hard way. Social media makes it much easier.
Today, I want to shine the spotlight on several ways you can leverage your social media content to up your off-page SEO game. We are going to isolate social media and steer away from other avenues like email, newsletters, and the like. Remember, social media is now the internet’s largest pool of advertising leads. Target the right audience with your content, and your site will almost definitely begin making its way to the tops of all the most important SERPs.
#1 – Leveraging Blog Content on Social Media
This is by far the easiest and most common way most marketers boost SEO via social media. Any reputable social media content marketing agency will tell you the same thing: You have to blog, and you have to promote your blog on all your social channels.
Remember, there is no better or faster way to increase engagement than with interesting (or even slightly controversial) blog content. If you’re not interested in making waves or creating volatile talking points, shoot for interesting and engaging and encourage conversation around your posts.
Increasing engagement is a good strategy for marketers who already have a solid following on social media. Once you have gained the trust and admiration of your customer base, it is easier to get those people to do things for you simply by asking. Remember, as I have said many times before, people will almost never do anything for you without being asked. That is why you need to include a solid call to action if you want people to interact with your content in a specific way.
If you want people to click through, ask them to do it. If you want them to join a conversation, ask them to do it. If you want them to like and share your content, ask them to do it. You can even combine calls to action to get twice as far with one stroke:
“Did you deserve a bigger tax refund last year? Check out our latest blog and tag anyone else you know who could use an extra refund.”
All you need to do after that is provide content that is congruous with what you promised in your post. Do that consistently, and people will start trusting you as an authority. The more loyalists you create, the more of the grunt work they will do to market your content for you. Every time someone shares your content, it creates a backlink. The more backlinks you create, the better your off-page SEO will be and the more click-throughs you’ll get.
#2 – Starting and Contributing to Conversations
Another great way to boost off-page SEO is to simply interact with your audience or audiences within your demographic over the various social channels. Twitter is a particularly good place to drop links, but it is far from the only one. Like I always say, split test, split test, and split test some more. See where the best conversations happen and monitor the places that give you the most click-throughs. That is where your best audience interacts online the most.
Use your discretion and share links to relevant content. If you are inserting yourself into an ongoing conversation, do not link to a landing page. Blog posts, curated articles, and other destination pages that feature non-sales content are ideal. They also won’t get you into hot water with the platform, moderators, or channel admins.
#3 – Using Paid Ads and Boosted Posts
Most social channels provide the option to either place ads or convert posts to ads. If you need to boost engagement, consider boosting posts and placing ads using your best content as the hook.
Again, try not to obviously sell anything, just provide some good information with a call to action to like, share, click through, etc. Promise and deliver valuable content, not a sales pitch. This is the golden rule of success in social media marketing.
#4 – Delivering Consistent, Trustworthy Messaging
As a final note, remember that the most important aspects of any marketing initiative over social media are being present and transparent. Never try to make your brand look like something it isn’t, and never try to hoodwink people into browsing to your landing pages unless you are forthcoming about what it is people are clicking through to see.
A direct marketing approach will never be as effective as simply providing really good content that people enjoy and want to share. Get good at delivering that, and your off-page SEO game will get much better over time.
