Social Media Marketing For SEO

How To Ensure That Social Media Marketing Is A Successful Practice For Businesses

There has been a reasonable amount of talk within the SEO world for some time now, about social media marketing and the potential benefits that it can provide to businesses, both b2b and b2c. However, for many business owners it is very difficult to see how it could be an advantage for their company.

You see a major problem with selling social media to businesses is the way that it is perceived by them. The primary observation that many people make about popular sites such as Twitter and Facebook are that they are the domain of teens and celebrities, not small businesses.

So how are the companies that exist on these social media websites successful?

Research – successful businesses will have spent time researching the social media websites with the highest number of profiles for potential customers and associated companies. Whilst Facebook may work for one business it may not for another. They will also have looked into what similar businesses are ‘tweeting’ or posting about and the ways in which they use social media.

Designate time to social media – just like SEO, social media must be an ongoing process. It should be completed on a daily basis to ensure that users keep the interest of the ‘followers’ and ‘fans’. Sites such as Twitter include a real-time search function, if a business tweets about a topic, say web design, their tweet will appear in the real-time search for that phrase. Tweeting on a regular basis will ensure that the profile remains at the top of the search results for a business’s main phrases.

Post relevant information – as the previous point mentioned, successful businesses will keep the interest of their ‘followers’ and ‘fans’. This does not just mean that they should post on a regular basis, but they should post relevant information on a regular basis. This will ensure that they maintain the fans and followers that they have, but it could also increase the number of followers that they have in the future.

Suitable followers – these users will follow or become fans of the most suitable individuals. Those that require their services, potential business prospects or others in their industry. Similarly to posting relevant information, it is essential that businesses target relevant individuals. If they do not target suitable individuals it will be incredibly unlikely that they will receive any form of ROI.

Understand aims of social media – those businesses that achieve the most from their social media campaign will understand exactly what they are aiming to achieve from their presence on key social media sites. This could be a database of potential customers or a promotional activity. Businesses should begin their social media campaign with the understanding that it is not just a sales technique. If practised well it could potentially offer a ROI but primarily it should be used to promote the business and become an authority in their industry.

So what does social media marketing have to do with SEO?

The main premise of SEO is to appear highly in search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. Having a presence online increases the number of customers that are aware of the business. This could result in an increased number of sales.

Whilst social media marketing is not directly related to these search engine positions, it is a technique that could improve the exposure of a business on the web.

These points offer a starting place for any social media campaign, what points would you recommend to others starting out with a social media campaign?

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One Response to “Social Media Marketing For SEO”

Paul May Says:
January 7th, 2010
I’d start by insisting that whoever’s tasked with running the social media effort is committed to conducting real conversations with real people. While you may be able to attract the kinds of followers or fans you want by creating the right kinds of messages, you will also attract different kinds of attention.

Making a commitment to social media can be like throwing open all the doors and windows of your business - or, perhaps a better way of putting it would be to imagine that you suddenly create a whole new customer service organisation, but distribute it across your workforce. Using these channels is technically simple, but carries potentially high overheads.