The Growing Importance of Social Media in SEO

The Growing Importance of Social Media in SEO

Can you imagine life without social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or one your preferred Social Networks? We’ve become so dependent on these sites that we already use them for just about everything: communication, commerce, entertainment, academics, and any other task that can be accomplished online.

Of course online entrepreneurs, marketers and business people see that social media marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry that everyone, from your local neighborhood grocer to big shot electronics companies is engaging in. What most people had initially considered as a buzzword has now become one of the biggest and most respected industries today.

Social Media Marketing, SEO, and You

As time goes by, social media, SEO and online marketing have become interdependent on each other. In fact, as search engines are becoming more and more “socialized”, the definitions have already started to blur, with some marketers freely interchanging one term from another. The rise of social media in the Web 2.0 era has brought forth a whole new outlook for SEO.

Here are 5 aspects with which the social media phenomenon has revolutionized the world of SEO:

1) Reputation Management

If you’ve ever checked out review sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp, then you have a pretty good grasp on how important your brand’s reputation is. The public’s perception of your products, location and staff can either make or break your business. People who have good experiences dealing with you will want to pass the word along to their friends and acquaintances.

And with the use of social media networking, the whole process of marketing your business’ reputation becomes easier. Recommendations can be made with just a simple “Retweet,” “Like,” or “Pin” which all can be viewed instantly. You’ll also be able to track complaints and deal with them as they happen. According to a study made by Gartner, a global research company, failure to respond to queries and customer complaints online can turn off up to 15% of clients. To avoid having these losses, it’s probably better to make sure you have a solid social media team working round-the-clock.

2) Keyword Research

Keyword research is important because businesses need to know the right keywords or key phrases that their websites should be optimizing for. Social media networks are best utilized for this purpose due to the sheer number of data that can be lifted from them. For example, with social media we can figure out:

• Recent trending topics (locally or worldwide)
• Discover new points of engagement
• View demand for particular keywords
• Figure out followers/customers interests

Social media networks allows marketers to test out numerous keyword combinations and see how exactly people use them in various contexts.

3) Content Production

In 2011 a study made by the Content Marketing Institute found that almost 90% of B2B (business-to-business) marketers engage in content marketing, while 60% are planning to increase their spending on content production in the near future. Why this much focus on content?

Simple. Content production forms the backbone of your SEO and social media efforts. And it’s not just plain old content that gets you to the top, it’s exceptional, high quality content that takes you there. With social media, brainstorming for future content topics will be a piece of cake. No more guesswork required – you can directly ask your audience what they want to see, read or hear. You can produce and share almost anything – from “behind the scenes” photos of your staff, podcasts, videos, infographics, to personal musings and other stuff which your followers might find interesting.

Comments and feedback from customers and clients can be viewed almost instantly. Numerous studies have shown that people are more likely to engage with a brand or business if its social profiles have pictures, videos, and regular status updates. So, you better ramp up your social media content now if you want to stay ahead of the game.

4) Google Rankings

When launching a new website, it might take some time before visitors and the benefits of Google Search come rolling in. So how do you establish your newborn website’s place on the front page of Google rankings while you take time to further develop the more important aspects of its existence? You do it with social media, of course. Creating an account on major social networks (like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or even YouTube) will get your website’s name out in the open and onto the number one spot on Google searches. You can also establish a few good inbound links for your site using this process.

5) Social Media Presence

Nothing builds social engagement more than social media. It helps your business establish its own presence online that people can keep in touch with regardless of time and place. Also, having social sharing buttons on your webpage can be viewed by search engines as a sign that you put a premium on your business’ social media presence, and most of all, it shows credibility on your part.

*Learn the secrets of social media marketing here.