Think of how you personally use social media. It’s likely that a fair portion of your time is spent looking at offers from local businesses and posts on community events in addition to your friend’s vacation photos or all the first day of school pictures. If you have a business with information on a social media platform, you probably want people to stop scrolling for a minute and look at your posts to increase exposure and credibility. Social media does not contribute directly to and is not an element of SEO rankings, but what you share and the links you use on social media platforms can increase brand exposure, influencing optimization through social signals. Social media activity is associated with many components that influence SEO rankings.
There are seven ways social media shares and links can indirectly affect SEO: boosting local credibility, enhancing brand reputation, distributing content extensively, improving longevity of posts, improving online visibility, creating organic traffic, and increasing brand recognition. Your actual share or post isn’t what counts, but those who share, like, or comment on your content does. The more useful the content, the more likely it is to be shared to liked. This sends the appropriate signals for search engines to see that your content is a benefit to your local or target market.
If you’re using social media to push your business or product, you need to do it effectively. People won’t like or share your content unless it resonates with them. But, if you create quality content that is applicable to your users, your audience will become your promoters (for free!). This is because they understand you have something valuable and useful to offer them. Your users or followers will be encouraged to share your posts with their followers, creating a cycle of support. Good social media content may include interesting podcasts, topical blogs, appealing videos, and high-quality photography. These materials are good options because they provide information that encourages people to come back and is engaging. It doesn’t matter how amazing that video is if you don’t have an effective way of getting it out there and seen. That’s where social media can come in. Through this audience connection, traffic is improved, visibility is increased, and backlinks are generated.
Social media is also popular for businesses because it provides a more personal experience between business and customer or writer and reader. Response times are generally quicker with the messaging options and reviews are easily seen. This is comforting to new onlookers researching what you’re offering and proves you’re listening to your audience. When using social media platforms as a business tool, remember quality over quantity, and make sure your content is easy to communicate with and is effortlessly shareable. Incentives to share a post, such as a random drawing for a winner or a question prompting a comment response, are great ways to improve the amount of interaction on your posts. The way social media operates in relation to SEO can be tricky. If you need guidance, Utah SEO has all the expertise you need to get you on the right track.
