Almost all brands today participate in social media in one way or another. It allows you to easily reach your audience and interact with them. When your brand participates in social media, it creates social signals, which can be used to help with your off-page SEO strategy.
What Are Social Signals?
Social signals are how search engines perceive social media metrics such as shares, likes, comments, and retweets. These metrics show to what extent users are interacting with your brand on social media.
Benefits of Social Signals for Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO is an important piece of any comprehensive SEO strategy. Social signals can be invaluable when it come to this particular type of SEO, and can provide a number of benefits when it comes to improving the quality of your off-page SEO.
Build Brand Authority
When posts from your brand receive high amounts of engagement, the awareness of your brand increases. As long as you are making high-quality posts, users will begin to see you as an authority in your industry. Focusing on increasing social signals will lead to building a high level of trust and credibility with your audience.
Create Relevant Content
The content you create should be highly relevant and timely. This will drive engagement to the highest level possible, as users are much more likely to interact with content related to what is on their minds. This will lead to your brand being seen as a leader in the industry, which can greatly help your search engine rankings.
Drive Organic Traffic
As the level of engagement with your social media profiles increases, so will the amount of organic traffic you see making its way to your site. Users are more likely to visit sites of brands that they are aware of and see as credible and trustworthy. So, as you increase the amount of high-quality content you create, users will become much more likely to pay a visit to your site.
Social Signals and SEO
A high level of social signals can go a long way towards increasing the reputation of your site. As your site’s reputation increases, it will cause your SEO efforts to become much more effective.
Social Signals As a Ranking Factor
When it comes to SEO, Social signals are not a direct ranking factor, meaning that a high level of social signals will not automatically cause your site to rank higher in search results. However, a high level of social signals can increase visibility in search results, generate organic traffic, and build brand awareness. All of these things will help with SEO, even if social signals are not the direct ranking factor.
Encouraging Engagement with Your Brand
Search engines love to see people engaging with your brand online. This shows them that your brand is credible and people are interested in it. One of the easiest places on the internet for engagement to take place is social media. Encourage engagement and you will see a noticeable boost in the effectiveness of your SEO.
Optimizing Your Social Media Profiles
For your social media profiles to be most effective, they must be optimized. Make sure:
- You have clearly identified your goals with social media.
- Your profiles are filled out to completion.
- You are posting regularly.
- You are engaging back with users. (i.e. responding to their comments)
- You are creating content that is valuable and interesting.
Taking these steps will ensure that your profiles are optimized and are being as effective as possible at increasing your brand’s social signals.
Using Links in Social Media
Social media can also be a huge help when it comes to link development. If you post a link to something a user finds interesting, a blog on your site for example, they may post the link themselves, either on social media or their own websites. This creates more backlinks to your website, helping your SEO efforts. With engaging enough content, a large part of your external linking can end up being done by social media users.
How to Choose Social Media Platforms for Your Brand
So, you’ve decided it’s time for your brand to get on social media, but where do you start? YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Linked in? There are so many options. It is important to choose the right platform for your brand, as trying to engage on the wrong platform can easily end up being a waste of time.
Understand Your Target Demographics
Think about your target demographic. How old are they? What do they do for fun? Where do they live? Understanding your demographic is crucial when it comes to choosing the right platform for your brand. Not everyone uses every single social media platform, and you want to make sure you’re on the ones your demographic uses. For example, if your target demographic skews older, Facebook might be the right home for you. On the other hand, if your target demographic is young and hip, TikTok and newer platforms are probably where you want to be.
Define Your Content Strategy
Not every type of content is able to be posted on every social media platform. So, before you choose a platform decide on your content strategy. Does your brand work very well in a long-form video format? Then YouTube is probably perfect for you. Conversely, if you do not have the ability to make videos at all, YouTube should be considered a nonstarter for your brand. Define your content strategy first, then use that to help you decide which social media platforms are right for you.
Track Social Signals Using Tools and Metrics
You can keep track of your social signals using certain tools and metrics. These metrics will give you invaluable insight into how well your brand is performing on social media. Letting you know if your content is working or if there is room for improvement.
Social Referrals
A social referral is when someone visits your site by clicking on a link on social media. This is a valuable metric, as it can tell you exactly how many visitors you are getting as a direct cause of your social media efforts. A high number of social referrals means that your content is resonating with users and they find it engaging. Conversely, a low number means people are not interested in your content, and it may be a good idea to rethink your content strategy.
Social Conversions
A social conversion is when a member of your audience has completed the action you wanted them to. This could be visiting your website or even making a purchase. This metric will inform you of how trustworthy your audience finds your brand and how effective your call-to-action is.
Social Engagement
Social engagement simply means the amount your audience is interacting with your brand. This includes likes, comments, shares, and every other way people interact on social media. A high level of engagement means that your content is high-quality and people are taking a liking to it.
