I know I’ve tooted this horn before in a previous blog, but a recent study by Ascent2 has demonstrated that 50% of companies who are having a tough time with SEO are not integrating social media with their SEO strategy, as illustrated in the handy-dandy chart below:
So why doesn’t everyone do it? In my experience, one of the main reasons companies or websites do not have social media profiles or do not update them regularly, is that they simply don’t have the time. While I agree that managing upwards of three major social media platforms can seem daunting or a hassle, social media management software like HootSuite or Buffer makes things extremely easy. HootSuite for one let’s you schedule social media updates in advance so in a minimal amount of time, you can set up your updates for the whole month.
One obstacle can be building a following. Getting people to “like” or follow your profile can be hard, especially if you are new to social media. On a platform like Facebook, one easy solution is to purchase a Facebook ad. You can pay either by the number of times people see your ad (CPM) or by the number of times your ad is clicked on (CPC). From a budgetary standpoint, you can set either a daily or lifetime ad budget so you are not spending any more money than you would like to. The other benefit is that ads are optimized to be shown to people in your target audience. So if your goal is to get more “likes” for you page, your Facebook ad will appear to people most likely to “like” your page.
On a medium like Twitter, building a following is a bit different. One method I found effective is to follow other people within your industry and even the people that follow those people. You’ll find that others will start following you back. The other component of building your following is to retweet, share links and reply publicly to others. Sharing is probably the most important element of Twitter culture and is highly encouraged.
Building followings on platforms like Google+ and Linkedin can be somewhat easier in that they are very conducive to finding and following other professionals within your industry or circles.
No matter what social media platform you integrate into your internet marketing campaign, content is key. Aim for interesting and informative posts i.e. put yourself in your followers’ shoes and think what would appeal to them. Also, steer clear of over-promotion. An abundance of promotional posts can overwhelm your followers newsfeeds and get you unfollowed, as it can come across as spammy.
Brian Carver is an Account Manager at SEOhaus. If you would like to stay up-to-date on all of the latest SEO industry news and tips, you can subscribe to our blog here.
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