By Lauren Fenthum <---- To view/save infographic
CLICK HEREHistorically, search has been a major source of online traffic which lead to the foundation of online marketing. However, with the growth of social media platforms, social media marketing has become an even larger aspect of marketing than could’ve been imagined. The question comes down to what is more important; Social media or SEO? This all comes down to your strategy.
Social media involves optimizing your social content through platforms like; Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. SEO relates more to making your online profile or website more searchable so that when people look up something related to your business, you come up first. Social media is slowly increasing in importance when it comes to marketing platforms. You need to remember SEO and social media re not competitive forces, rather they are two forms of inbound marketing that can work together and amplify the end results. Social media highlights trends and content, whilst SEO drives traffic.
Social Sharing Buttons on Your Website: Search engines like Google are starting to use social media to share data and influence search rankings. Having share buttons on your website encourages consumers to share content to different social media platforms, this will not only increase traffic to social media but will also boost your search engine rankings.
Integrated Keyword Strategy: Apply the same keyword strategy you are using for your website and apply it to your social media. Become more aware of your wording, this will allow your reach to increase through your messages.
Links in Social Profiles: Links in social media have traditionally been seen as no-follow links. This means they don't pass SEO authority. Although this is a change in progress, it is important to understand that links in the bio part of social media are follow links.
Links in video and presentation content: content sharing is one of the most powerful sources of marketing. This will not only increase traffic but will help you build inbound links too.
Social Profiles: Social media pages should be seen as an extension of your website. Make sure your profiles mirror the SEO strategy.
Social media reach: in order to get more people to share your content in social media you need more fans or followers in your account. This can be done through quality content creation and engagement.
New Relationships: social media drives attention. This can create opportunities for guest blog posts and other link-building opportunities.
Having a lot of traffic to your website creates the image of credibility, and thus posting your search result higher than your competitors. This could also boost page authority if people start sharing your content or website links to their own pages. This may not make a major difference in your rankings but it helps give your business a decent head start in the cluttered marketing space.