If you want to gain the attention of people in your target demographic, you need to realize the importance of incorporating social media into your small business SEO strategy. Currently, over 3.5 billion people use social media platforms on a daily basis.
Driving a small fraction of these users to your website can help you generate tons of new sales leads. Business owners new to the world of digital marketing don’t realize just how much social media can boost search engine optimization.
Below is important information about how to incorporate social media into your small business SEO strategy.
Social Media is a Great Tool For Small Business Owners
There is a misconception by some business owners that there is simply too much competition on social media. While a number of companies have a social media presence, there is always room for new businesses to enter this space. Without a social media presence, you will have a hard time reaching your target audience.
Many consumers find out about new products/services with the help of platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Having a social media presence can provide a number of benefits for a small business owner.
Humanizing Your Small Business Brand
One of the best ways to win modern consumers over is by finding ways to humanize your brand. The human connections you can create with the help of social media can help you attract the attention of a new audience.
Making social media posts that feature details about the people who work for your business is a great way to make a real connection with followers. You also need to work on acquiring user-generated content to post on social media.
Most user-generated content will come in the form of positive reviews about the products/services your business offers. By posting these positive reviews, you can convince potential customers to give your small business a chance.
Keep Your Brand Fresh in the Minds of Consumers
Did you realize that over 67% of social media users log into their accounts on a daily basis? When your followers log in to their accounts and scroll through their newsfeed, you want current posts from your business to show up.
Creating new posts for your social media followers on a daily basis can help you keep your brand fresh in their minds. Keeping your brand top of mind will allow you to generate more sales leads with the help of popular social media platforms.
Establish Yourself as an Industry Thought Leader
Edging out the competition is something most business owners are passionate about. If you want to set your brand apart from the competition, then establishing yourself as an industry thought leader is imperative. Modern consumers want to use businesses that are both knowledgeable and trustworthy.
One of the first things you need to do to establish yourself as an industry thought leader is to create informative posts on social media daily. These posts should solely focus on industry-specific topics. By posting about your industry, you can highlight the knowledge and experience you possess to potential customers.
How Search Engine Optimization Can Help Your Business
Over the past decade, building an online presence has become a top priority for small businesses around the world. A crucial component of improving the online presence your business has is by investing in search engine optimization campaigns. SEO campaigns created and implemented with the help of marketing professionals can help a business in various ways.
Establish Trust and Credibility With Modern Consumers
When using a search engine like Google, the average person will click the website links at the top of the results page. The higher a website ranks, the more credible and trustworthy they are viewed to be by modern consumers. The only way to get your business website on the first page of Google is by perfecting your approach to search engine optimization.
If you want to establish authority with search engines like Google, then you need to focus on things like:
- Using natural inbound/outbound links in your content
- Optimized content and on-page elements
- Positive user behaviors
- Responsive web design
You also need to educate yourself about Google’s E-A-T strategy when trying to improve your rank. The E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness) strategy is designed to help business owners optimize their websites for search engine success.
Learn More About Your Target Audience
The only way to assess how well your search engine optimization strategy is working is by collecting various types of data. Not only does this data help you make the right changes to your SEO strategy, it also gives you information about your target audience.
If you want to understand the voice of consumers, then you need to closely monitor things like:
- AI insights and Google Analytics data
- Search engine results page analysis
- Query data
Business owners with limited knowledge of search engine optimization should leave the collection and analysis of data to professionals.
Organic Search Can Produce Lots of New Website Traffic
The amount of traffic a small business website receives is directly related to the success of its search engine optimization campaigns. Generally, organic search is the number one source of business website traffic. Making your business website more visible to Google with the help of tried and true SEO tactics can help you unlock a wellspring of new traffic.
Combining Social Media and Search Engine Optimization
Now that you know more about the benefits of search engine optimization and social media, it is time to discuss combining these two types of online marketing approaches.
Apply SEO Principles To All of Your Content
When creating blog content for your business website, you probably have an SEO checklist in hand. This checklist should include things like target keywords, an optimized title and a linking structure. Instead of only using this checklist for blog content, you need to also use it for your social media posts.
Creating social media posts that use popular keywords and engaging titles can help you get more attention from your followers. The more engagement your social media posts get, the easier it will be to turn followers into actual customers.
Sharing SEO-Based Content On Social Media is Imperative
Failing to promote new SEO-based content can lead to it receiving a low amount of traffic. Instead of investing time and money into content that never gets seen by modern consumers, you need to use your social media presence to promote this content. Sharing a link to new blog content with a short description on social media can help spark the interest of your followers.
Use Search Data To Create Social Media Marketing Campaigns
Gathering the right search data allows you to find out more about user intent. Knowing about user intent allows you to figure out what questions your target demographic need answered. With this data in hand, you can start to create a social media marketing strategy that actually produces results.
Answering commonly asked questions with your social media posts is imperative when trying to keep your followers engaged. Responding to the comments on these social media posts can also show potential customers how attentive your business is. This will only improve your ability to turn social media followers into paying customers.
Add Hyperlinks to Social Media Profiles in Your Blog Content
Creating synergy between your social media and SEO strategies is a crucial component of your online success. Using your new blog content to grow your following on social media is a great idea. If your SEO campaigns are providing lots of organic traffic, then you need to drive these new website visitors to your social media profiles.
One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is by embedding links to your social media profiles in your blog content. You also need to include social share buttons on your blog pages. These buttons make it much easier for consumers to share informative and entertaining content with their social media followers.
Present a Consistent Brand Image
Studies have shown that companies with consistent brand messages across various online platforms are more profitable. Whether creating a social media post or writing a new blog, you need to ensure the language and tone match your brand image.
Modern consumers respond better to businesses that have an established sense of what they stand for and who they are trying to serve. This is why you need to keep branding consistent on all of your online platforms.
As you can see, there are many ways to incorporate social media into your SEO strategy. With the help of the marketing professionals at Small Business SEO, you can improve your online visibility.