The first officially recognized social media site was called Six Degrees, started in 1997, and the first social media site to record 1 million regularly active users was MySpace, in 2004. Since 2004 social media has grown exponentially, and an estimated 4.76 Billion people regularly use social media worldwide.
In the last five years, social media has continued rapidly growing, and it is estimated that Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform, has over 2.4 billion users. The Pew Research Center estimates that approximately 72% of the American public regularly uses social media.
Given the number of people regularly using social media, it should obviously be an integral part of any digital marketing campaign. This blog post will give readers invaluable tips on how to leverage social media to raise your company’s SEO rankings and achieve your digital marketing goals.
This article outlines six key methods for utilizing social media as part of your SEO strategy and boosting your SEO rankings.
Tips for Enhancing Your SEO Ranking Through Social Media
1. Fine-tune your social media profile.
Social media bios are the primary way people find you on social media and Google. Therefore, optimizing your business’s social media profile is crucial for boosting SEO rankings.
To rank your social media account, consider the following factors:
- Search terms: Researching and defining the most frequently used search terms and including them in your site’s content is critical.
- Commonly asked questions: To reach your “target audience,” it is essential to know what questions they are asking when searching online and then provide answers to those questions via your site.
- Keywords: To decide what keywords to utilize in your digital marketing efforts, you should do your research. Typically this research will include an in-depth analysis of your competitor’s sites to see what keywords are working well for them.
Once you have gathered the relevant information, you should use it to optimize your social media descriptions. Be mindful of character limits and prioritize the most important keywords, ensuring they are included in your site’s content. This way, your business can rank higher in searches for companies in your industry.
2. Create high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience.
Producing high-quality, targeted content is key to a successful SEO strategy. This involves creating captivating and enjoyable content that resonates with your audience.
To achieve this, it’s essential to understand the needs of your audience and create content that caters to their preferences. Take note of the following tips:
- Limit promotional posts and prioritize providing value to your followers.
- Get to know your customers and their needs, and create content that addresses them.
- Deliver content in the format your audience prefers (e.g., live videos with captions, infographics, etc.)
3. Optimize social media images for better SEO ranking.
To help optimize your social media content for SEO, consider the following factors when using images:
- Image File Names: Use relevant keywords in your image file names, separated by hyphens. Think about the search terms your target audience is likely to use and incorporate those into your file names. For example, instead of “IMG_1234.jpg,” use a file name like “red-widget-product-shot.jpg.
- Alt Tags: Alt tags provide a brief description of what the image is, which helps search engines understand the content on your page. Use descriptive language and include relevant keywords in your alt tags.
- Unique Images: While stock images may be convenient, they are also commonly used by other businesses. By using unique images, you can help your brand stand out. Additionally, unique images can help build your brand identity and make your content more memorable to your audience.
4. Focus on improving the SEO of your YouTube channel.
YouTube is a highly influential search engine, second only to Google. Its videos rank highly on the search engine results page (SERP). They may even appear as a featured snippet on Google. According to a survey, 70% of viewers reported that YouTube raises their awareness of new brands.
To enhance your YouTube SEO strategy, here are some steps to consider:
- Incorporate your target keyword in both the video title and file title before uploading to YouTube. This “informs” the algorithm of what the video is about.
- Write a comprehensive description that places the critical information in the first 2-3 lines.
- Tag the video with relevant keywords and choose an appropriate category to increase its visibility through search and related content.
5. Connect your social media profiles with your website.
Linking your social media profiles to your website can drive more traffic to your business. You can achieve this by doing the following:
- Adding your website URL to your social media profiles or descriptions to make it easily accessible.
- Directing your social media followers to your website for shopping, reading blog posts, leaving reviews, etc.
- Sharing snippets of your blog posts on social media and encouraging followers to visit the website for more information.
6. Track brand recognition.
By determining your target audience’s understanding of your brand and its values, you can direct your marketing efforts more effectively. Here are the benefits of tracking brand awareness:
- It allows you to direct your marketing efforts more effectively because you’ve determined the level of understanding your target audience has of your brand and values.
- It gives insight into audience interests and helps identify who to target and what information they need to understand your business entirely.
- It influences both inbound and outbound marketing efforts by providing relevant content and promoting your brand to the right people.
- It allows more focus on optimizing marketing strategy in the right areas (e.g., increase followers, post content at peak times, create consistent relevant content)
The Bottom Line
Social media can significantly enhance SEO efforts for a business by boosting engagement and increasing brand recognition. To optimize your social media for SEO, consider fine-tuning your social media profile, engaging in high-quality content marketing, optimizing your images, focusing on your YouTube SEO strategy, linking your social media profiles to your website, and tracking brand awareness.
Work social media to your advantage with ADMS.
Are you ready to harness social media to achieve your SEO goals? Altamonte Springs SEO agency Advanced Digital Media Services is an expert in elevating rankings on search results. ADMS knows the techniques that are prioritized signals for search engine algorithms, helping you leverage social media to boost your SEO strategy.
Contact the team, and maximize this opportunity to boost your SEO – start optimizing your social media profiles today!
