Even if you are not yet getting the leads and sales conversions you would like to see from your social media marketing efforts, there are additional benefits to continuing to publish content to platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In fact, both Google and Bing now take data from these social networks and use it as part of determining how your website will rank.
The following are just a few of the ways social media content benefits your brand’s search rankings and overall web presence:
Social links boost rankings: Google places some value on the links published to social media platforms. Whenever your website is linked on social media profiles (including your own), it will impact your search engine rankings slightly. This is not to say you should spam your followers with links to your site, but creating original content on your website or blog, and then sharing it to your profiles, is an effective strategy.
Profiles appear in search rankings: Your social media profiles will rank highly in Google and other search engines when people search for your company name explicitly. Google crawls these social media networks just as they do other websites, so optimizing your profile and posts can help strengthen those rankings.
Posts appear in search rankings: Google recently began embedding Tweets in search engine rankings, which means building followers and optimizing the content you post can create even greater visibility on the major search engines.
Social media has its own search engines: Social media platforms have essentially built their search engine optimization (SEO) standards by turning their search features into sophisticated search engines of their own. You can make your social media content more visible by being smart about the way you optimize your content and profile.
Your social connections influence your search rankings: A company with only a few followers will not get nearly as many views as one with thousands. Google also pays attention to the quality of the followers, so using a service to buy followers in bulk, for example, will not help. You must increase your following organically for Google to take notice.
As you can see, there is much more to social media marketing than simply attracting leads and converting new customers. As you plan your content marketing strategy, we recommend thinking holistically about your goals and the role social media plays in your brand’s overall digital reach.