There's no doubt that our lives are now being influenced by the digital sphere that has gained so much popularity over the years. Every possible domain of activity has been influenced by the present digital environment and by all of the benefits it offers.
Any serious website and brand that wishes to climb up the ladder or maintain themselves in front of the competition must take into consideration social media's power. Moreover, I truly believe that every business should also leverage the benefits that are out there, up for the grabs.
Social media is the place where millions of customers spend time at, and also where your potential B2B partners activate their activity.
If you want to be efficient and show results, you must go where the marketplace is and become remarkable.
How Does Social Media Actually Influence Your Search Rankings?
Google is continuously changing its ranking and indexing algorithms. Their biggest purpose is to create relevance to everyone who's looking for web results. It basically works like this: web crawlers scout the newly published content and quickly analyze a lot of factors in order to determine the relevancy and the value of the website's content.
If you didn't know by now, social signals such as likes, comments, shares, tweets, pins, and so on… these are all indirectly influencing your website's rankings. Why indirectly? Well, it all lays in the power of the community.
If you have engaged followers, it's obvious that they're going to click more of your links, share more of your posts, visit your website more often, and create a bigger wave around your organization. That wave will be noticed by Google, and you'll be rewarded for it.
See Also: Learn How Social Media Activity Promotes Your Business SEO Activities
So If I Buy Fake Social Media Signals, Will I Rank?
Years ago, when Google was testing and working on their first complex algorithms, people were able to exploit many SEO aspects. Backlinks were somehow bugged – I remember a friend who told me that he ranked after creating around 10.000 backlinks towards his own platform, using his friend's website. All the backlinks were on a single page, posted in just one day!
This exploit kept him on the first page for over 6 months. When the new algorithm came out, it was all over.
Nowadays, getting through Google's security is harder than ever. To be honest, I would even suggest trying. Go white-hat, go legit.
Practical Tips to Improve Your SEO Efforts Using Social Media
Indeed, social media can really influence whether you're ranked well or not. If you're a big social media presence, it's obvious that you've gathered all that fame by offering relevancy. Google knows that.
Let's get straight to the tips:
1. Create Powerful CTAs (Call-To-Action)
When you use social media, you do it for a purpose. One of the most common ones is to drive traffic to your website, improve your brand's awareness, or close sales. Either way, you do this by posting relevant content on your social networks' profiles. When you do so, make sure to let people knowwhat you want them to do.
CTA's like 'Click this link', 'Follow me to my website to read the full article', or other types of call-to-action signals are very useful. Most of the web traffic is indecisive. You have to guide them through!
2. Keep Your Posts Short and Relevant
People hate reading irrelevant and crappy content. Like Google's crawlers, your followers are also looking for relevancy. If your posts, articles, and video content are relevant and straight to the point, you'll be able to manage their attention.
If people spend more time on your website, Google will consider that a sign of relevancy. You'll rank better, and you'll get shared more often.
3. Invoke Desire, Fear, and Curiosity
I'm not saying that you should create useless click-baits. Instead, I'm talking about using your content's titles as a motivator for the reader. Your purpose is to make them want something badly, or also to make them fear something or be curious about it.
Invoking your prospect's emotions is a key element to a successful social media campaign and to a successful website in general.
4. Offer Amazing Value
In the current marketplace, value is extremely important. There's a ton of information on the web, and most of it it's mediocre or regurgitated. If you can be the website which offers value, you'll also be relevant in Google's 'eyes'.
Basically, it's a continuous cycle; if you have value, people will like you. If people like you, they'll share you around, talk about you, and most likely they will also buy your products. If this cycle is consistent, you'll have no trouble ranking up!
5. Network Frequently
Networking tendencies are progressing in 2017, as people now find it extremely easy to connect. Social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are making networking easy.
A good strategy would be to follow relevant people, join relevant groups, engage as often as you can, and create connections. By letting people know who you are and what you do, you'll basically improve your brand's awareness big time. Better brand awareness = better rankings.
6. Leverage Social Media Influencers
Social media influencers are people who own huge databases of followers. When they share something, thousands of people will notice the content on their social media dashboards.
Get in touch with the most influential social presences in your niche and ask them to promote your website. More than often they'll ask for money.
If their audience fits your business and if you believe that they're most likely to enjoy your idea, you'll gain a huge boost in the search engine rankings.
See Also: The Easiest Way to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
7. See Social Media as a Search Engine
Did you know that by 2012 Facebook has reported that they've got over 1 billion search queries every single day? Imagine what that looks like in 2017!
After all, it doesn't sound that surprising. When you want to look up someone online, the first thing you do is open Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn and search for their name.
In other words, having a big social media presence and authority is great, as people will be able to reach you quicker and easier.
8. Scale It All Up
It's all about testing, failing, testing again, failing again, getting up, and eventually succeeding. If your objective is to be the most authoritative presence in the niche and you want to occupy the 1st spot in Google's search engine rankings, you got to scale it up.
More content, more networking, more influencers, and more value equals more success.
Improving your search engine rankings is a process that requires time. More than that, you must put up the work and be patient. Social media can be your friend and your way of creating a bigger impact on your brand's image. Good luck in your journey!