Social media and SEO have an almost symbiotic relationship. Having a solid understanding of SEO basics certainly helps your brand in the long run, but knowing how social media and SEO can work together is even more beneficial.
In this week’s #SproutChat, we were joined by Sprout All Star, Lexie Kimball of Netvantage Marketing, to discuss how social and SEO efforts work together and best practices for creating SEO-focused content.
Similar but Different
Social media and SEO play each play separate, yet integral roles in any brand and should be utilized to the fullest extent. Both are based on algorithms that help with ranking, but aren’t quite the same style.
A1: For SEO and social media marketing, high-quality content is necessary for success. Without high-quality content, you’re not going to capture your audience. But with that being said, social media doesn’t need to be long content 24/7. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A1 In one way, they’re both about using the right words (in hashtags, for example) so you make sure you’re found. #sproutchat
— Martin Lieberman (@martinlieberman) November 15, 2017
A1: SEO and social media both share the ultimate goal of attracting new visitors. #SproutChat
— SocialXpresso (@socialxpresso) November 15, 2017
A1: Either way, it’s important to provide high-quality content for your audience. That’s what will grab their attention and keep it in the long run. #SproutChat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) November 15, 2017
A1: They both work toward a common goal: Exposure for a business. However, SEO is more about the technical path to finding your website/content, social is about promoting it. #sproutchat
— Breanna Ratering (@breezy__lee) November 15, 2017
A1: Like @HubSpot says: it’s all about quality content that pushes your SEO score up and gets you better engagement on social media. On the other hand, social media marketing means you put that nifty pound sign everywhere… #⃣ #SproutChat https://t.co/BokhHORDOM
— Chatterkick (@Chatterkick) November 15, 2017
A1. Both are based on algorithms, so social networks are functioning a lot more like search engines these days. Big difference is social networks are a lot easier to figure out than Google! #sproutchat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) November 15, 2017
Exposure Is Key
Looking to social media as the platform in which you deliver quality SEO content can help inform your overall strategies. Make sure you are consistently sharing the best content for maximum exposure.
A2: Social media can be a really powerful tool for SEO. If you have great content being shared on social media, it can help you gain exposure. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A2: That exposure can help build brand awareness eventually helping the brand become an industry expert. Being an expert can help build links over time due to status. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A2: Social sharing drives traffic to websites. Posting links to quality content can garner shares, likes and comments. It also encourages social media users to migrate to official business websites. #SproutChat
— Apple Box Studios (@AppleBoxStudios) November 15, 2017
A2: Having an active presence on social media can help increase your search rankings. Social shares that include links to your website could result in increased traffic to your website too. #SproutChat
— Sortis Marketing (@SortisMarketing) November 15, 2017
A2. Social media profiles rank in #search engines and active posting can drive traffic to your company’s website. #SproutChat
— SourceMedia (@SourceMediaCo) November 15, 2017
A2: Your social media profiles and content can show up in search results, which potential customers can see if they’re Googling you. #SproutChat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) November 15, 2017
A2) SEO is most important when you are working with editorial content. The best way to ensure your customers are seeing your content is amplifying it through social. You want to make sure your SEO keyword is present on both platforms. #SproutChat
— Sway Group (@SwayGroup) November 15, 2017
Tailor Content for the Platform
There isn’t one ideal place to put all SEO efforts, but it is important to make note of where your SEO plays will flourish and where your audience lives. There is no point in putting all of your eggs in one basket if your audience isn’t there.
A3: First of all, there is no right or wrong answer here! What is most important is that your brand uses the platform where your audience is prominent. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A3: Going back to Q2, being where your audience is can help you gain more exposure, then hopefully leading back to links down the road. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A3: Additionally, it’s important to keep in mind that while social media and SEO can work hand-in-hand, this doesn’t mean you should be on every single platform. Don’t spread yourself too thin. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A3: Google+ is the only known social network to have a direct impact on search rankings, but this only applies to local search rankings. #sproutchat
— SocialXpresso (@socialxpresso) November 15, 2017
A3. I’d say YouTube and Twitter, because they’re both directly integrated into the search results. But all are important for building your brand, which ultimately helps your SEO. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) November 15, 2017
A3: @Pinterest is one of my favorite social platforms because it also features its own search engine. Learn how to optimize your Pinterest profile: https://t.co/OtsUL2Agd0 #SproutChat
— Abbey Hadar (@abigailhadar) November 15, 2017
A3: YouTube! Since they are Google-owned, optimizing your content for SEO can reap huge benefits when it comes to search rankings. #SproutChat https://t.co/qMskd3AI5z
— Houndstooth Media Group (@houndstoothmg) November 15, 2017
#SproutChat A3: I’ve had a lot of success with Pinterest (really) in the past as a means to get content indexed. Google+ has worked too, but unclear if it still helps index now that Google my business has posts.
— Daniel Hachey (@daniel_hachey) November 15, 2017
Listen to Your Customers
By understanding the types of conversations your audience is having on across social, you can easily assess what keywords to use in your SEO content. Keeping your finger on the pulse of your customers informs how you might go about tweaking your SEO strategy.
A5: A lot of social media is about here & now, which isn’t always useful for SEO. But some forms of social media content can be altered for SEO. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A5: For example, a popular video on Facebook, Twitter, etc. can be turned into written content for SEO. Everyone receives information differently so something that was popular one way to one person might be popular with a different person when written. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A5: social media is where your target audience lives. Pay attention to what they are talking about and use hat information to create content for SEO. #SproutChat
— Maria Marchewka (@_MariaMarchewka) November 16, 2017
A5: Blogs and landing pages are great ways to accomplish these. Both can easily be shared on social media with keyword-driven social posts, but the content lives on a website (with all the SEO data baked inside). #SproutChat
— Sortis Marketing (@SortisMarketing) November 15, 2017
A5 Social media can help you identify those keywords or hot topics that people search for on Google, etc. #sproutchat
— Martin Lieberman (@martinlieberman) November 15, 2017
A5: Find out what the trending topics are and what people in your industry are talking (or, ahem, tweeting) about. Use that for optimized content, and promote that content to social. Wash, rinse, repeat. 🚿 #SproutChat https://t.co/bszaxaePvo
— Chatterkick (@Chatterkick) November 15, 2017
Looking Forward
The relationship between social media and SEO will likely become more dependent as time progresses. As paid social becomes a more realistic future for marketers, search rankings and optimizing on social may start to evolve social media strategies. Both SEO and social teams should emphasize working together for optimal marketing programs.
A6: Neither SMM or SEO are going away anytime soon so it’s likely that they will become more dependent on each other as time goes on. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
A6: SMM will continue to help brands create authority and that authority can turn into links. SEO, especially local SEO is already partly reliant on SMM, which will continue to be more prominent in my opinion. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) November 15, 2017
Definitely going to merge. As more platforms give better exposure to paid ads, brands will be looking to rank up organically. That includes having social show up in search engines. #SproutChat https://t.co/nM41hbob3O
— Keira Dazi (@KeiraDazi) November 15, 2017
A6: We imagine that it will become more dependent. Social media is such a popular paid advertising platform right now (because it’s cheap!), so the budget-conscious can really benefit from using SEO to enhance their organic efforts. #SproutChat
— Sortis Marketing (@SortisMarketing) November 15, 2017
A6: Definitely more dependent! People are using social media more and more as a means of finding content (as evidenced by the fact that YouTube is the number 2 search engine, after Google). #SproutChat https://t.co/x4cN7yLk77
— Houndstooth Media Group (@houndstoothmg) November 15, 2017
A6 as it was said before SEO and social media are intertwined together. They were before and will continue to be. #sproutchat pic.twitter.com/I8yQqjzrTi
— Tony Stephan 🌮🥓☕️🥃🏊🏾⚾️📝😂 (@SirKingofGifs) November 15, 2017
A6: More. I feel like tech overall is becoming more and more dependent/integrated with each other #SproutChat https://t.co/V8jVx5Urtp
— Shannonigans (@mausi_nana) November 15, 2017
A6. I have to say more. The world is moving toward more interconnectivity and search engines would be silly to miss the opportunity to measure the value of social media, especially in B2B markets #sproutchat https://t.co/E4S4Dc0Aqz
— allison ryder (@allisonryder) November 15, 2017
We’ll be taking a break next Wednesday, November 22, but we’ll see you on November 29 to chat about essential tools for any Community Manager. Until then be sure to join our Facebook community to chat with other folks in the industry.