Refining Social SEO Strategies

In recent years, brands have learned to integrate traditional SEO methods with the social networking scene. The intent is always to increase visibility, and so in many ways, the concepts behind traditional and social SEO efforts are similar; however, in the quickly evolving world of social media, there are some newer, strictly social SEO strategies that all brands should be implementing.

• Google+ Presence

We’ve discussed here before why Google+ is an essential tool for a business’s SEO strategy. Although the consumer audience has not quite caught onto the G+ hype, Google remains the most commonly used search engine online, and implements data from their social networking platform in search results. Being added to a social circle as well as getting +1s and shares are all ways to directly boost your brand’s ranking in search engines.

• Refresh Relationships with Followers

Building relationships with customers and fans has always been a primary interest for brands on social networks. Many companies lose sight of this goal after building a strong follower base; this is to serve as a reminder that you need to nurture those relationships, or your early efforts will become relatively meaningless.

Welcome new followers to your circle on G+, implement lists on Twitter, and increase your outreach efforts overall, and your followers — and potential customers — will not come to question whether your page makes quality contributions to their news feeds.

• Share Content & Make Content Shareable

Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and LinkedIn feeds are all indexed by Google now, so it’s more important than ever to share the content you put out. Whether it’s articles, coupon offers, or media, setting your content to automatically publish to your social profiles will earn you better and faster SEO results.

Additionally, make sure your content is mutually shareable. That may sound obvious, but providing shareable content extends beyond getting it retweeted or reblogged. While having your social network updates shared is effective, the content you link to should also provide visitors with the option to share it directly. When someone shares something directly from a website, as opposed to retweeting a brand sharing their own content, it tends to better encourage a second glance among their circles.

• Expand Your Social Networks

Every brand and their parent company is on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. These are the social powerhouses, and deserve the majority of your attention when focusing on social SEO strategy; however, once you’ve established a following on these major social networking platforms, it may be time to branch out.

Look towards the “underground” social networks that are not yet considered mainstream — even those that are focused less on follower interaction and more on sharing, such as Pinterest. It turns out that this newest social platform sends referral traffic comparable to that of Twitter, so it’s worth consideration. Other social sites to connect on include YouTube, LinkedIn, Tumblr, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.