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Does Social Media Actually Have Any SEO Impact?

December 31, 2020May 5, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Social media is becoming more and more a necessary value instead of a commodity. But still, many people question its necessity and validity. Some think that it can work well for certain businesses but that it might not be a tool that other businesses, including their own, will need. However, social media can be a great way to drive website traffic and bring in more clients and create long-lasting relationships with customers. One of the main questions that people bring up when asking about social media for their company is if it has any impact whatsoever on their SEO and just how much of an impact it might have. How Does Social Media Impact Your SEO? When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), we are all looking for new and improved ways to help get our content noticed. I’ve talked about the many different changes to SEO over the last few months, especially Google changes, and the one thing many people wonder about is if social media has any impact. It might not seem like it has much of an impact, but you might be surprised when you get into the nitty-gritty of new SEO tactics. According to a Business 2 Community author, the reality is that social media does impact SEO and it helps to bring out great success for your website, content, and products. I am going to reference this article throughout this blog to give you some great reasons on how social media can and will impact your SEO. Does This Mean You Really Need Social Media? If you haven’t jumped on the social media bandwagon, now is the best time to do so. Many people wonder if they really need social media for their business because it seems like such a “young person club.” Many businesses that don’t reach out to younger demographics often question its validity, but it should be noted that many younger people started out with social media because their parents were on there, too. This means there is a wide age demographic throughout social channels, which can help you reach out to any age, not just young to older Millennials or even younger generations growing up. Which Social Sites are the Best to Boost SEO? There isn’t one specific site that truly boosts SEO the best. Google Plus is a great option to get ranked on Google, but again, it is not the only one that can do so. What you need to do is play around with social media and try the holy trinity of Facebook, Twitter, and G+ in the beginning. You can branch out from there at a later time, but get your feet wet first before diving fully into social media. Once you’re more established or understand a bit of the social media game, then it is time to get working on other channels if they will benefit your company. 12 Ways Social Media Actually Really Does Impact Your SEO Now that I have looked at why you need social media and that it can impact your SEO, you are probably wondering just how it does. I am also going to take a look at how you can use it to further your web content and business. Social Media Profiles Rank on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). In the Business 2 Community article I shared earlier, the writer mentions that social media profiles do rank on the SERP. When someone searches for a product or service, your social channels have a high likelihood of ranking in those search results, which can lead people to your business. This is why it is important to optimize your profiles fully before it is too late. Social Shares Can Give Your Webpage More Inbound Links. While you don’t always want to focus on inbound links, the Business 2 Community article points out that it does create great, organic inbound linking. These links will help to validate your website, and can help you become an authority with Google. When this happens, your website is more likely to be ranked higher than ever before, which is exactly what you are aiming for if you’re reading this blog. In short, your social channels and links will help create more visibility for your web page, which is a tremendous help to bring in new customers and more revenue. Mixing Social Media and SEO Increases Your Online Presence. Just like with blogs, social media, combined with SEO, can help increase your online presence, making it larger and more accessible. A larger Internet presence might seem daunting, but this is something you should be aiming for. If you do not have a larger presence, you are less likely to be found organically, which means more money being spent on advertisements to gain new clients. Traffic From Social Media is Organic Traffic. According to the Business 2 Community article, about 95 percent of all links created in traditional link building techniques aren’t very effective. They don’t bring in organic traffic nor do they bring in enough of your targeted audience to bring about the revenue and success you want to see. However, by using social media, you are much more likely to drive organic traffic from your links because it will come from your followers. This will bring in great quality visitors that are likely to turn into customers and they in turn can share your information bringing in even more customers. Social Media is the Best Way to Bring in Mobile Users. April 21st has come and gone, which means that Google’s latest, and largest, update has been in effect for a few days. This update makes it vital for all businesses to have a website that is mobile friendly, and what is the best way to bring in mobile users to your new, or freshened up, mobile friendly site? Using social media. You need to have a social media presence to bring in your mobile clients, and as we can all see, mobile users … Read more

The Best Times To Post on Social Media (NewsCred’s Recent Study)

December 31, 2020April 20, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Looking for the best times and content types to post to social media can be a time-consuming activity for any company. There are several articles out there with their own opinions that can really help. In addition, there is now an incredible new study by NewsCred on these questions. It shows concrete examples of excellent sharing times and the content that can help bring in more clicks, traffic, social shares, and revenue. I am going to sum up this study just for you to help you learn all that you need to and also give some points to help you apply this study to your own social strategy. What is NewsCred’s Social Media Study All About? NewsCred decided to team up with two different companies to create a study to see what type of content was shared most, and when. This was a way to not only help the companies come up with great content ideas and when to post them, but to also help other companies figure out how to change their content for maximum results. They looked at Fractl and BuzzStream’s social content over the months of June through November 2014. By looking through all of the data, NewsCred, Fractl, and BuzzStream were able to see the most successful content formats and what months were the best for different formats. I am going to look into their findings and help you learn different ways to share you content and get the most out of your social media campaign. What Types of Content Get Shared Most? Some of the more popular content formats for Fractl and BuzzStream were list posts and how-to articles. They also saw significant success with videos for their clients, as well. However, the type of content and its success varied from month to month. Posts that focused on a “what” instead of a list, how-to, or why tended to not be as popular until October. While this might not seem like it shows much, it does show that you need to make sure you are mixing up your content formats to match each month and get more traction. It can be easy to get settled into one format such as a list, but that can become detrimental if you don’t mix it up with how-to articles or explanation posts about products, services, and more. However, this does show that if you are not focusing on sharing lists or how-to articles, you should make some changes. These are great because they offer value to all readers, and it is easier to read through a list and share if the person is busy or on a commute. NewsCred also notes that evergreen content did the best because it was a theme that remained constant and offered value to readers no matter the month or year. Evergreen content is a great idea for all business blogs because it can be just as valuable years from now as it was on the day it was posted. It will help your search engine rankings and will bring in high traffic for your website throughout the coming months and years. What Months Should You Post Certain Content to Social Media? Learning the best times to post to social media can be helpful but sometimes you might be wondering if certain content does better on certain months. This is what NewsCred looks at and shows the variations of content and the months that did the best. Let me break down their findings to help you learn a few great tidbits of information: (Note that the months are listed from most successful first.) Fractl and BuzzStream saw that list posts did very well in June, September, and October. They saw that posts referring to travel or entertainment were shared most, accounting for 25 to 32 percent of social shares. Posts that answer a “why” question were shared more during November, September, and October with 22 percent of the shared posts referring to travel or news. Videos did great in September, November, and October, especially those with an entertainment or educational factor. How-to posts were most often shared in October, November, and August with how-to articles in news, entertainment, and business getting the most shares. Posts answering a “what” question were shared October, November, and August with posts that focused on news, technology, and entertainment accounting for 15 to 26 percent of social shares. The findings show that October was a very popular month for all social shares with everything but videos ranking in at over 20,000 shares. While this is incredible and a great insight into consumers’ minds, you should make sure that you don’t limit yourself to these findings. You don’t want to keep all of your marketing for fall, nor do you want to ignore certain months entirely. This formula and these findings might not work for your business, which means you need to tweak and change things to find months that are perfect for different content types and social shares. However, this is a great starting point. Which Platforms are the Best for Social Media Use? While the NewsCred article does not go on to explain the social platforms you should use, I have found an excellent infographic from QuickSprout. Social media is an interesting marketing format because there are many different variables to consider with each of the major channels. The best social channels to use for businesses that have a B2B model are Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. These provide you with a quicker access point to your customers and other businesses, helping them find you and choose your business for their needs. If your business is more visually driven, channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest are a great option. You can share pictures of your products with links to blogs, products, or services. You will have a higher likelihood of getting things shared on those channels if you utilize images or videos, providing excellent visual content for your clients. However, it is important to … Read more

Meet The Newest Social Network, Ello: What Is It & Should You Join?

June 19, 2024October 3, 2014 by Adam Oakley

There’s a new social network out there that makes everyone sound like the little worm from Labyrinth, “Ello! Wouldn’t you like to come in and meet the missus?” However, this is more than a Jim Henson character’s accent, it is the new wave of social media. Just what is Ello? Well, you won’t see any little worms asking you to come to tea (sorry to disappoint you). This blog is going to explore what this new social network is, why everyone is going cuckoo for Ello, and whether or not you should join it. What Is Ello? Ello is a new social media site that has yet to leave the beta (or testing) stage. With the popularity of social media, new social sites are always popping up with things such as Path, Snapchat, and others that aren’t quite as popular. However, Ello has a significant draw to it. First of all, it is a new social site that helps connect you with people who have similar interests, as well as those you know in real life. Second, it is ad free and promises to not have all of the annoying posts people see on social sites like Facebook or Twitter. If you get consistently annoyed with how many odd Facebook memes your uncle or third cousin shares, you can either not add them on Ello, or simply file them away under the “noise” portion of the network. As for being ad free, they are keeping it this way by making sure it stays a private company and giving people the ability to purchase add-ons for their profiles. Ello also offers a great guide to help newbies out with their site, helping people understand the difference between the “friends” and “noise” sections. Just a quick explanation, the “friends” option is for people you want to see regular posts from, the “noise” section is for those who you feel you need to add, but don’t want to see everything they post. It is obvious from the design down to the titles of their pages that they are reaching out to younger generations. All you have to do is take a gander at the title of their help section “WTF.” Not every generation is going to get a kick out of that, but Millennials, many Gen-Xers, and new generations for sure will. Why Is Everyone So Crazy About Ello? Ello is receiving almost 40,000 requests every hour for an invite and there are currently over 1 million people waiting for an invite to the beta stage. There are only a few people who are lucky enough to know someone already on there with a few invites available. Just why are people so crazy about this site? Well, because it is pushed as a completely ad-free social site. In their manifesto, they make sure people understand that Ello is not like an ordinary social site that collects your data and sells it to further their company. They want to create a genuinely great place for online social interaction that doesn’t revolve around which ad they can choose specifically for you. Should You And When Can You Join Ello? It might be quite beneficial if you can join it soon, but the main problem right now is whether or not you will get an invite. Sure, you can fill out a request for one, but you are going to be waitlisted for quite a while. No one really knows when you will be able to get onto the social site without an invite. However, one thing to keep in mind is that this is, as we mentioned, the beta stage of the network. This means that those who are on the site right now are bound to see several major and small tweaks that aim to make this page the best ever. Another thing about the beta stage is that current users can help Ello develop the best site possible for its official release, prepping it to be ready in time for you to join. They even inform those who have recently joined that there will be several changes every day and week until it is ready through emails sent out to users. The Pros Of Ello Obviously, the biggest pro to this site is the fact that it is ad-free and it doesn’t sneakily gather up your information to improve the site and advertisements like Facebook and Twitter do. They do mention that they have the option for you to allow them to gather data, but you can choose to not have that happen. This caught a few people off guard, but Ello points out Facebook and Twitter never give you the option to opt out. If you are simply looking for a new, personal social space, this might be the thing for you. There are already several users who have said they are switching to Ello simply to get away from the family posts, political posts, and advertisements they see every day on Facebook or Twitter. However, what about pros for businesses? You might be worried that you can’t share your ads on Ello because it is “ad-free” but according to Marketing Land, you are more than able to do this. The great thing about sharing your ads on Ello is that you aren’t being charged for them like you would be on Facebook and Twitter. When you get a chance, you can set up a page for your business and start using it to your advantage. The Cons Of Ello While you can share any of your ads that you would like to for free, a major drawback for small businesses would be no promoted ads, yet. You would have to encourage people through your other social accounts to follow you on Ello to see your ads and updates. The problem with this is that you could very likely be filed under the noise category. Basically, you will have people who follow you, but they won’t see your updates unless they … Read more