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 are a large demographic. Social media can drive people to your site, which will help benefit your SEO and improve you overall reach.
Combining Social Media and SEO Can Boost Engagement for Your Brand. Engagement is a vital part of any online presence, which means that you need to make sure you are making it possible for your clients to engage. They can engage on your blog, but they are more likely to engage with you on social platforms. There are many things you can do to drive this engagement, and it gives you the chance to boost your SEO by way of organic link building and more. Just how does engagement help with SEO? The Business 2 Community article says it is because engagement means happier clients who won’t just be a one-time customer. They are likely to become long-term customers, and visit your site regularly. These repeat visits are great for your metrics and helps boost your rankings significantly.
Each Social Channel Should Be Considered a Search Engine, As Well. Remember that while you want to bring in ranks and views from Google, or even Bing, the social channels act as search engines themselves. This gives your business more coverage and helps more people find what they are looking for. If someone is looking for a certain keyword, product, or service, they are likely to search Google or Bing, but they are also likely to search social media channels. Many times, people will look for certain trigger keywords to get find products, which is why you should use your keywords as your hashtags, as well. I’ll take a look at this a little later in the blog.
Google Does Use Twitter to Look for New Content. While there isn’t a central system to file all web content, Google does use Twitter to locate new content to add to an index. If your content gains a lot of notice and traffic on Twitter, it is easier for Google to find your content and list it on the SERP. Different ranking factors that help Google discover include re-tweets, the amount of time people link to and tweet your content, and how quickly it was shared over a certain time. While you might not think that Twitter is a great resource for your business, it might just be a bigger help than you initially realized.
You Can Use Your SEO Keywords as Hashtags on Social Media. Optimizing your social media posts will be a great way to help Google notice your content and help bring your blog or web content on the SERP. A great way to optimize your social media posts is to utilize your keywords as hashtags to bring in more views, clicks, re-tweets, and more. Make sure you choose the top keywords that help bring traffic from Google to your site to make sure you are reaching the right audience. You should also make sure you are playing around with different keywords to see if any others will bring in more, and different, clients.
Google Plus is Still Vital to SEO and Ranks. When you create social media platforms, you always want to make sure you are utilizing Google Plus for your content. One of the biggest, and most obvious, reasons for this is Google Plus is a social media channel created by Google. This means that Google makes sure it is as important to ranking as possible. Sure, they’ve made a few changes to the importance of Google Plus and how it helps with ranks, but it is still a vital platform. It can help your content rank higher and help establish you as an authority in your industry. Being set apart as an authority is a great way to gain trust from your followers and customers, helping create long relationships and convert new visitors into clients. You can also optimize your Google Plus profile perfectly to drive ranks on the SERP and raise your position on the SERP to higher, more effective, one.
Social Media Lets You Use Viral Content to Drive Engagement and Clicks. One of the great things about social media is access to viral content. There are two ways you can use viral content to bring in engagement. One is using and sharing viral content to drive people to your account to then see your social posts and links to your website. Viral content is a great advertising tool that also promotes more engagement and social shares from your followers. Another way is creating your own viral content that will encourage people to share your individual content to drive social shares. These can be in the form of infographics, videos, or other images.
Build a Following on Twitter to Maintain Customers. As I mentioned earlier, social media is a great way to engage with your existing clients, creating repeat clicks on your links by those individuals. This looks excellent on social media and to Google and is why social media is vital to your SEO campaign. Use your social accounts to build a great following of loyal clients that will not only click on your site links regularly and make purchases, but also to help bring in new clients. If your existing ones are happy and feel you are engaging well with them, they are very likely to share your social posts, driving more organic clicks and traffic.
Drive Your SEO by Becoming a Social Butterfly
Don’t shy away from social media simply because you think that it isn’t for your business. As you can see, it will be incredibly helpful when you are trying to boost your SEO and gain new, long-lasting clients, as well as boosting organic traffic and link building. If you are looking for someone to help you create excellent, engaging social media content or fully optimized profile pages, then look no further. Express Writers has an excellent team of social media managers that can help you with your social media needs. Take a look at all that we can offer you!
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 remember that these suggestions are not for every company on every social channel. Your business could be a B2B model, but you might see more traction on Facebook than you do on Twitter. The best thing to do is choose two or three channels you want to use and start implementing your content strategy, tweaking as you go. Pay attention to your analytics to see which channels are driving more shares and traffic, and consider using those predominately.
How Can You Apply NewsCred’s Findings to Your Campaign?
“This is excellent, but how do I apply this study into my social media campaign?” Don’t worry; I am going to take a look at a few things you can do by following a few interesting points in the NewsCred article.
Re-work Your Posting Times. If you have a set schedule for your blog postings, yet aren’t seeing many, if any, social shares, consider changing to different months and times to find something that works. You should also try to share different content throughout different times of the day and year to get more social shares, especially if you follow the above findings.
Try Out Popular Content Formats. As you can see, multiple content formats can help you get great social shares throughout the year. Play around with list posts, as well as making sure you always answer the “why” and “what” questions your clients will ask. You can also use formats such as videos, creating infographics, and more to help maximize your social reach.
Be Willing to Play With Things to Find Something that Works for You. While this study does shed light on a few things you can implement into your strategy to make it successful, you need to make sure you are willing to play with things first. This study illustrates how things work for these two companies and it might work for you similarly or not at all. Be prepared and willing to see what you need to do to reach out to your audience and give them the best content they want to share. You can do this by asking questions or taking a look at your analytics to see which posts get the most interaction and shares.
Use the Study and Improve Your Social Shares
This study shows that there are a few things you can do to make sure you get great social shares, increasing from what you already have. By implementing a few of the key points into your content strategy, you will be able to see amazing results. If you aren’t too sure if you are able to handle a social media strategy completely, then look no further! Express Writers offers excellent social media content for our clients, making sure you get incredible posts that your readers will love to share. We also provide excellent blog services, helping you get lists, how-to articles, and other content formats to share. Don’t hesitate to ask us your questions by contacting us or commenting below.
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 head over to their noise file and take a look.
Another con to Ello is that many people are worried that once it grows and allows for the million and more people to join, Ello will eventually start becoming overrun with ads and selling information. There have been other social sites out there that promise to be better than Facebook whether it be ad-free, easier to navigate or whichever the latest complaint is. In the end, people will have the same complaints about those sites as they did with Facebook.
What Does This Mean For Marketing?
It is hard to tell just what this means for marketing since it is still in beta, but hopefully people will be able to figure out whether or not this social site will have any marketing benefits. Some people are hoping that this site stays content-driven, which will be great for companies who want to push their content, not just pay for pay per click ads. Yes, those PPC ads can bring in some revenue, but the more content-driven your campaign goes, the more success you are likely to see. In fact, it is a wise idea to start spending more on content, especially with the need for more content-driven posts instead of advertisements. A few steps you can consider as you prepare to use this site are:
Start tweaking your current campaigns and add more content-driven posts instead of relying on PPC ads.
Work on your social media relationship skills. The way that Ello is laid out, you will need to be able to communicate directly with followers and communicate well. We aren’t saying just a simple, “Thanks!” Instead, you will have to start coming up with decent, longer answers.
Make sure you have a content campaign that will reach younger generations as it seems younger individuals are who will be using this social site.
Will It Succeed?
Just like with any new social site, only time will tell whether or not Ello will succeed. As you can see from some of the articles shared throughout this piece, there are people who think this site is doomed already. Many are comparing it to the less than successful release of G+ and G+ Circles. The main problem with this if it fails is Ello doesn’t have Google behind it to make it important in ranking your site and content.
Public Profiles To Follow
If you are one of the lucky ducks who is able to get onto Ello before it is out of its beta stage, then you should make sure to follow a few of these public profiles. Many of these will help you as you learn how to use this site, as well as any new additions made to it.
Until Next Time
Are you going to try to get into Ello beta or wait for it to go public? In addition, do you think you will ever join the Ello community? It will be an interesting adventure to watch as this social site grows. Will it be the next to flounder or will it really be an alternative and the killer of Facebook? Only time will tell.
