Over the last couple of years, the discussion regarding social media, SEO, and user-generated content has exploded. How people are using the internet is changing every day, and these changes can provide substantive business benefits for companies wanting to make their presence known online.
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A significant portion of online spending for companies is geared towards a more social media approach. This is in the form of ORM (Online Reputation Management), social media and various user-generated content strategies.
If you are in the process of leveraging social media effectively, it requires a long-term commitment to establish mutually beneficial relationships online that can help you improve your services and products, strengthen your online reputation, and drive targeted traffic to your website.
How much should you spend on SMM?
How much do you think should be spent on social media marketing to promote your brand? This is a tough question and it all depends on how important your targeted audience is to your success. Social media is not just about “spending” and “budget”. What do you want to achieve with your social media campaign? Are you looking for more followers? Brand credibility and awareness? Traffic to your website and other online profiles, more conversions?
In my experience, social media marketing works the best when it is combined with an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategy. These two digital marketing strategies can work hand in hand to help you reach your business goals.
The synergy between SEO and social media
There are three distinct synergies between SEO and social media. The synergies explained below are common aspects of social media and SEO, but when they are combined, create a powerful marketing force that can drive success with your campaign.
Content: Ever heard the saying “Content is king”? It is, but with social media, “Conversation is king”, and in order to start the conversation, quality content is needed. The content on your website, blog and other online profiles needs to relevant to the audience you are trying to reach and should be easily share able. With Google Analytics, you can see which of your content pages is viewed the most, and the bounce rate of those content pages.
Link building: This is still the heart of SEO. How many people are linking to your content? Link building is an essential piece of social media marketing. As your content gains more links, your SEO ranks will move up. Just on a side note, always go for quality over quantity.
Search queries: How many times do you see social media links including blog posts, comments, and social media profiles when doing a simple search on Google? By being active in your topic and niche with social media, you can increase your chance of being found on normal search results.
Social media together with SEO is an excellent digital marketing method of gaining brand exposure via various online channels. In order to gain the most out of your strategy, have clearly defined goals and objectives tied directly back to your business.
