SEO for Social Media

Join in on the Social Media Party

What you do off your website is becoming as important as what you do on your website these days. You might have a nicely running little site, but without social media there's only so much you can do. If you've been dabbling in social media, though, you're probably wondering what there is you can do.

Confronted with the vast landscapes of the different social worlds available, most company owners balk. Every platform operates differently, with not just different social rules but different algorithm rules too.

The good news is that social media can be approached much like your website: you can Search Engine Optimise social media too.

General Social Media SEO Tips

Some things apply across the board with social media. It's always best to fill out your social media profile as fully as possible. This not only gives the social media platform more information to work with, it ensures you have your web site address in as many places as possible.

If you decide you'll be across a number of social media platforms, it's good idea to ensure conformity among your accounts, so try to keep the same user name, other details and design. This makes it easier for people to recognise your brand and Google to attribute activity to your website.

Facebook SEO Tips

• Ensure you have a name-specific URL, eg. www.facebook.com/mybusiness – otherwise Facebook will supply you with an anonymous-looking number. This is hard for people to remember if they decide they like you enough to talk about you with friends.
• Put regular updates on your page to keep it fresh – about once a week is a minimum commitment. People appreciate seeing new shareable content in their news feed and it helps them feel confident about saying good things about you to others if you demonstrate active participation on Facebook.
• Actively court Page Likes – having a Like button on your website helps and it can be a good idea to ask for Likes at the end of posts you put on Facebook too. More Likes means more people that potentially see what you are sharing on your Page.
• Plan out content campaigns to attract Likes to your page – just as you would with traffic to your website. Consider the keywords, images and titles for Facebook Posts that will work best at getting you more Likes.

Twitter SEO Tips

• Put a real profile photo of the person who will be tweeting. Unlike Facebook, where a company page can survive without personalities driving it, Twitter needs to have a human face. If you really don't want to, then use a really crisp version of your logo that standouts out when it is minimised for Twitter on a smartphone.
• Enter the right circles by targeting specific followers with your following patterns. Following Twitter accounts that are a source of knowledge and news for your industry is a great way to indicate that this is what is important to you. Then it's up to you to choose what you Tweet and Retweet or Share that will help you attract your own followers who a relevant.
• Attract attention by using the right hashtags and at mentioning. Use the real @twittername whenever you talk about someone in a tweet. Plus add in #keyword hashtags to help give people context about your tweets subject matter. These are easy ways to get noticed through Twitter's internal search engine by lots more people that your existing followers.
• Tweet regularly. Tweet at least once a day and to keep your account really appealing you could be retweeting other people's tweets whenever you've nothing to do (like standing in a bank queue, on public transport or when sitting in a waiting room).
• Mix it up with photos and video. They don't always need to be yours, you can share images and videos that other people have created with your take on them as the tweet message. Visual content does very well on Twitter.
• Contribute your comments by replying to a tweet someone else has posted to get Twitter conversations and relationships started. Not all Twitter accounts are actively managed or monitored; those that are will be happy to respond and get to know you.

SEO Tips for Other Social Media Platforms

• Platforms like Pinterest, YouTube and Periscope work on the principal of sharing so you can easily get started by sharing what other people are creating. You can begin creating your social circles by sharing other people's posts. Once you show enough attention to someone, they're likely to give you some attention in return.
• Social media engagement no matter what the platform is requires lots and lots of content. Get a few areas of your business involved in creating social media worthy content and not just marketing. It might come down to the sales and marketing team to make it look good before it goes out; getting an organisation wide perspective for your social content will make it more real.
• It's best to appoint a single person to be the social media publisher. This is the one point through which all content gets posted out to the various social media platforms. They become the gatekeeper of what gets distributed and can maintain a repository of everything.
• When it comes to interacting with people through the different social media platforms, you want one or two people (depending on how active the social media account is) to be dedicated and responsible per social media platform. Think of these people as part of your Call Centre 2.0.
• When using videos as part of your social media content, learn from the smartest guy in the room what works. There are some really great YouTube SEO tips by Search Engine Watch for example.

Final Note about SEO for Social Media

As with Google's algorithms, the search algorithms on social media sites are subject to change every so often. So keep up to date with the latest news from each platform you're on to keep your investment making a return.