Social media strategies are crucial to the performance of your search rankings, so how can optimize Facebook for SEO?
Back in November, we posted an article on the importance of social media when it comes to SEO. With the ever changing rankings criteria at Google and other search engines, there is no question that your social media strategies will prove to be all the more important in 2013 when it comes to getting found. But while you may know that social signals are important to your search rankings, you may not know how to optimize Facebook in order to ensure that search engines pick up your social networks. Below are a few helpful tips to help you optimize your social media strategies in order to increase your search rankings in 2013 and get found by potential customers on Facebook.
There is no shortage of tips out there with suggestions on how to optimize a Facebook fan page for SEO, but there are really only a few main areas of focus one should look to when it comes to optimizing a Facebook page so as not to waste time on unproductive tweaks. Below are three tips that are sure to increase your exposure to search engines from your Facebook page, and should be key components to your social media strategies when it somes to Facebook optimization.
1. Obtain a Vanity URL
Once a fan page reaches 25 ‘Likes’ , it is eligible for a vanity URL. What is a vanity URL? Well, when you first created your Facebook page, you might have noticed that the page title was something like, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Your-Company-Name/1234567890. Considering the weight put on URLs by search engines, a title like the one provided by Facebook is doing little to benefit your exposure. Once your page has reached the coveted 25 ‘Like’ mark, visit https://www.facebook.com/username, select the page you wish to provide a custom URL for, and type in your new URL. This will give your Facebook a much cleaner URL that search engines will recognize.
Now for the worst case scenario: your company name is somehow taken. This is unlikely, but the more generic your company name, the higher the likelihood. Not to worry – if this happens, then choose a URL that describes your company. This will also benefit your search rankings due to the keywords registered in the URL. So, if your company name is John’s Store, and you see that …/Johns-Store is taken, then choose something like …/Johns-Car-Parts-Store.
2. Keywords Are Important…In Certain Areas
Posting regularly on Facebook might garner attention from other Facebook users, but regular posts might not necessarily mean more attention from search engines. Unlike a website with thousands of indexed pages, search engines do not index Facebook posts the same way. So, while you might have one of the most active accounts on Facebook in terms of regular posting, it does not necessarily mean that search engines can find you.
There are a few areas on Facebook, however, that search engines categorize the same way they would a web page. Your page title is registered as both your SEO Title and an H1 Tag. Your page’s description in the About or Company section registers as the Meta Description. These are two areas on the page that are extremely important for SEO, and what you include should be well thought out.
Once these areas are optimized it is important to optimize the beginnings of your posts. The first 18 characters of a Facebook post register with search engines as meta descriptions for those posts. So, if, for example, your company’s focus is web design, the first words of your posts should focus on the web design keywords you wish to focus on.
3. Backlinks Are Still Key to SEO
Don’t leave your posts to wither away on Facebook alone, build links back to your posts. These serve as backlinks to your page, and the more backlinks you have, the greater authority your Facebook page is given by search engines. Despite the growing force of social signals in SEO, links are still the most relevant criteria, and Facebook is one of the easiest ways to build a network of backlinks to your page by sharing posts across the web.
Helpful Tip: This is also a great way to build exposure and increase search rankings for your website. Include links to your site in your posts and encourage the sharing of those links. Shared links are recognized by search engines as backlinks to your site, and will help increase both the exposure and the authority of your site much faster than conventional link building.
You social media strategies are proving ever more important to getting found. Facebook can be a phenomenal resource for increasing your exposure, and optimizing your Facebook fan page for SEO should not go overlooked by any brand.
Social Media Marketing Trends in 2013 [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenWhere should you be focusing your social media marketing efforts in the new year?
Social media marketing evolves constantly with trends in social media. Knowing what social networks and what media are working well is essential to success when it comes to social media marketing. This infographic does a great job of detailing how social media is trending and where we can see it going in 2013. Have a look below and let us know, is this where you expected to see social media marketing trending in the coming year? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Optimizing Facebook Social Media Strategies for SEO
/by Corey PadveenSocial media strategies are crucial to the performance of your search rankings, so how can optimize Facebook for SEO?
Back in November, we posted an article on the importance of social media when it comes to SEO. With the ever changing rankings criteria at Google and other search engines, there is no question that your social media strategies will prove to be all the more important in 2013 when it comes to getting found. But while you may know that social signals are important to your search rankings, you may not know how to optimize Facebook in order to ensure that search engines pick up your social networks. Below are a few helpful tips to help you optimize your social media strategies in order to increase your search rankings in 2013 and get found by potential customers on Facebook.
There is no shortage of tips out there with suggestions on how to optimize a Facebook fan page for SEO, but there are really only a few main areas of focus one should look to when it comes to optimizing a Facebook page so as not to waste time on unproductive tweaks. Below are three tips that are sure to increase your exposure to search engines from your Facebook page, and should be key components to your social media strategies when it somes to Facebook optimization.
1. Obtain a Vanity URL
Once a fan page reaches 25 ‘Likes’ , it is eligible for a vanity URL. What is a vanity URL? Well, when you first created your Facebook page, you might have noticed that the page title was something like, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Your-Company-Name/1234567890. Considering the weight put on URLs by search engines, a title like the one provided by Facebook is doing little to benefit your exposure. Once your page has reached the coveted 25 ‘Like’ mark, visit https://www.facebook.com/username, select the page you wish to provide a custom URL for, and type in your new URL. This will give your Facebook a much cleaner URL that search engines will recognize.
Now for the worst case scenario: your company name is somehow taken. This is unlikely, but the more generic your company name, the higher the likelihood. Not to worry – if this happens, then choose a URL that describes your company. This will also benefit your search rankings due to the keywords registered in the URL. So, if your company name is John’s Store, and you see that …/Johns-Store is taken, then choose something like …/Johns-Car-Parts-Store.
2. Keywords Are Important…In Certain Areas
Posting regularly on Facebook might garner attention from other Facebook users, but regular posts might not necessarily mean more attention from search engines. Unlike a website with thousands of indexed pages, search engines do not index Facebook posts the same way. So, while you might have one of the most active accounts on Facebook in terms of regular posting, it does not necessarily mean that search engines can find you.
There are a few areas on Facebook, however, that search engines categorize the same way they would a web page. Your page title is registered as both your SEO Title and an H1 Tag. Your page’s description in the About or Company section registers as the Meta Description. These are two areas on the page that are extremely important for SEO, and what you include should be well thought out.
Once these areas are optimized it is important to optimize the beginnings of your posts. The first 18 characters of a Facebook post register with search engines as meta descriptions for those posts. So, if, for example, your company’s focus is web design, the first words of your posts should focus on the web design keywords you wish to focus on.
3. Backlinks Are Still Key to SEO
Don’t leave your posts to wither away on Facebook alone, build links back to your posts. These serve as backlinks to your page, and the more backlinks you have, the greater authority your Facebook page is given by search engines. Despite the growing force of social signals in SEO, links are still the most relevant criteria, and Facebook is one of the easiest ways to build a network of backlinks to your page by sharing posts across the web.
Helpful Tip: This is also a great way to build exposure and increase search rankings for your website. Include links to your site in your posts and encourage the sharing of those links. Shared links are recognized by search engines as backlinks to your site, and will help increase both the exposure and the authority of your site much faster than conventional link building.
You social media strategies are proving ever more important to getting found. Facebook can be a phenomenal resource for increasing your exposure, and optimizing your Facebook fan page for SEO should not go overlooked by any brand.
Social Media Marketing in 2013: The Essentials
/by Corey PadveenWhat does your social media marketing strategy need to have in 2013 in order for it to be successful?
Social media marketing has, once again, proven to be a crucial tool for a brand’s growth in 2012. The marketing medium has made tremendous strides over the course of the year, and it is sure to grow even larger in the next. As we approach the new year, we thought it might be helpful to take a look at some of the most important items to address with regards to your social media marketing strategy for 2013 in order to see your success grow, too.
1. Set Your Goals and Your Road Map for Achieving Them
As with any venture, social media marketing requires a strategy in order for it to be successful. The concept of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is one that no longer applies in the conventional sense. (RIM, the makers of BlackBerry are a perfect example of this.) The contemporary version of this theory falls more in line with, “if it’s working, figure out a way to get the most out of it” – and that is exactly where your goals should focus if that’s the case. Below are a few pointers to consider when devising your social media marketing strategy for the new year:
These pointers follow a general theme, and that brings us to our next point.
2. Before Anything, Evaluate Your Social Media Marketing in 2012
As the pointers above may suggest, evaluating the performance of your social media marketing in 2012 is going to be crucial to the success of your strategy in 2013. Where did you benefit? Where did your stretegy fall short? What were your goals for 2012? Did you achieve them? Why or why not? These questions all need to be answered before devising a strategy for your social media marketing in the coming year. And there are quite a few ways you can go about doing this.
The first aspect you need to look at are your goals in 2012. Using some of the insights tools available both in social media networks (e.g. Facebook insights) and external tools, you can see where you reached your goals and where you need improvement. Then evaluate each social network individually to see what strategies you employed that were either a success or a bust. Build off of these in order to get the most out of your social media marketing in 2013. Trim the fat where it is necessary and devote those resources to areas that saw success in order to maximize the efficiency of your strategy. Social media marketing is not about quantity necessarily, but about quality. Don’t forget, despite what some people might suggest, social media is not free, and if you are draining resources into something that is not benefitting your brand, you are losing considerably more than you might think.
3. Take SEO Into Consideration in Your Evaluation
SEO has long been a cornerstone of web marketing. And social media plays an integral part in your SEO efforts. In a post last month, we noted why social signals are an ever-growing part of the Google algorithm. It stands to reason that social signals will continue to factor into SEO in a significant way in the coming year, so evaluating your SEO strategy and aligning it with your social media strategy will prove to be crucial in finding success.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ directly impact your search rankings, so look to your keywords to find out how you can capitalize on this reality. Shares and retweets with links work the same way as a backlink, but they make the link-building process infinitely simpler. So use your Google Analytics Webmaster Tools to find your best keywords, and optimize accordingly.
4. Make Sure Your Entire Team Believes in Your Social Media Strategy
What is the biggest hinderance to the success of a social media marketing strategy? Skepticism. For marketing divisions and firms alike, hesitation by management to accept social media as a crucial avenue to a brand’s success has proven time and again to be biggest hurdle when it comes to reaching al of your goals when it comes to social media marketing. So before moving forward, take the steps necessary to ensure that everyone, from the highest level executive to the mailroom clerk believes in the strategy, and you will be able to move forward faster than ever before.
Can you think of other points that will be crucial to the success of your social media marketing strategy in 2013? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Social Media Demographics Broken Down [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenWhen it comes to social media, where should you be looking for your target audience?
We posted recently about integrating you social media network strategies in order to reach every possible demographic, but there still looms the question of whether or not a social media network is right for you and your business based on the demographic you wish to target. Below is a great infographic from AdvertisingAge that does an excellent job of breaking down exactly who is talking and where they are doing it.
Social Media Strategies: Integrated Social Media Marketing
/by Corey PadveenSocial media strategies must consist of a multi-platform integration aspect in order to be successful.
What does this mean exactly? Well, let’s look at an example. Say you have a Facebook page, accounts on Google+ and YouTube and a Twitter handle. Now, it’s a given that there will be some crossover among fans and followers on these different social networks, but realistically you will have a wide audience as a result of the different demographics on multiple social networks. The graphs below detail exactly how different social networks’ demographics are broken down:
As a result of this age and gender distribution, it is appropriate to have social media strategies in place that take into account your different audience, but you must also be sure that your social media strategies reach all of these audiences by integrating these social media strategies into every one of your networks. How can you go about doing this? Let’s take a video, for example. Say you are a real estate agent and you have put together an instructional video on staging your home before it goes on the market. These kinds of videos tend to gain a lot of attraction, and will help you build credibility in your field. What is important is showcasing this expertise on every one of your social networks.
On Facebook, short, noticeable posts garner the most exposure, so posting a short introductory line with the video uploaded directly into the social network might work seeing as how links tend to have the lowest click-through rates on Facebook. But this post should contain a link to your YouTube channel, which in turn will allow you to integrate your Google+ page. Dom Carr of Google recently posted about the newest feature on YouTube that allows users to simply upload a video to both YouTube and Google+ by simply checking a box. As for Twitter, a link to your YouTube channel showcasing the video would be best along with a short description of where the link is going. (Remember, people hesitate to click on links that are not clearly defined.)
By integrating your social networks, an umbrella is created for your social media strategies. While it is important that every one of your social networks has its own, clearly defined strategy in place, there should be an overarching plan in place that encompasses every one of your social networks. Social media marketing is a category unto itself in your marketing strategy, and you should have clearly defined goals and a clear roadmap to success for all your social media, not just the individual channels themselves.
How have you configured your social media strategies to integrate all of your platforms? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Maximize Your Twitter Marketing
/by Corey PadveenHow can your Twitter marketing efforts pay off for your business?
Having a Twitter marketing strategy in place can do wonders for your social media marketing, but if you don’t know how to properly monitor and optimize your Twitter marketing, how can you know if you are doing it right? Below are a few pointers that can help you get the most out of your Twitter marketing by using some analysis techniques that often go overlooked.
1. Monitor Your Click-through
URL shorteners like bit.ly can be very helpful when it comes to monitoring click-through rates for a given campaign, the only problem is that studies show that people are hesitant to click through to a link when they do not know where it is going. So, the first step is to customize your bit.ly links. This is easily done, even if you do not have a professional account. For the Webmaster experts, there is a free way to customize a bit.ly link with your website. However, for those of us who are not well versed in the world DNS servers, shortened URL customization is as easy as typing in a new extension. When you save a bit.ly URL, you can edit it by simply clicking on the small pencil next to the link, and typing in your own title.
2. Don’t Focus on Going Viral
Hashtags might be nice to use if you are trying to join a conversation, but they are relatively useless when it comes to generating business from Twitter. Marketers love seeing a campaign’s virality on social media, but virality does not necessarily mean business generation. If you use a generic and somewhat obscure hashtag, like #blahblahblah, you might find that it picks up steam in the Twittersphere, and you might even find that your hashtag is a trending topic on Twitter. That’s great news, right? Not necessarily. Particularly if it is a generic term of phrase. Specificity trumps obscurity when it comes to trending, because you might see #blahblahblah trending, but does anyone even know that you started it? There is no point of origination that users can observe on Twitter when it comes to trending topics, so while you might have started a trend, you will eventually get lost in the noise.
Using something specific might benefit you far more, like #yourcompany. If you see that trending, then you have good reason to be on cloud nine. But you might be better off focusing your efforts on measurable actions, like the click-throughs we mentioned above, as opposed to something like hashtags.
3. Pay Attention to Your Google Analytics
Sure, click-throughs from your shortened URLs might look good. And hey, you might notice a spike in traffic on your Analytics dashboard. But how much of that traffic is converting, and what is the quality of the traffic you are driving from Twitter?
It is important to pay attention to your social signals in Google Analytics by setting up a Social Media Dashboard. It is here that you will be able to see exactly what the quality of your social traffic is, and if your efforts on social media networks like Twitter are paying off. This is especially important if you are seeing clicks but no conversion. Google Analytics gives tremendous insights into your social activity, and it will help you greatly when it comes to evaluating your Twitter programs and repositioning them to increase your returns.
What other Twitter marketing tips can you think of? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Google+ Communities: Revolutionizing Niche Social Media Marketing
/by Corey PadveenSocial media marketing took a major leap forward recently with the creation of Google+ Communities.
Considering Facebook’s first mover advantage when it came to social media marketing, it has always had an edge over the competition, namely Google+, when it came to businesses setting up shop and promoting themselves within the social network. So, despite the numerous complaints businesses have launched against Facebook for the poor quality of their business services, companies and brands have stuck around. With the launch of Google+ Communities, however, that might change very soon.
The key issue businesses have with Facebook for their social media marketing efforts is that the EdgeRank algorithm is quite biased, and the result is a lack of exposure for businesses on their fans news feeds. That’s right – EdgeRank determines what people see and what they do not see on their news feed. The EdgeRank system is based on engagement, so if a fan neglects a brand, it is unlikely that the brand’s post will appear in their news feed. Seems hard to believe considering how much companies spend on their Facebook advertising efforts (i.e. promoted and targeted posts) but it’s true. In fact, it was recently announced that only roughly 16% of a brand’s fans see that brand’s content. If only there was a better way! Well it looks like there might be.
With the superiority of Google+ Communities, it seems like Facebook may have to reevaluate their platform as it pertains to businesses. The advantage of exposure, cost and SEO (Oh yeah, did we mention Google+ is backed by Google?) it is a wonder why businesses would continue to allocate so many, if any, resources to the social networking giant as opposed to Google+.
Would you considering focusing more of your efforts on Google+ now that Communities are available? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Social Media Marketing: 4 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Engagement
/by Corey PadveenWhen it comes to social media marketing, engagement is crucial, and Facebook is one of the best avenues to get the most out of it.
Despite the fact that Facebook is apt for social media marketing and a key source for customer engagement, several companies are not approaching the social network in the right way when it comes to business. Below is a set of 4 tips you can use in your social media marketing strategies to improve your Facebook engagement and get the most out of the social network for your business or brand.
1. KISS: Keep It Short and Simple
People, particularly experts in a given field, feel as though Facebook is the perfect place to showcase their talent and boast about their services over a competitor’s. While Facebook is a great place to capitalize on watchful eyes, it is the wrong place to bore potential leads to tears with long, drawn-out posts explaining what you do and how you do it. This is a step best left to the lead nurturing phase of a relationship, and it is the wrong way to approach social media marketing. In fact, a recent study shows that the optimal number of characters for an engaging Facebook post is 80. By keeping your posts short, to the point and full of engaging content (Point 3) people will feel more compelled to engage with your brand and find out more about you. While you may be able to write paragraph after paragraph of self-touting information, Facebook users are not looking for that. So, to sum up, keep it simple!
2. Nobody ‘Likes’ a Showoff
That holds true for both the real world and the world of social media marketing. Social media is about being social, and one of the least social things a brand can do is post content that is purely self-promotional. (This holds true for parties as well, by the way.) LinkedIn is a network designed around the concept of promoting services and expertise, and Facebook is not. Like we mentioned above, engagement arises out of commonalities, not from promotional posts. Share information, ask questions, and get visitors to your page interested in carrying on a conversation.
3. Engagement Only Happens if People are Encouraged to Enagage
We noted above that you’ll need to post updates with engaging content. Now you may find yourself, asking, “Well, how can I have engaging content that is short and simple?” There are two answers to that question that have proven effective and easy to use: questions and pictures. Images and questions prompting an answer have the highest engagement rates of any for of content on Facebook. By asking short questions or prompting a comment like, “Provide a caption for this image!” people are seeing far more engagement than they do with other types of posts.
4. Do Your Research
Those first three tips are a cakewalk. They’re easy to follow, easy to employ and do not require much more work than simply following the given steps. This last tip is a little bit trickier. If you want to capitalize on views, shares, comments and other engaging aspects offered on Facebook, you’ll need to do you research to find out when your optimal times to post might be. Luckily, Facebook Insights offers tons of great information that can help, but you will have to find it, study it and adjust your Facebook strategy accordingly.
If you follow these four steps you are sure to see quite a bit of improvement when it comes to your Facebook engagement. Can you think of any other helpful tips that will add to you engagement levels? Tell us in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter!
Why Influence is Crucial to Social Media Strategies
/by Corey PadveenAre you building your influence to get the most out of your social media strategies?
Influence is key aspect to all social media strategies, but it is often overlooked by those putting strategies together. Whether it is the growth of your own clout when it comes to different social media channels, or your engagement with other key industry influencers, one of the cornerstones of any of the most successful social media strategies will undoubtedly be a focus on influence.
So, why exactly is influence important? We have often pointed out that establishing yourself and your brand as an industry leader is crucial to finding success through your social media efforts. In doing so, you increase the reach of your communities, gain tremendous credibility and become a go-to when people are looking for answers from the expert. Connecting with other influencers in your industry also brings exposure to your brand and, just as important, helps you learn from the experts and find out why they are so successful in your industry. It is hard to compete with the best when you do not know what makes them the best.
Now that the reasons behind the importance of influence are clear, how should you go about increasing your influence in social communities? A few years ago, Brian Solis conducted a poll to determine what industry leaders believed were the most important factors to increasing influence. The graph below details where the responses lay:
Insightful, engaging content is most important. We mentioned this earlier this month and anyone familiar with social media strategies will tell you that without great content, your efforts are doomed to fail. It is by posting this kind of content that people can see your expertise and recognize you as an influencer in a particular industry. But it is not enough to simply post the right content, you need to know where the best places are to post it. Below are a few examples of the best places to increase your influence on social media.
LinkedIn
This is especially true if you are a B2B company. LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to respond to questions by people in your industry, which can then lead to endorsements for a particular skill or expertise. LinkedIn is also a fantastic forum in which you can not only increase your own influence, but connect with other industry influencers.
Google+
Yes, it’s true – Google+ is one of the top areas in which you can increase your influence on social media. This came with the advent of communities on Google+. By engaging in conversations with other members of your targeted communities, you can directly increase your influence and connect with other influencers within the community as opposed to hoping your community finds you. This is an excellent tool and one that brands and individuals should certainly be taking advantage of.
Forums
Forum replies are a great way to showcase your knowledge to a community of individuals in your industry, particularly because you will in all likelihood be answering questions that exemplify your expertise. So look for forums that are either directly or indirectly related to your market and engage with those users to build your clout.
Influence is crucial to the success of your social media strategies. Where else do you think you can be building your social media influence? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
What is Pinterest? [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenWhat exactly is Pinterest and how can you use it for your social media efforts?
Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media networks, and was one of the first of its kind with regards to an image-centric social network. Since the launch and immediate success of Pinterest, social networks like Facebook have been looking for ways to improve on their photo sharing aspects, and businesses have taken advantage of the use of images for their social media efforts. The infographic below details exactly what Pinterest is and how you can use it for your business.
Pinterest – The Social Media Darling Of 2012: Infographic by Infographiclabs
Do you use Pinterest in your social media efforts? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!