Social media and SEO: a love story?

In today’s digital world, it’s hard to imagine a successful marketing strategy without a strong presence on social media. From getting crucial insights into a brand’s customers to nurturing them and ultimately converting them into loyal, returning clients – the benefits of a good social media strategy seem to be countless.

And with such a mighty tool for your marketing strategy, it may not surprise you that, when it comes to search engine optimization, social media can be a powerful ally, too.

When used together, indeed, social media and SEO can lead to numerous perks, from a higher brand, reach to improved link-building for your website, and even more. But what are specifically the benefits of combining social media and SEO for your marketing strategy, and why should you consider doing it for your business?

Let’s go over the mixed use of social media and SEO, its several advantages, and the reasons why you should implement it in your marketing strategy.

The major perks of combining social media and
SEO

Combining social media and SEO comes with many benefits. Here are the most relevant ones:

1. Increased visibility

Among the numerous perks of the mixed-use of social media and SEO, the increased visibility it can bring to your website and brand may be the most relevant and effective one.

By promoting your content on social media, indeed, you can increase the visibility of your site on such platforms and ultimately reach a larger audience as a consequence.

Not only developing a solid social media strategy will help you attract more direct traffic (from the users that engage with your content), but it will also allow your website to improve its ranking in the SERPs.

Indeed, even though the impact of direct traffic over rankings is debated, research has shown that it plays a role in the way your website positions itself in the search results.

That is, when many users visit your website, it acts as a signal to Google that your domain has high authority and value, a factor that will ultimately help you improve your rankings.

This is true even if the total number of direct visits your website receives doesn’t work as a direct ranking factor, a claim for which more evidence is needed.

The visibility you’ll get from social media will ultimately benefit your business in the long run, a goal you can aim for by sharing valuable content, or by running social media ads.

By consistently sharing high-quality content, you will establish your brand as an authority in your niche, earn the trust of your audience and improve your overall rankings in the SERPs

2. Better understanding of your audience

Another key benefit of combining social media and SEO is the ability to better understand your audience. Social media platforms provide valuable insights into your audience’s interests, behaviours, and preferences.

By analyzing this data, you can tailor your SEO and content marketing strategies to better meet the needs and interests of your target audience. For instance, you may find out what topics your public is interested in the most.

Through meticulous work of research, you can eventually discover new keywords to aim for in the SERPs, thus helping structure your whole SEO strategy.

A deep understanding of your audience is crucial to create engaging content that is relevant to them, and it’s key to the overall success of your business.

Though, it’s not just about creating content that resonates with your public.

By actively engaging with your audience on social media, you can also gain valuable feedback and insights into what they like and dislike about your brand and products.

This, too, can help you fine-tune your marketing efforts and create a more personalized experience for your customers. For example, if you notice that a large portion of your audience is interested in sustainability, you can create content and campaigns centred around that topic and incorporate it into your SEO strategy.

Or, if you receive negative feedback on social media, you can use that feedback to make improvements and address any issues your customers may have.

The amount of relevant data you can get from social media is huge, and it’s up to you to use such information in ways that benefit your business the most.

3. Improved user experience

Combining social media and SEO contributes to an overall better user experience in several ways.

Indeed, not only building a solid social media strategy makes it easier for users to reach your content, but it will help them develop a deeper connection with your brand.

This can be achieved through a more personalized approach, which is made possible – as we have just seen – by the deeper understanding you have of your audience’s needs and behaviours.

By receiving constant feedback from your public and incorporating it into your strategy, you can build more buyer-centric relationships, which will result in a better user experience and higher loyalty.
Indeed, as simple as it may seem, the better the experience you provide your users with, the higher the chances they will come back to you in the future.

Ultimately, your user experience will depend on how promptly you incorporate the feedback you get from social media on your website (and vice versa), so make sure not to miss out on such precious information.

4. Enhanced link building

A good social media strategy can help you enhance your link-building game. Though, before jumping to conclusions, it’s important to clarify some relevant points. As every SEO professional knows, most of the links that come from users sharing your content on social media are nofollow.

This means Google doesn’t directly take them into account for its ranking calculations, and it’s the reason why backlinks from social media are often considered pointless.

Though, the truth is that social media plays a role as a ranking factor and that it would be counter-effective to ignore it when trying to build a solid netlinking strategy.

Indeed, social media links feed into SEO performance as they increase content exposure. Simply put, they provide more opportunities to get backlinks from other websites, which will help to improve your website’s domain authority.

But it doesn’t end here.

On top of that, the latest research on the matter has shown the following takeaways:

• Retweets and Facebook likes/shares make a difference for keywords with low competition;
• Tweets from very popular users may influence rankings in the short term (but only for some specific keywords);
• Social signals can help your content get a massive, yet temporary boost in Google’s SERPs.

Anyways, always keep in mind that people who discover your content may eventually link to your website over time, helping you get backlinks indirectly.

Such keeps being the most certain way social media can benefit your netlinking game, and acts as proof that social media has, indeed, a concrete impact on your link-building.

Ultimately, if you’re looking to build a long-term netlinking strategy, it’s crucial you incorporate social media into your SEO plan and not miss out on such opportunities.

Build a marketing strategy that is going to last through time.

When trying to position your business on the market, combining social media and SEO can be a powerful ally, though it may not always be enough. Indeed, it generally takes time to build a solid presence on social media, as well as in the SERPs, which is why it’s hard to cope with both strategies in the short term.

If you’re looking to boost the authority of your brand – as well as the awareness of your public – it’s crucial you take into account a more complete and effective approach.

Luckily, Getfluence is here to help.

With over 10.000+ premium publishers partners in the world, like Forbes and The Economist, this marketplace is the help you need to enhance your brand positioning with results that are going to last through time.

How?

The process is simple and convenient. Through a user-friendly interface, Getfluence makes you access renowned publishers, to promote your content on the most relevant media in your area of expertise.

The results?

Higher brand reach, improved rankings (with high-quality backlinks), and more trust in your business or project.

Finally, Getfluence allows you to save money on each of your deals, thanks to its competitive prices pre-negotiated for you with the best publishers in the world.

Save time and money with Getfluence now

Most asked questions about the combined use of social media and SEO

How do social media and SEO work together?

Social media and SEO work together in many ways. First, they both contribute to your user experience, as the feedback you get on one channel can be implemented into the other. On top of that, social media helps you improve your rankings, and SEO helps increase the discoverability of your social media profiles.

What are the SEO benefits of social media?

Social media has numerous benefits on SEO. Overall, combining social media and SEO can lead to a deeper understanding of your audience, an enhanced user experience, a higher brand reach, and a stronger netlinking strategy, which is especially helpful in the long run.

Is SEO needed for social media?

Since SEO and social media affect each other, it’s important to build a strategy that takes them both into account. This will help you develop coherent communication across your channels and enhance the relationship your customers have with your brand.