How to Use SEO to Increase Your Social Media Presence and Vice Versa

Are you confused about whether to do social media or search engine optimization (SEO)? How about doing both?

This blog post highlights how these two powerful strategies can work together to advance your online marketing goals. It also provides sensible but effective tips that you can use to make the most of SEO and social media.

What Is the Relationship Between Social Media and SEO?

According to Digital Authority Partners (DAP), at first glance, there’s none. In fact, you can consider them two distinct digital marketing tactics.

• Social media is not a ranking signal. Although you can see certain Twitter or Facebook posts appearing in search engines, your engagement on these platforms does not directly impact your position in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

 

• You can still rank even without social media. Even if you keep your SEO plan to the bare minimum, you are more likely to place in the search results. You can’t do that by sticking to social media alone.

 

• These techniques revolve around two different ecosystems. Search engines run algorithms that consider over 200 factors to determine which content to rank and where. Social media platforms have their own to help determine how posts will appear.

The good news is that you can combine social media and SEO to see results faster. Below are some points to consider to understand their relationship better. 

1. Social Media Helps Generate Good-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are one of the essential Google ranking factors. And content shared on Pinterest, Facebook, or LinkedIn can give them access to your website.As an illustration, let’s say you shared a well-written blog post from your website. Your followers saw it and decided to do two things. 

First, bloggers talked about the link on their respective sites. Second, followers shared the same post until they reached other blog writers who found the content interesting and relevant.

2. SEO Increases Your Visibility

Let’s assume that you have zero social media presence. How do you get people talking about you? You can boost your visibility through SEO.

Optimizing your content for search engines makes it easier for people to find you.

Say you’re selling a course on how to make low-content books, and you’ve optimized your landing page for keywords like “how to make Amazon books.” If someone types the same phrase on Google, your site will appear on the SERPs.

But your leads won’t just check out your product. Some who like your content will share your website on their social media accounts.

3. Social Media and SEO Can Make You More Credible Online

Contrary to what you think, your customers don’t trust you enough, and it can impact your ability to convert prospects into customers.

You can improve your authority and trustworthiness by doing social media and SEO.

The former helps you connect with your audience and build a relationship. For example, you can address your audience’s underlying needs, wants, and problems by creating helpful content. You can also answer queries directly on social media platforms.

Meanwhile, SEO helps increase your website’s authority in the eyes of search engines. The higher your domain authority is, the more credible your website becomes. People are more likely to do business with you if they find you trustworthy.

How to Use Social Media and SEO Together to Achieve Success

Yes, you can mix social media and SEO and take your digital marketing efforts up a notch. The question is, how do you exactly do it?

Here are our best tips:

1. Do SEO First Before Promoting Your Content on Social Media

If you’re confused about where to start, always focus on SEO for the first few weeks. Here’s why:

• It will take you more time to see results from SEO. You need a good head start.
• Optimizing for search engines is the foundation for other online marketing efforts, including paid ads and email marketing.
• SEO can support your social media campaign, especially if you’re still building engagement, traffic, and followers.

Sometimes, combining both is overwhelming. Consider working with a digital marketing agency, particularly when ramping up your optimization plan. Find one that specializes in SEO and social media.

2. Focus on Content

What other factors do social media and SEO share? The answer is content. It helps you rank on search engines and persuades your followers to like and share a Facebook or TikTok post.

You can make your content work for both by doing the following:

• Keep your audience in mind. Always write for humans first and know what they want. Then match your content with your target market. For instance, case studies are ideal for B2B marketing on LinkedIn. Use analytics to figure out your most valuable content.

• Include and optimize the visuals. A recent study suggests that over 65% of consumers now use videos to help them learn more about brands. Include relevant images, videos, and sounds in posts to drive more traffic, add context, and increase engagement. Also, optimize them for SEO by adding keywords in alt texts, for example.

• Diversify your content. Online users consume content in various ways. Maximize traffic and cover all aspects of your buyer’s journey with different content types. For instance, use blog posts for top-of-the-funnel SEO and product videos for middle-of-the-funnel SEO. You can also use infographics and case studies to attract more backlinks.

3. Keep Up with the Trends

SEO’s landscape constantly changes, thanks to algorithm updates. Social media follows the same pattern. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t launch Facebook to sell ads. It just evolved because of factors like demand and competition.

To succeed in SEO and social media is to be updated with industry trends—and keep up.

But how do you know you’re already lagging or what updates are available? Here are some ideas:

• Be active in your industry. Follow experts (and even competitors) on social media. Find out the changes they’ve made. Join organizations, clubs, or associations. Reach out to fellow marketers.

 

• Monitor your progress. Your strategies may not be working anymore because they’re already old. Keep track of your key performance indicators (KPIs) using analytics tools, SEO software, and social media management platforms.

 

• Set aside time for research and experimentation. At least once a week, check out Google’s Webmaster blog, SEO forums, and social media news sites. Find some time to A/B test your hypotheses on both channels.

Summing Up

SEO and social media marketing are separate digital marketing strategies. But they can work together to help you reach your target market, build brand awareness, and generate leads or sales.

Use them together to create a solid plan using the tips we shared. Even better, work with a digital marketing agency that can help you with both SEO and social media marketing for an even better chance at success.