Everyone talks about social media as a secret path to immediate success in business. We keep hearing about brands leveraging social media to earn higher conversions and booming profits. However, for those who haven’t seen any growth through these social mediums, this concept is still a bit vague. Clients ask “What good is social media going to do for our website?”
If we look at the bigger picture, social media has a lot to offer to a website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Social media plays a huge role in advancing your link building strategies.
How and Why Does Link Building on Social Media Work?
Consider this. Millions of people are spending a lot of time everyday just scrolling their Instagram feed, liking posts on Facebook or participating in debates on Twitter.
Many are using LinkedIn, DIY fans are searching for tutorials on Pinterest and thousands are updating their Google+ profiles every minute of the day. You might not be aware of it (yet) but these mediums have great potential for publicizing and channeling traffic to your landing pages.
Social media advertising spends are expected to jump to $36B in 2017 worldwide.
Since 2015, people have started spending more time on mobile applications than in front of their TV.
US and Canada spend the most of the global social media advertising spend.
Since people love using social media, link-builders can grab the opportunity to interact with these users. It really isn’t a difficult task to perform if one is aware of the nature of the social medium in question.
These places are all about making new friends and building relationships with your target audience, something which link-building also requires. If good relationship-building happens on social media, it can ultimately get more links for your business.
Let’s look at some of the most popular social media channels and how link-builders can use them to achieve links:
You will be pleasantly surprised to know that Facebook and its suite of apps like Instagram and Messenger take up at least 50 minutes of a user’s day. This amount of time is enough to convince users that your link is helpful for them.
Facebook is a great place for marketers, especially the diverse pages created on it. With your very own brand page, you will attract relevant people and share your content with them. People follow these links and like to hear what you have to say.
Twitter is everyone’s favorite medium to interact with famous personalities and share their thoughts. The word limit certainly doesn’t stop users from being creative, considering 500 million people tweet every day.
For link builders, the good thing about Twitter is its minimalism. Everything has to be said in 140 characters. Hence, you can use a tool like klear to find relevant people in your niche, connect with them and then share the content from your timeline with them.
Who doesn’t want to know about the newest model of Tesla in a network of automobile lovers? Twitter bio also has two options to place 2 different links. If you use that space, you can keep getting links from this medium too.
The majority of marketers still question the credibility of links coming from Pinterest, but those who have used and reaped the benefits of this medium know it has real value.
Pinterest is a community of people who love art, DIY, fashion, cooking and all other crafty things. That’s why, a majority of Pinterest users are females or mommy bloggers.
Furthermore, lifestyle brands have the perfect opportunity to showcase their products in ‘Pins’ that can lead users back to their main site. The most important prerequisite for using Pinterest strategically though, is to have gorgeous, quality photos; rest assured the traffic will come your way.
LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals. It is more than a digital resume and can be used efficiently to develop professional relationships. With more than 200 million professionals using LinkedIn, it won’t be wrong to deem it a land of opportunity for finding content, meeting new people and creating fruitful career opportunities.
However, just because it is a professional networking website, does not mean it is 100% spam-free.
All link builders out there need to know that the website can cause you trouble if your links get in the wrong hands or if you are viewed as a spammer. Nevertheless, if you find relevant people, your content can be pushed between professionals who find it valuable.
Industry-relevant content is liked more on this network, compared to the content posted and shared on Facebook. This provides you with the perfect opportunity to post your top class content on LinkedIn.
Google+
Google+ came out in 2011, but it did not get the response Google was hoping for. People were reluctant to try out a new social network because Facebook and Twitter were already serving the purpose. However, people came around and it continues to grow with those who are die-hard Googlers.
Google+ uses circles to share content between people you choose to put in those circles. Its most important aspect is that it is tied to Google+ Authorship, which makes it extremely relevant for search purposes.
If you still don’t have an account despite being a writer, then it’s about time you made a Google+ account to get your content ranked on Google search results.
You can find most of the search engine optimizers on Google+ because they know its importance. But like all social mediums, the demographics of your network matter a lot. If you are writing and sharing about organic food, you have to post it for people who care. Otherwise, the content will be ignored. You can get valuable links and follow backs by reaching out to the right kind of audience and adding them to your circles.
Last Word
It all comes down to good relationship building. Google doesn’t give much importance to incoming links from social media, but the influx of incoming traffic from these social channels can definitely make every marketer happy.
New businesses can really use this strategy to grow and build a community, and older businesses can get the word out through social media. In either case, you need to ensure you are not spamming your timelines on social media with links only, because that also gives a bad impression. When you interact with your audience and they discover that your content actually helps them out, that’s when you can build some strong backlinks to your site.
Need guidance with your link building and/or social media efforts? Contact the experts at Finsbury Media! We’re here to help handle all your digital marketing needs and unlock the power of social media for your business.