In my simple definition, SOCIAL SEO is the cooler version of your traditional old school boring cold and rigid backlinking. Social SEO is the humanized fun, interesting and exciting version.
One day someone from Google woke up and decided that it’s time to make the game SEARCH more interesting. So, they released different algorithms to avoid people from cheating their way to the top. It is really for everyone’s benefit. If I’m searching for something I’d only want to see the best and most relevant content. So no, google is not a big ogre in the sky who just wants to make life hard for Marketers.
Simply put, it is combining traditional white hat SEO (yes, the boring stuff should still be included) with a solid social media strategy (the fun part comes in).
LET ME EXPLAIN HOW IT WORKS:
Traditional SEO is a collection of various techniques below used to drive traffic to websites via top rankings on search.
-###Website Optimization###: This simply means that your website should be gorgeous enough that when your target audience visit it, they would want to stay and browse. It should have a clean layout and be easy to use. It goes without saying that your website should be mobile optimized. Don’t make it hard for your audience to search for information (you want them to find) from their smartphones since according to Yahoo, mobile devices account for a quarter of web traffic. At the end of the day you need to track conversions on your website and constantly optimize your landing pages to ensure your hard earned traffic doesn’t go to waste.
Read also: http://news.yahoo.com/mobile-devices-account-more-quarter-internet-traffic-230011733.html.
-###Link Building###: With the new Google update this aspect is now also concerned with inbound links. In short, those who connect to you are just as important as those you connect to. The goal is to gain more social shares through credible individuals or organizations that can get you noticed in a good way.
-###Blogging and High Quality Content###: These days it’s all about putting a face to the name. Blogging has evolved as a way to foster quality relations with a target audience. Content has to be interesting, informative, and, above all, brand-oriented. Why do you think I started writing my company’s blog?
When the talk turns to what has been taken out of the equation, the immediate thing that comes to mind are the sloppier, black hat SEO techniques that rely less on quality and more on quantity. At the end of the day, social SEO enhances its traditional counterpart, launching into a new, more challenging and rewarding realm of online interaction.
WHAT DOES SOCIAL SEO BRING IN?
Again, what it actually accomplishes is bringing in the human factor, actual individuals who will read, share, and create buzz around online content.
What you need to understand is that Social is not just a quality game, it is also a numbers game. The more followers you have, the more people will see the content you work so hard on creating. You need to be constantly aiming to increase your fan base.
Below are three 3 activities you should be doing:
Read also: http://allfamous.com/social/five-easy-steps-to-achieve-social-seo/
Social Ads: This is a must! The last thing I want is to make Mark Zuckerberg richer. But sadly, we just have to. It is more costly in the long run to keep increasing your fan base organically. Trust me on this, you are wasting your time and resources with each piece of content you are producing if you are not doing ads, or promoting the content.
In the US, to run a Facebook Likes campaign will cost you approximately $1/like, here in the Philippines (and other developing Asian nations) it’s only USD $0.08-$0.12 per like. You should be taking advantage of that. More brands are realizing that Social Media is no longer a nice to have, but a total MUST-HAVE! Which means that eventually the rate of USD $0.08-$0.12 per like will increase to $1 per like as competition increases. If you are smart, before that happens, you will already have invested in building a fanbase of one million targeted fans.
-###Content Marketing###: Don’t run ads if you have no intention of posting quality content on your social media pages. It’s similar to me inviting you to my party without serving you any food or alcohol. Stupid and annoying right? That is exactly what your fans will feel if you entice them to visit your page and the page is empty or has really bad content. #Annoying!
One thing you need to know is that Content Marketing is a slooooow burn! You need to be diligent and patient. Overtime you will see the fruits of your labor. The good news is that over time if you do it right, eventually you will be able to decrease your spend on ads.
The objective is to spark ongoing interaction through compelling themes, discussions, games etc. Don’t think that just because it’s your brand page that you can just bombard your audience with product promotions and offers. Again, let’s go back to my analogy: You don’t want me to invite you to my party and just talk about me. I need to make sure you will have fun too! In the same way, you have to make sure you are adding VALUE to your audience. Remember, If they like your page, they can easily unlike it too.
-###Engagement###: Remember what I said about being humans? The entire reason Social is such a powerful marketing tool is because of the interaction. Robots don’t talk. But that’s what humans do, we talk to each other. Marketing is no longer a one-way street. You communicate to your target audience and you have given them a easy and mobile channel to respond back to you. So value each question or comment by interacting with them ASAP. Tools are available now to make this an easy task for you.
Social SEO is positioned as the perfect tool for putting your brand in context, and making your website relevant to buying search queries. Once users have become aware of the quality of content available on a certain site, they can proceed to spread this content to others. There is more chance that these individuals will convert into sales if they have regular interactions with your brand and have warmed up to you. This is what develops loyalty and word of mouth between you and your target consumer.
This article also appeared on: https://www.afdigital.com/what-is-social-seo/
