The very first thing you must wrap your head around is that social media presence has a hand in multiple aspects of your business and its exposure to potential customers online. Not only does it grow your exposure to customers on the major social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but it allows you to get in front of decision-makers in the business world using LinkedIn and other B2B tools. Social allows you to be in front of potential customers both on their PC and on mobile devices any time day or night with limited financial investment and a measurable return via analytics.
Social Impacts Search
Another thing you will need to rationalize is that social IS search, and it also INFLUENCES traditional search. To expand on that, customers are searching for specific businesses by locale and by default use when using things like Facebook and Twitter. This could be via referral, sharing, or even just typing in the search bar. Seriously, it is a form of search. Google and Bing recognize that, and they have made social media engagement a major rank factor. Engagement refers to the effects of traffic to the website from your social post. They now weigh search results based on the “influencer” factor, which presumes that based on the source of the traffic, is indicating that you may be a source of great information on the topic, thus, making you an influencer.
You’re Doing It (Wrong)?
Honestly, idk why u wldnt wnt a bomb Insta. But seriously, I do not know why you wouldn’t want a highly interesting Instagram profile.
If you know that was the same sentence twice without even thinking about it, you don’t need this service. But you probably still do. While we do offer services to manage these profiles, sometimes just the establishment is enough to get you started on a self-managed social platform. You might even use HootSuite!
In some cases – Facebook and LinkedIn are two excellent examples in particular – companies set up their pages wrong. There are many important decisions to make very early on, and they are generally irreversible. The way these are built specifically identify them as businesses and are indexed by Google and Bing as such. Doing this from the start is vital to making this work in the long run.
Which Social Platforms Matter For You, and Why
While some social media platform are no-brainers, not every social platform is appropriate for your business. Maybe we can help! Check out this little guide below using the delicious prop of Tim Hortons!
FACEBOOK: I really like Coffee.
Facebook is one of the must-haves for any legitimate business. As the most mainstream platform, leadership of the OpenGraph project, and extremely high link strength, ease of share, and business index factor, this is an absolute must-have. That said, it must be set up correctly. Many business owners fail in this aspect immediately by opening their business profile as a personal one, which restricts the tools available to really make your profile count. We can get your profile built quickly, the right way, and even add properly cut custom images as your avatar and background – plus integrate other helpful plug-ins, such as MailChimp. The integration of Facebook Live is also huge, as businesses can start live broadcasts from a mobile device, and address a large audience in a very personal matter quickly and easily.
TWITTER: I am drinking a Coffee #TimHortons
Twitter might not be practical for everyone as it is a “go big or go basic” tool. There is no successful in-between on this. Business indexing is minimal, but with an extremely high link reputation, you absolutely must, at the very least, exist in this space. The average lifespan of a Tweet is roughly 8 seconds, so not only volume, but quality counts. It is an art to get engagement with Twitter, which takes time to develop and patience to stick with it.
LINKEDIN: My Skills include Coffee Consumption and Chatting Over Coffee
LinkedIn is the most comprehensive and interactive resume ever, which now thinks it is Facebook. It is built for professionals, so if you are in the B2B industry, you need to be there. An effective LinkedIn approach would involve an active personal profile as well as a LinkedIn Business Page. There are a lot of reasons to lean on LinkedIn, specifically it allows you to get connected with decision makers, however, there is a lot of solicitation that goes on, and even a genuine connection can be discarded for solicitation, or inbox spamming.
INSTAGRAM: Here’s a picture of my morning java #yum #timmies
Take your followers on a magical journey of square pictures and short videos with very little link value. Really, this works if you have followers, but if your well is empty, so are the benefits. One huge plus here is that Instagram is owned by Facebook, and the marketing platforms have recently integrated. This leads to some interesting opportunities as we go forward.
Pinterest: Here’s an awesome Coffee based mixed drink recipe!
Imagine a cookbook with an infinite number of pages, and everyone can add their stuff to it. Well, it’s also good for arts and crafts, and anything else that is visual in nature. There is value here. For the right customer, this can be something that absolutely drives revenue. For others, this is a great way to learn how to use your crockpot.
GOOGLE+: Join my Circle for Coffee Lovers
This is barely relevant, however, it is Google. This profile links to a YouTube profile and related to your Google Maps pin location. Oh, and its Google. If you are a digital marketing client of ours, you’re going to have a G+ profile.
The Key Takeaway
The important thing you need to know is that not having any social media presence is a bad thing, having a presence that is almost completely idle is actually OK but far from great, but having an extremely present and active social media plan will absolutely drive revenue, sales, reputation, and really pay off in the long run. It is time to face the fact that social media is arguably just as important as search ranking, but it is also one of the key ranking factors FOR search engines.
