Social Media: The One Thing Every SEO Campaign Absolutely Needs

Social media: Once upon a time, it was something that was reserved “for kids these days” and was considered a time-waster more than anything else. Now there’s a new focus on bringing social media marketing strategies into more traditional methods of search engine optimization, and this has become such a growing trend in the industry of content marketing that it’s hard to ignore the pull of social media.

But because this trend has become so wildly popular, a lot of businesses are now sitting back and wondering if it’s just a fad, or if it really is worth the investment. Does it really deserve a hallowed place in your overall search engine optimization campaign? Will social media actually increase conversion rates? Will the effects of social media marketing last at all?

Well, now that Google is paying attention to social media activities to determine page rankings, you can definitely be sure that this aspect of search engine marketing does matter.

But how, exactly? Let’s take a quick look:

• Social media is perfectly compatible with mobile device users, especially when mobile apps are involved
  More people than ever before own smartphones and tablets, and a growing number of these internet users — 50%, according to the most recent studies — consider their phones to be their primary internet source. In companies that optimized websites for mobile users, sales increased in 62% of businesses (probably because 67% of consumers are more likely to buy from a store that has a mobile website or mobile app). Not only will mobile-friendly marketing help you increase revenue, but in terms of SEO benefits, you’ll have people accessing your content and sharing it through their phones and tablets. These links will benefit your search engine optimization campaign quite a bit.
• It can help with branding
  Getting involved on social media sites gives your business the chance to show target customers what you’re all about. The trick with branding here is to make sure that your message remains consistent, and also that it remains applicable. Re-posting viral content can be a fun way to brand your company, but it’s important to make sure that your own content doesn’t get lost in the mix.
• Local social media activity will help with local searches
  Ahh, the ever-elusive local search results. It’s never a simple process to get your business listed on local search results, because Google wants to make sure that you’re actually a business that exists in the real world. With social media, you’ll be able to boost your local search keyword rankings if you’re able to generate a lot of activity in your region.

So now we want to hear from you — how has social media marketing contributed to your SEO campaign?