Integrating SEO and Social Media for Online Marketing Strategies

Social Media and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), both require website and blog owners to strike a chord with their audiences for their individual strategies to be deemed successful. Hence, SEO experts have always believed that there is a great similarity between the goals each of these modern online marketing tools fulfill.

A website or a blog owner can effectively incorporate both Search Engine Optimization strategies and social media strategies to increase traffic to their website / blog, improve their search rankings and eventually make a profit for their business. Hence, integrating Search Engine Optimization and Social Media is an effective solution for a comprehensive online marketing strategy.

Why Integrate SEO & Social Media?

Website / blog owners undertake Search Engine Optimization strategies to tap into the interests of their audience. This is why content, images and keywords are optimized on a website / blog, not only to increase visibility to search engines and achieve a higher rank but also to win over their audiences. Similarly, when businesses create social media accounts, they create an exposure for their business in the online world. They connect with their audience socially, interact with them, keep them updated about latest products, services and offers and ultimately convert potential customers to customers by building repute for their business.

If both strategies are working to achieve more or less the very same goals, why consider both aspects differently?

Companies are known to employ different teams to handle their social media connections and SEO strategies. It is true that both encompass different activities, but the ultimate goal of SEO and Social Media Networking is the same.

Both SEO and Social Media work to achieve:

• Higher page ranks for the website / blog
• Increased exposure for the business and the website
• Increased website traffic
• Higher sales of products and services.

If you consider SEO as the peanut butter and Social Media as the jelly, the application of both on a slice of bread (your online marketing strategy) makes for a tastier sandwich. Therefore, when your Social Media and SEO strategists work together, they can accomplish their goals faster and more efficiently as compared to working individually.

5 Easy Tips to Integrate SEO and Social Media Strategies

Integrating SEO and Social Media calls for taking the best practices from both and applying them to each other. Here are 5 tips to help you get started.

Best SEO Tips

Keep Your Content Keyword Rich
Just as you optimize written content on your website to fit in search friendly keywords, make sure you include keywords on your social networking page as well. Incorporate keywords in your “about” box, your posts and your captions for photos in your social networking page to optimize your social profile for SEO.

Photos
When you upload a new photograph on your website, upload it on your social networking page as well.

You can optimize photos by:

• Sharing a relevant and captivating image
• Watermarking images with your website name
• Including your website name in the captions
• Using keywords while writing description to photos

Adding Social Media Buttons To Your Website
When you post content and photos on your website, add a “Like” “Tweet” and “Pin It” button along with it. This not only increases your social networking activity with the aid of your website page, but it also encourages people to like, share, retweet and repin your content.

Create Backlinks With Social Media
When you mention your website address on your social profile, you are creating a backlink for it and are also giving your followers your online address. When they click your link to know more about you, they increase your website traffic. When they share your website with others through their social profiles, they help you create more back-links.

This action is favorable to your website because:

• The more the number of backlinks, the more visible your website becomes to search engines. 
• When you get more backlinks, it is like advertising your website in the online world free of cost.

Develop A Communication Strategy
Your “Contact Us” page on your website is the communication link between you and your audience. However, the interface of social networking websites allows a better platform for communication between you and your audience.

You can use this to your advantage and get your audience to communicate with you by encouraging feedback (positive and negative), appreciating their gestures of sharing your content, liking their content and photos in return and building a one on one relationship with them. This also generates a favorable image about you in their sight.

SEO and Social Media strategies are interdependent. Hence, you cannot leave out either to achieve your online marketing goals. Combining SEO and social media is of paramount importance to your online marketing strategy.

Yasir Khan, the guest contributor of this post, is a prominent SEO Consultant in Canada. Yasir has created a number of strategic SEO and Social Media plans for the success of websites through his organization Quantum SEO Labs.  Are you interested on Guest Posting in PokharaTech?