Each time you create a status update, share a picture or link to a video, you have to think about your company’s mission, the overall goal and the brand you wish to convey. Just because social media is free doesn’t mean it is easy; it isn’t just about updating your status. You have to think about who is searching for your business online both inside and outside of social media platforms.
This short post will just touch upon some things you need to keep in mind as you start building your social media profiles and start sharing content. The information here shouldn’t be considered a necessity, but it could help you find more followers and readers.
Social media platforms are web-based, meaning profiles are hosted on individual pages
Because social media pages are indeed web-pages as part of a larger website, they are ranked in search engines according to popularity. For example, if you search for “Twitter” in Google, you will find Twitter’s official website at the top of search results. However, if you have a Twitter account and you search for your Twitter name in a search engine, chances are your company will be at the top of search results. This is because of search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is the technique of getting your website optimized for searches, so your website will show up in search results more often than other sites when people are looking for content related to yours.
This method also applies to your social media platforms. SEO heavily relies on the keywords within the content, so if you are not in full control of what you publish, your profiles may be found on page 20 rather than page 1 of searches.
So, why is SEO so important?
These days, people search for answers on the internet rather than go elsewhere for the same information in order to save time. If people can save time and money by searching online for what they need, they will do so. And you need to make sure that your profiles are showing up in people’s searches, if they are indeed relevant to your business.
For example, if you are selling banking software, you should use the words “software,” “banking” and “software banking” in your social media profile descriptions on every network to ensure that your business shows up in searches. This should be a vital part of creating your profiles!
The keywords you are using in your profile descriptions should also appear in your messages, if you are writing a status update for Facebook, writing a tweet on Twitter or pinning a post to your Pinterest boards. The keywords will become searchable in large search engines, meaning people may be more likely to find your business when they are searching for banking software, for example. However that doesn’t mean you should use them frequently. Google does penalize websites that use the “keyword stuffing” technique, meaning that the chosen keywords appear very frequently on your pages. This also applies to your actual business website.
Since your readers are the ones you are trying to convince, you should listen to their opinions of your business. If they feel that you are stuffing your social media messages with too many sales pitches and keywords, they will let you know. If you keep writing messages about your banking software, your readers may feel that you are spamming them with information about your business. Imagine how you would feel if you were following a business on Twitter or Facebook that was just spamming you with tweets or updates with the same words throughout the day.
You need to market your business, not drown your readers with sales pitches. If it annoys you, it will annoy others. Make a mental note of how people are reacting and alter your approach to keywords and content.