Marketing plays a huge part in your SEO. The more traffic your website gets, the more attention and credibility your website will gain from Google. Altogether, this boosts your search engine ranking opportunities. Social media is a great tool to market your business and encourage traffic to your website. These completely free tools are something you should take advantage of. Follow the tips below to get the most out of your social platforms.

Social platforms are great tools to utilize. Depending on your target market different platforms will perform better. The two I have seen most consistently drive the most traffic are Facebook and Pinterest. I’ll also review tips for Instagram and Linked In. Follow the tips below for each platform to get the most out of your social media business accounts.

General tip for all social platforms: Make sure you create business accounts and that the business name, address, and phone number are consistent in each of the profiles. Also make sure to include a link from each social platform to your website, as well as include links (such as social icons) on your website to each of your social pages. Traffic is a two-way street.

Top Pros: This is usually the best social platform to drive traffic to your website because it allows you to include specific links with each post.  It also has a great insights section to review analytics and help you determine what works best for your audience.

Top Cons: It requires commitment and consistent management to make sure you are regularly interacting and building a connection with your audience.

General Facebook Tips for SEO:

• Post consistently each week about your website, products, and services. The number of times you post will range for each business, but posting at least 4 times a week is best.

• Add a link back to your website in each and every post to gain more traffic. If you think of it from a users perspective, if you post about seniors and I like the post I’m probably in scrolling mode and am not going out of my way to click on your page, go to your bio to go to your website, but if I see a link in the post and am in scrolling mode I can easily click to see more.

• Avoid hashtags on Facebook because this can get a post marked as spammy and not as many users will see it in their feed.

• Post questions or polls asking for users opinions to encourage more comments. The more people interact with a post,  the more the post is displayed for your followers to see and engage with.

• Posting videos and doing Facebook Live events is another great way to engage users and to provide some different content. Try out different types of content to see what your audience responds best to. 

• Join local groups and communities within Facebook to promote your site and to gain more followers.

Top Pros: This is a great platform, especially for photographers, because you can share your images with links back to your website. In time, it can drive as much traffic to your website as Facebook, once you build up a following and a collection of pins. Pins have a longer life than posts on any other social platform and can drive users to your website for years to come.

Top Cons: It can be time-consuming to build up your business Pinterest page. Infographics and videos get the best response and they are time-intensive to create. There is also a very specific audience that uses Pinterest that you need to keep in mind. 71% of users are females, but we are seeing more men join as time goes on.

General Pinterest Tips for SEO:

• Create separate boards for each area of specialization and also create an inspirations board

• Set up a description for each of your boards and use your SEO keywords here: location, specialization

• Pin at least 2 images a week. Pin your favorite images from your recent work, infographics, and videos on Pinterest and link back to the specific page on your website that this image, or similar content, is hosted so that people can learn more about your business

• Add your specialization and location (associated with that pin) to your pin descriptions as well as any stylized words or trends that a user may search for

• Follow similar boards and accounts to attract more followers, including competitors. It is important to engage with other people’s content as well as to create your own. This will help get your pins out there more because the users following the accounts you follow will start seeing your pins as suggestions and you can gain more followers and traffic.

Top Pros: This is the best platform for branding and connecting with your users, and is specifically important if your target market is high school seniors or teens.

Top Cons: This isn’t known to drive much traffic to your website because posts don’t include clickable links. You can include a link in your bio, but that assumes that people will visit your bio to access the link. Also, there are certain features that require 10,000 followers to unlock. It can also be time-consuming to really connect with users and create new content daily.

General Instagram Tips for SEO:

• Add your website link in your bio

• Post daily for the best engagement

• Create engaging content. Ask questions and create content that asks people to interact with the post. The more people interact with it, the more followers will see it in their feed. 

• Use the stories feature to post behind the scene photos, videos, and things that will show off your personality and brand.

• Create 1 hashtag for your brand to use on every post, along with other relevant hashtags

• Include 5-15 hashtags per post, but no more than 20. Make sure to include location-based and popular hashtags.

Top Pros: Great for sharing business updates, and for businesses whose target audience is professionals.

Top Cons: Very specific target audience and not as much insights on your posts to analyze what works best for your audience.

General Linkedin Tips for SEO:

• Complete your profile as much as possible. Use your SEO keywords (location and specialization as you can), link to your website and blog, and update your profile information as your business changes.

• Share business updates, deals on services, infographics, and blog posts, but don’t post too frequently to overwhelm users, and make sure the content is focused on how it can help them.

• Use relevant hashtags in posts (Linkedin does have a hashtag suggestion feature to help)

• Give endorsements  and try to gain as many endorsements as you can for your skillset

• Join LinkedIn groups to gain more connections

Each social media platform is different and depending on your audience different content will perform better. Test different content out to figure out what works best for your specific brand. And have some fun with it!

Want even more tips and advice about social media platforms and SEO? Sign up for our SEO Go service. During the service, we audit your social media platforms and give more specific tips based on your posts, your audience, and your goals. Learn more at seogo.photobiz.com.

Resources

Omnicore Agency - Pinterest Demographics