Most SEO companies offer services that can be complemented with sufficient social media marketing for optimal results. So clearly, social media somewhat has a key role when it comes to search engine optimization.

So how does it impact SEO efforts?

For starters, it’s not a ranking factor. It doesn’t help SEO in a lot of ways like people think. But there is a connection.

Social media doesn’t influence rankings

Search engine optimization is all about Google now. Websites compete to rise up in Google rankings, but with no idea of how their algorithm actually works. They work with the information and guidelines they get from Google itself. Google also stated that social media is not a direct ranking factor. But there have been cases that proved that it influences rankings to some extent.

So was Google lying?

Not exactly.

Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan posted an article which stated that Google confirmed that the links shared on popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are used as ranking signals. This was later confirmed by Matt Cutts, the former head of Google’s webspam team.

However, last year Gary Illyes, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, again was asked the same question – does Google take social media into account for SEO. The answer was a no.

But with other studies proving that there’s a correlation between the two, the best approach is to keep creating good content that will be accepted in social media channels, and linked by viewers who like it. These links, in turn, boost rankings.

Have you ever noticed that high ranked websites have higher numbers of social signals?

Exploring the ‘correlation’

Though it doesn’t directly influence ranking, here are a few ways how it complements your SEO efforts.

• Link building: Social media is where people go for peer reviews. So if someone likes something and shares it, other people would check it out as well. The more shares you get for your content, the more people will like it subsequently giving you links in the process. With good content creation and social media promotion, your website may shot up the rankings for competitive keywords.
• Building an audience: With social media, you can let the world know that you have a unique product or solution that can help people or businesses for that matter. Social media can be leveraged to establish a solid web presence that will consequently impact click-through rates (CTR) when people click on content from your website that impressed them in social media channels. CTR in turn influences rankings.
• Promotion: Social media isn’t all about Facebook and Twitter. YouTube is the second most searched search engine. For businesses, YouTube can turn tides.

Many researches indicate that over 40% of YouTube users want to see more video content from marketers.

According to HubSpot’s reports, 48% of marketers plan to add YouTube to their content strategy next year.

Though the search queries on YouTube don’t have high commercial intent, the platform can still influence SEO performance if you can create good videos to promote your brand or your content. The videos may also rank organically in search engine result pages in addition to increasing the likelihood of getting more links.

Conclusion

These are but a few ways to leverage social media to complement your SEO efforts. The point is that social media does indeed impact SEO performance albeit indirectly. The key is in leveraging it. But it requires you to invest on both social media and SEO, and then utilize them both with sound strategies that align to your business goals. You may also hire a reputed SEO consultant to handle it for you, along with the technicalities.

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This is why it’s important to make sure that social media marketing strategies align with the business’ goals, which is of course the most challenging part of the whole campaign. By setting the business goals for a year first, it’d be easier to develop social media marketing strategies accordingly. This can lead to big positive impact for that business.

There are a lot of things a business can do to make sure their social media strategies align with their goals.

Knowing what to achieve

This is what the business should determine first, and it requires them to spend a significant amount of time to work out the company’s objectives for that year or for the coming years. It could be anything from expansion to new markets and launching new products to increasing existing customer base and brand visibility.

Determining the most effective social media platform

Now that the business goals are worked out, the company can proceed to figuring out the right social media platform that can help them achieve those goals. This is where companies generally go out of their way. They tend to put all the eggs in one basket by working on several platforms at a time. Though this definitely increases their brand presence to an extent, it may just do the opposite when it comes to achieving business goals.

The better way is to focus on a single social media platform with well-devised strategies. It not only enhances brand visibility but also makes it easier to achieve business goals in a relatively short time.

Devising an optimal strategy

With a goal and a platform to reach that goal, the next step is to work on a ‘route map’ to reach that goal – not the strategy itself but a general idea of the route they want to take in achieving the pre-determined goals.

For instance, if the company wants to increase their customer base, they can start working on a strategy that prioritizes customer engagement through social media. If they want to expand the business to a new market, they can connect with people or businesses that can connect them to potential new markets or even get them a competitive edge in those markets.

Creating a step by step strategy

This step is where the business has to piece everything together so that everything falls in place – business goals, social media platform, and route map.

To expand to new markets, the company will have to connect with people that can help them do it. So step 1 is to compile a list of such people, and feasible ways to connect with them.

To increase customer base, the company can implement a content strategy by sharing the right kind of articles and blogs to keep existing customers engaged, and attract new ones.

Setting priorities

This is where resource utilization comes in. After preparing a strategy, the business should prioritize their tactics to make sure that resources are used efficiently. Analyzing the already prepared step-by-step strategy, and the time and effort required for each tactic can give them an idea of the ones that are more important than the rest. They can then tweak their plan so that it can be executed in priority order to obtain the best results.

The objective here is to set priorities by comparing the value of each tactic, its complexity, and the resources required to execute the tactic.

Have appropriate people handle the tactics

Once the business is aware of the resources each tactic demands, and the results each offers, they will have to choose the right people to implement them. Delegate each tactic to individuals who are more suited to execute it. Give them deadlines so they can come up with plans to get the job done at the right time.

Being flexible

Even a well-devised strategy might not give the desired results. So it’s always wise to be flexible when it comes to social media marketing. Even business goals might change over time. Even a small change in business goals is important. The company will then have to review their strategy and fine tune it necessarily so as to keep it in line with the goals.

Conclusion

It’s not that a social media strategy is useful only if it’s aligned with the company’s goals. If leveraged properly, it still presents many benefits for a business. But the platforms are the most effective if the marketing strategies are aligned with a business’ goals. Executing a strategy without a solid plan might end up as a waste of resources and time without significant benefits.

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Close to half a billion tweets every single day…

This is where Twitter stands now. Seven years ago, it had only about 30 million users. But not all of them use it to socialize. A significant number of the users are businesses. You might be wondering how it can be of use to a B2B business, as Twitter is generally a platform most leveraged by B2C companies.

B2B companies can also wield this particular weapon. However, the way they use it is what actually matters.

Today, social media platforms provide users with an experience like none other. The impact is big enough to influence the decisions those users make. When you consider a business, you should realize that it’s run by people too. So, it’s actually people who do business with other people.

Companies with an established digital profile and active social media presence becomes quite appealing to potential clients. This means, people can start working on building relationships with potential clients on behalf of the company.

To market your B2B business better on Twitter, you will need to take a few things into account and make sure you don’t make those common mistakes many companies have made already.

Bots Won’t Work Anymore

Building followers is part of the first phase of Twitter marketing. A large number of followers indicate that the business is quite successful. So to raise the numbers, many businesses relied on bots. Twitter estimates that there could be over 25 million bots on the platform. But studies by many universities claim that there could be well over 40 million bots.

Twitter is already on a rampage bringing down the bots, and other tools have started popping up that can filter bots from actual users. This means, businesses won’t be able to use this tactic anymore. In the long run, it could do more harm than good if you get caught.

It shouldn’t be about increasing the number of followers to show off your influence and success. It should be about having real followers who are actually interested in your company and the services you offer. For a B2B company, the followers can be other companies. A reputed, well-established company following your business on Twitter would speak a lot about the way you do business. It gives you credibility and some amount of brand value. A lot of such businesses following your company would make things considerably easier for you to market your company.

Now, how will you find and get such an audience to follow your business on Twitter?

Understand them first.

To understand your audience, there should be a lot of market research. You can use various tools for that. One such tool that is getting a lot of praise is ‘Audiense’. A consumer panel which will help you discover the right users to follow your business based on their interests, remove followers that aren’t necessary for your Twitter marketing campaign, target your content at the right time and to the right audience, tweet to your followers at opportune moments etc.

However, you still won’t be able to specifically find out what they are reading. But once you get the followers, you can start focusing on the next phase.

Generating the Right Buzz

To create the right buzz, you need to deliver the right content in good quality. For that, more research is in order. For starters, try to figure out an answer to these three questions.

• What are the most effective influencers in your industry?
• What types of content give the best results?
• What types of content are regularly shared?

The third question is quite important considering the ever-changing nature of social media platforms. You need to keep an eye on content trends. As for the first question, you can use tools to identify Twitter accounts that get a lot of retweets for their tweets.

If you can get some of those influencers to follow you, your tweets can be retweeted and it will reach hundreds of thousands of users in no time. The key is to find the top influencers in your industry, and start building relationships with them.

The Essence of B2B Marketing on Twitter

Strategy.

Nothing is more important than strategy for marketing a B2B business. By now, you may have realized that harnessing the power of Twitter demands a significant investment of time.

A perfect strategy is a combination of efficient tools and best practices that can maximize your reach. Once you have the reach, it’s all about engaging with users. But that won’t be enough. You will have to tweet consistently while using appropriate hashtags.

The objective is to make sure your posts reach the right audience. With the right type of content that’s reliable and relatable, your chances of turning them into customers go higher.

With that said, mind you that these are just the fundamentals to help you get started the right way. A proper B2B digital marketing is quite intricate. But if you stick to the basics, you won’t find it as challenging as it really is. If you don’t have the time to do it all yourself, you can hire a team or a reliable digital marketing expert.

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