Learn/Boost-SEO-with-Social-Media

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Marketers at small companies often ask us how they can push their websites higher in search results. They're not sure where to start - after all, their budgets don't allow them to exploit every search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for their sites, nor spend heavily on pay-per-click advertising.

Social Media: The Poor Man's SEO

That's where social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook come in. Search marketing professionals spent a lot of time in 2011 analyzing search-engine rankings and social media activity, and concluded that you really can get your website to rank higher engaging on the social Web.

In fact, Ian Lurie found that (include his finding he shared at SEMpdx)

Search engines are smart enough to notice not only the mentions of your company or product name in social media, but also who is mentioning you. Getting influential people to comment on your blog, your Facebook page and mentioning you on other blogs and in blog comments is a great way to tell search engines that you matter.

What to do:

• Twitter account
  • Post every day. You can comment on industry news, link to your blog, high-five someone else's comment, retweet someone's blog post, ask for help with something, provide help to someone else....the list goes on.
  • Engage in conversation with customers and onlookers - anyone who mentions your company or your product. Thank people, ask questions, solicit feedback, etc.
  • Search Twitter for mentions of your competitors and their competing products, to learn which words people are using. Now you start using them, too.
  • If you see someone who could use what you sell complaining about a competitor, offer to help them somehow - but don't disparage your competitor or his product.
  • Find the people who are influential in your market and follow them.
  • Thank people individually for following you - do NOT use an autoresponder. It's a pity for someone's first interaction with you to feel canned - and believe me, experienced Twitter users can smell an autoresponse a mile away.

• Facebook
  • Post every day. You can post the same things on Facebook that you do on Twitter, with the added benefit of being able to include a photo and a much longer comment.
  • Invite engagement by asking people what they think about something you've posted. Comments are noticed by search engines.