If your social media efforts aren't helping your overall search engine placement, they can't be effective. That's easy to understand, but it can be difficult to implement effective SEO strategies in social media content without making that content look like spam. Just the appearance of being spam can turn your content into a turnoff for the very audience you're trying to reach. All too often, inexperienced social media content providers go way overboard with SEO keywords and phrases or place them incorrectly. Uninteresting social media content that is loaded with SEO keywords and phrases is usually unappealing and uninteresting. It will not only annoy the target readers of that content, but will cause the content to receive lower rankings by search engine algorithms.
It's far better to use fewer SEO keywords and phrases in your social media content and to place them where they achieve maximum effectiveness. Your social media content should be designed to inform, entertain, and hold the interest of your audience, with SEO as an important, but secondary priority. Depending on the type of social media the content is designed to fit, effective SEO placement varies.
- Blogs - Blog URLs and blog article titles should be your primary concerns for SEO purposes. If your blog's URL is not a powerful SEO phrase, consider renaming your blog or creating a new one. Almost nobody actually types in a URL to access your blog. Choosing a great title that is designed to put your blog high in search engine results is a powerful way to attract visitors. Use locality-specific keywords and descriptive phrases that define what your blog is about. Skip clever titles that nobody will search for. In the same way, create article titles that are powerful SEO search phrases. Be specific and unique and searchers will find you through your article titles.
- Facebook & Similar Platforms - Be especially careful with SEO in these social media efforts. Spam-like commercial content that overuses SEO keywords and phrases will send users to the little box that lets them unsubscribe from you. Instead, entertain and inform users with an easy, informal style in your content. As with your blogs, choose your Facebook page names carefully, always with SEO in mind. Make them unique and localized for best performance. Use SEO keywords and phrases sparingly and near the top of content and make them specific and in keeping with your subject. Include carefully worded links to your website or blog that relate to the content you are posting, but place those links at the very end of the content. There, they will act as subtle calls to action.
- Topic-Based Discussion Forums and Other Interactive Platforms - These special social media outlets require a completely different approach. Content needs to be completely spam-free, or it simply will be ignored by visitors. In the worst case, content that looks like spam can get you banned from the site altogether. When engaging on these sites, do nothing but be helpful to the members of the forum or interactive group. Answer questions, offer well-thought-out advice, but never sell. In post titles, keep your SEO in mind, but make it absolutely topical for that forum or platform. Make the title specific about what you're explaining or describing, but leave company-related keywords out to keep your efforts from being identified as spam. On all of these interactive systems, you'll be able to create a signature line, and in most cases those signature lines can include links. Restrict your efforts to including your website or blog URL in a link in that signature line, but avoid any appearance of selling.
Professionalism Counts in Social Media
Making your social media efforts effective and keeping them from being labeled as spam takes a gentle, carefully planned approach. Your best bet is to engage professional content writers with extensive social media experience to create your content with the delicate balance between informing readers and presenting your business to them that is essential for success. Many social media campaigns struggle when that professionalism isn't there.
