LinkedIn and SEO. Do they work together? Better than you’d expect!

Most of the time, people do SEO with Google in mind. Their goal is to make their website appear in Google’s top positions where the majority of users can find it. And while site owners often want their brands to be popular in social media as well, such a task requires its own approach – often unique to each social network. SMO and SEO are related, but they are two different beasts.

However, if you are an avid Google user, you might have come across an organic search result from the domain LinkedIn.com at least once. That’s right: Google indexes LinkedIn pages! And when Google indexes and ranks a page, then the rules of SEO apply.

Who needs LinkedIn SEO and why?

Unlike most other social media platforms, LinkedIn isn’t meant for entertainment. It’s a place for professionals to advertise their expertise and their brands. Whether you are a freelancer, an employee or a CEO, you can benefit both from using LinkedIn and optimizing your profile page.

What are the benefits?

• Reputation growth
• Forging connections
• New career opportunities
• Cultivation of your authority as an expert
• Interacting with your customers (and gaining new ones)

If you are serious about your future, then you can’t ignore LinkedIn.

And what about SEO for LinkedIn? It consists of three major elements:

1. Your profile page information;
2. Page activity (the content you post);
3. Connecting with other professionals.

Time to go into detail about the whole process.

1. Find the right keywords

Keywords and keyword optimization haunt every website with a search feature. LinkedIn is no exception. It’s just a matter of knowing how to find good keywords and how to use them.

If you have a website and use LinkedIn to promote it, then you should already have a list of good keywords – the same ones you use on your site.

But better to be safe than sorry. Cover your bases by taking these steps:

• Research the topics that your target audience is interested in – then collect the most promising key terms and phrases from there.
• Prepare a list of terms relevant to your specialty. For example, if you are a C# programmer, then you will want to use words like senior developer, Visual Studio etc. in your profile and content.

How to find keywords for LinkedIn?

There are two great places to look. The first of them is LinkedIn itself.

• LinkedIn profiles. Users with complete profiles will often have a full list of their skills and qualifications. Not only it shows what they can do, it also helps them to be found by the right people. Be sure to adopt the same tactic!
• Search bar. Suppose you are looking for a .NET developer. If you type that in LinkedIn’s search bar, you will receive a bunch of similar search queries before you even press Enter. And after you do, the search results will also have more expanded descriptions like Entry level .NET developer or Senior full stack .NET developer.

The other place to look is an SEO tool for finding keywords, such as WebCEO’s Keyword Suggestions. Type in your keyword ideas and pick the results with the highest search volume – i.e. the ones most searched by users.

2. Use images in your profile

First impressions matter always, on LinkedIn as well.

Once people find your LinkedIn profile, it will take them only a few moments to decide whether you are worth their time. Make those moments count by uploading an avatar (or profile picture) and a banner (or hero image).

What kind of avatar do you need?

• For a personal page, it must be your headshot. Upload your best, most presentable-looking photo. Suiting up and smiling are optional; facing the camera is mandatory.
• For a company page, upload the logo.

The ideal dimensions are 400×400 pixels.

What kind of banner do you need?

The background banner is much larger than the profile picture. The recommended size is 1584×396 – wide enough to cover a good portion of any screen. Just imagine how much information you can put in all those pixels!

You may correctly assume that banners need text; just don’t overdo it. A tagline is good. A call-to-action is great. Stating the value you offer is the best. Be brief and get to the point, and your visitors will be impressed.

(Image source: Cultivated Culture)

Design a good banner with these things in mind, but be careful with its bottom left corner! Don’t put anything important there – that part will be covered by your avatar.

3. Fill out your information

After the imagery comes the text. Time to fill out your profile and put your keywords to good use.

There’s a lot of work to do and many ways to enhance your page’s SEO.

Start editing your profile page and fill out as many sections as you can! Complete profiles look better than incomplete ones on any day – leave no stone unturned.

The sections are divided between three groups:

• Core: the basic information about you. Full name, current position, services, education, skills and so on. This is the bare minimum you need to fill out – but do feel free to keep going.
• Recommended: if you have any certifications, licenses, courses or recommendations, this is the place to display them.
• Additional: if you are a real expert, you can show off your awards, patents or publications here. This group also includes sections for your contact information and the languages you speak, so make sure to add them.

As a rule of thumb, the greater a section’s character limit, the better it is for using keywords. For example, sections like Headline and About are where you describe what you do, making them perfect for adding a keyword or two.

What about the company pages on LinkedIn? In terms of filling out your profile, they work almost the same. They have just two more very important sections:

• Products: describe what you are selling, pricing plans, highlights, videos and screenshots.
• Jobs: your open positions.

LinkedIn appreciates every bit of relevant information you add. The more you can tell about yourself and your company, the more chances you have to catch the attention of the right people.

4. Publish high-quality, SEO-friendly content

Now that your profile page looks great and optimized, it’s time for the next step: page activity.

Just like every other platform, LinkedIn values original, high-quality content. Even better if it’s optimized to be picked up by search algorithms.

Since Google indexes LinkedIn pages, you can safely follow the same SEO methods you want to use for any other website:

1. Make posts and publish articles. As always, they need to match the user search intent and offer value to users.
2. Use eye-catching headlines. Make the viewers interested as soon as they see your post in their feed.
3. Post often. At least a couple times a week will do, but if you can do it even more often – power to you.
4. Create many different types of posts. Don’t restrict yourself to text posts. Diversify your LinkedIn content by posting images, videos and polls as well.
5. Include keywords. Use them throughout your texts in a natural way, avoid stuffing and cannibalization (optimizing multiple pages for the same keywords). Titles, headings and image captions love keywords.
6. Add call-to-actions. If you want visitors to not just read, but also do something beneficial to you after reading (like buy your product), this step is a must.
7. Respond quickly! Engagement is a powerful ranking signal on LinkedIn. When users comment under your posts, be quick to reply and give them a reaction. That way, you will appear in their notifications and prompt them to interact with your page some more.

5. Create connections

Now you have an optimized LinkedIn profile page and high-quality content. All that’s left is to somehow bring visitors to your profile. But how?

No matter how well you optimize your content for search, it will never be enough on its own. This is where LinkedIn’s main weapon comes in: connecting with other people.

What can – and should – you do on LinkedIn?

1. Follow other people and groups. When you follow someone, use the opportunity to introduce yourself and state your expectations. Just remember that on LinkedIn, being civil and professional is an absolute must. (Don’t take Inigo Montoya’s example too literally.)

2. Comment under and react to other people’s content. The best comments are the ones where you add your 5 cents about something the original poster may have missed, or ask questions about that.
3. Make your own posts in groups. Take the initiative and start discussions yourself – that will earn you a lot more attention.
4. Answer questions. If someone pings you by mentioning your name, it’s your chance to demonstrate your expertise. The better your answer, the more likely you are to impress the right people.

Most of the time, your feed will be filled with content from the pages you follow, and the opposite is also true. More followers = more visibility.

Be active on LinkedIn, expand your bubble and e-meet as many professionals as you can. Doing so will open the path to the next major step in LinkedIn SEO…

6. Collect endorsements and recommendations

After you connect with someone and add them to your network, you unlock the option to endorse their skills and give them recommendations. Naturally, it works both ways: people in your network can do the same for you.

(Image source: Cultivated Culture)

It doesn’t get more straightforward than that. Other professionals in the field directly vouching for you – could you ask for a better boost to your reputation?

It’s obvious why LinkedIn sees this as a ranking signal. If there are people who can confirm that you are a pro, then you definitely deserve getting picked up by the search algorithm.

Just like with customer reviews, the best way to get endorsements and recommendations is to ask the people you’ve worked with.

7. Track and analyze relevant metrics

How do you know your LinkedIn SEO strategy is working?

If your profile is buzzing with notifications, if you are getting job offers or CVs day and night, then you’ve definitely succeeded. But that probably won’t happen as soon as you make your first comment somewhere.

It will be a slow, gradual process that you can monitor with special tools – and adjust your strategy based on your progress (or lack thereof).

LinkedIn Analytics display how users interact with your profile and how popular it is overall. Those metrics include:

• Number of your followers;
• How many people viewed your profile;
• How many times you appeared in other people’s search.

Analytics for company pages will have even more data:

• User engagement (likes, shares, comments);
• Clicks, impressions and CTR for your posts;
• Follower demographics (location, industry, seniority);
• Competitor metrics (followers, engagement).

What if you are managing multiple LinkedIn business pages? In this case, you should connect them all to WebCEO’s LinkedIn Insights tool – and you’ll be able to switch between their data in a single click.

With all relevant data at your fingertips, you can plan the next step to make your LinkedIn SEO strategy succeed.

Boost your LinkedIn page with SEO Sign Up Free

The post LinkedIn SEO: How to Optimize Your Profile Like a Professional appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

The SEO and social media departments of many brands often operate as their own entities. In reality, however, the two are inextricably linked. As such, they should work in unison, aligning their strategies, processes, and goals. How can you improve your social media optimization by using SEO-friendly copywriting?

Let’s explore how it’s done on some of the most popular social networks.

Wait, But What Do SEO and Social Media Have to Do With Each Other?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and social media are two distinct but interconnected aspects of digital marketing and online presence management. While they serve different purposes, they can work together to enhance your overall online visibility and brand authority. Here’s how they are related:

1. Content Promotion: Social media platforms are excellent channels for promoting your website’s content. When you create content on your website, such as blog posts, articles, or videos, sharing them on social media can help increase their visibility and drive more traffic to your site.
2. Backlinks and Authority: High-quality content shared on social media can attract attention from influencers, bloggers, and other website owners. If they find your content valuable, they may link to it from their own websites or blogs – which you can verify by scanning your backlinks.
3. Brand Awareness: A strong social media presence can help your brand become more recognizable, and this can indirectly benefit your SEO efforts. When people are familiar with your brand, they are more likely to search for it by name, which can lead to increased branded searches.
4. Engagement Signals: Social media platforms provide a way for users to engage with your content through likes, shares, comments, and click-throughs. When your content receives a high level of engagement on social media, it can indicate to search engines like Bing that your content is relevant and valuable to users, potentially improving your search rankings.
5. Local SEO: For businesses with physical locations, social media can be crucial for local SEO. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow businesses to create profiles with location information, reviews, and other details. Optimizing these profiles and encouraging positive reviews can improve your local search visibility.

How to Use SEO Copywriting for Social Media Optimization

In terms of SEO copywriting, you only need to follow two rules:
1. Use relevant keywords throughout your social media posts, including in the title, meta description, and body copy. Of course, you need to find keywords for your content first.
2. Write clear and concise content that is easy for users to scan and understand.
While social media optimization and SEO constitute a vast theme, this article aims to provide you with a foundation that will assist you in leveraging social media to promote your website. Let’s go!

Pinterest

Pinterest gets more than two billion searches a month. Woah. If you’re not optimizing your pins and profiles, you must do it to not miss out on serious traffic.

There are simple steps you can take to make significant progress. First, find relevant keywords.

Go to the search bar and start typing the general topic of your pin content. For instance, if you’re pinning a blog about the keto diet, start typing “keto diet” into the search bar. Here’s what you will see:

Not unlike Google, what you will see in that drop-down are related search queries people have actually typed in. In other words, Pinterest is helpfully handing you relevant and related keywords.

Pick one that makes sense for your pin. Then, use it in the:

• Pin title.
• Pin description.
• File name of the image you pin.

Word on the street is that Pinterest might even be analyzing the text on your pin image, so you might consider having the keyword there, like this:

(Source)

This isn’t the only place you can use optimized copy on Pinterest to increase your traffic and engagement. Your boards have titles and descriptions — how about putting some keywords in there?

Don’t forget that Pinterest also gives you a little space to share some information about yourself. This is another great place for a keyword.

Remember that Pinterest is also like Google when it comes to keyword stuffing, meaning don’t do it. It creates a bad experience for your visitors, it looks spammy, and the platform will take note of it and react accordingly.

P.S. Don’t forget to add a few hashtags!

YouTube

Google owns YouTube, and that should tell you how important it is to optimize your profile and the videos you post. Thankfully, YouTube gives you plenty of opportunities to do this.

YouTube SEO starts with finding the right keywords. Notice anything familiar?

Once you have a relevant keyword (or two), use it in your title and description, plus in the name of your video file, if possible.

Also, did you know that you can use hashtags in video titles and descriptions? They’re not just for show, either. They’re clickable and fully functioning. You can put them in your video descriptions, too.

This will make it easier for people to find you when they’re looking at videos that are related to yours. Bonus.

YouTube is quite literally Google for videos. If you don’t optimize content when posting videos, people won’t find you — period.

LinkedIn

It might not have all the bells and whistles that Instagram and Facebook do, but LinkedIn matters. If you’re on it and you’re not optimizing what you write, you’re missing out on traffic and engagement.

We know we’re starting to sound like a broken record here, but we’re going to say it again: keywords, keywords, keywords!

What’s the purpose of your LinkedIn page? What are you using it for. Let’s run through an example and say you’re a freelance social media manager looking for work.

If that’s the case, you want people who are interested in hiring a social media manager to find you when they look for candidates.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, you’re going to want to make sure the words “social media manager” are sprinkled throughout your page. This includes your:

• Headline.
• Bio/summary.
• Job descriptions under your employment history.

Considering we use LinkedIn for business purposes, you’re going to want to stack the odds as much in your favor as possible when it comes to making it easy for people to find you. Social media optimization is key.

X (Twitter)

When you think of using “keywords” on X, you probably think of hashtags. Those are indeed important, but they’re not the only way to optimize your tweet.

Notice what happens when we search “SEO tips.” For starters, the two pages featured at the top have #SEO — in their bios! Is this the only reason they’re featured? No. Does it help? Most likely.

Next, let’s look at the first three tweets that show up in the search results.

For the first result, the username — Seo Ranking Tips — contains our search term (SEO tips). In the second result, “SEO” is in the username and “tips” is in the tweet. In the third, “SEO tips” is in the tweet.

These aren’t even hashtags.

So, yes, Twitter is absolutely paying attention to the words you choose to put in your tweets and on your main profile page. Choose wisely!

Similar to Pinterest, it definitely can’t hurt to put relevant keywords into the file name of any pictures you tweet, as long as it makes sense.

Instagram

Create compelling visual content that complements your blog articles and videos. Use high-quality images and engaging visuals to capture your audience’s attention. A carousel with your article’s text will be a powerful tool to move traffic to your site and get a lot of MQLs. Furthermore, you must use emojis, but not too much. Research suggests that emojis make your content more memorable and also increase engagement.

Utilize the clickable link in your Instagram bio to direct users to your latest blog articles, videos, or landing pages. Ensure that the link is optimized for SEO and leads to valuable, relevant content.

Be active in communicating with your Instagram audience through comments, likes, and shares. High engagement rates can indirectly influence your SEO rankings, as search engines may interpret user engagement as a sign of content quality.

Another easy trick is to prioritize hashtags that get more engagement and traffic. Instagram itself tells you how many times a hashtag has been used, and tools like eClincher will measure their engagement.

Optimization in every social network is an art that needs to be learned over many years, especially Instagram. If you’ve never done it before, don’t hesitate to hire a professional to help you create social media profiles that will bring you profit.

Facebook

We love hashtags, and using them helps optimize your posts because it makes it easier for people to find you.

However, when it comes to Facebook, go easy on the hashtags. In fact, try laying off completely.

Research says that Facebook posts without hashtags perform better than posts with hashtags. Don’t worry, though. There are other ways you can optimize your page.

Fill your profile out in its entirety, including the About section and Our Story.

Also, be sure to incorporate important keywords that are relevant to your product or service. For instance, we have “social media management platform” in the first sentence of Our Story.

Now, are people using Facebook like a search engine to the same extent as we are on platforms like YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn? No. But here’s the thing. Social media profiles often show up on page one of Google when people are looking for your business.

And, while we don’t have a conclusive answer, your social pages might be acting as quality backlinks — meaning they link back to your website. Google notices this.

Any way you cut it, social media optimization is important, and so is observing its results. Keep track of user activity and engagement on your Facebook page with the WebCEO Social Analytics Tool.

The post Social Media Optimization: How to Nail It with SEO Copywriting appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

Content is the common thread tying together SEO and digital marketing. Want your website to be at the top of search results? Make great content. Want to sell something? Make great content. Since that’s where the two goals intersect, it’s clear that superior content is the gateway to greater rewards in each.

And video might just be the winning ticket you were looking for.

Want proof? The most prominent example is YouTube. Video content helped it become a giant on par with Google itself, enough to make YouTube SEO its own thing – to say nothing of all the ad revenue generated there. Video can be packed with more information than any other medium, which makes it such a potent tool in communication. And that’s what SEO, digital business and video marketing are all about: reaching and communicating with your audience.

Need more reasons to start using videos? Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty.

Video Marketing Statistics in 2022

“The 2020s will be the decade of video.” How I wish I had a dollar for every time I’d heard that over the previous decade. I’d have enough to make Elon Musk cry!

Two and some years into the new 20s, how is this prediction holding up? Spoiler alert: very accurate so far. Countless businesses have bet on video content and they did not regret it – quite the opposite, in fact. Numbers can do a great job describing the impact video has had on digital businesses – and, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Here is an infographic: the fruit of Renderforest‘s research on video content and how it has been used by businesses in the 2020s. Below the infographic itself, we are going to highlight the most impressive points.

1. Benefits of video content

Videos are widely used (and that’s an understatement). There are plenty of businesses and marketers to vouch for the benefits. What does the majority say?

Using videos in your marketing campaign increases:

• Return on investment
• Brand awareness
• Lead generation
• Site traffic

Every single thing that matters, as you can see.

85% of businesses use videos in marketing and consider them a vital part of their strategy. What’s more, videos have proven to be especially effective during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to 91% of marketers.

2. Video consumption

They didn’t lie when they said the 2020s would be the era of videos. Halfway and some into 2022, global video traffic is climbing past the 82% mark – as expected. And thanks to such a high percentage, we can see how users prefer their videos:

• 33% of viewers will stop watching a video after 30 seconds. That’s how little time you have to hook them in!
• 25% of viewers finish videos that are over 20 minutes long. Not great, not terrible.
• 75% of viewers prefer horizontal videos to vertical ones.

3. Types of videos

There are many kinds of videos out there. What do businesses prefer? How effective are those preferred kinds at their job?

• Explainer videos: these are used by 62% of businesses, as well as by 82% of B2B businesses. This type of video has an enormous audience: 94% of people who want to know more about the product will watch an explainer video. Also, 93% of millennial viewers love how-to videos.
• Logo animations: they are present in 46% of videos made by businesses, and in 58% of B2B business videos.
• Video ads: they are less common than you’d think. Only 38% of businesses use them!
• Demo videos: these are even less common, employed by 33% of businesses.
• The 3 most popular types of videos are webinars, demos and social videos.
• And the most effective types (as reported by businesses) are informative and entertaining.

4. Videos and platforms

Now, everybody knows YouTube is king when it comes to videos. But what about other places?

It turns out businesses use videos quite effectively on their own sites. Putting a video on a landing page can increase your conversions by up to 80%!

What’s more, having a video on your landing page increases its chances of appearing on Google’s first SERP by 53%. Naturally, that includes homepages.

And here’s my favorite part: videos are effective even in emails!

44% of people are willing to watch a video included in an email. In fact, a video can increase an email’s CTR by up to a whopping 300%.

However, only 25% of businesses use videos in email marketing as of now (partly due to people being cautious about spam in emails, but that’s where verification tools like SPF record checkers come in). Sounds like a powerful, untapped niche you could use!

5. Videos on social media

We’ve seen how effective landing pages and emails can be. But when you want to post a video somewhere, what comes to mind? YouTube first, social media second, right?

Let’s look at the numbers.

• 81% of social media users say videos are their favorite type of content.
• 75% of people are more likely to follow a brand’s page if it has video content.
• For 74% of businesses, their videos receive the most engagement in social media.
• Twitter in particular is going through a video Renaissance of sorts: its video views are 220 times greater in 2022 than last year.
• Lastly, 56% of businesses post at least 5 videos per month on their social media.

Afterword

I think it won’t be long before augmented reality becomes the next booming trend. But for now, video content is king, and these statistics should be enough to convince you. It can be tough to make a good video, but this type of content has the highest ROI – that’s a proven fact.

When you are making a video, have fun! The audience respects professionals who love their work. Enjoy what you do, and the viewers will happily join in for the ride.

Additionally, you can use WebCEO’s SEO content assistant to ensure your video content reaches its maximum potential audience.

The post Video Marketing: The Future of SEO (Infographic) appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

In 2016, 88% of B2B companies were doing some form of content marketing. This number is only going to increase. Optimizing your website for search will help, but it won’t guarantee visibility. This is why you should try to make constantly generated content visible to as many people as possible, on and off your site. And how do we that?

The answer is content distribution. Creating content and waiting for it to rank organically is not sufficient. More so when you are starting out.

No amount of other SEO activity can make up for the benefits of content distribution and the traffic it brings.

Content distribution is not merely about sharing your content on social media or sending it out along with your newsletter. Both these avenues are highly crowded, making it difficult to grab your audience’s attention.

It is time to explore the lesser-known options. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Niche content submission communities

Merely sharing your content on social media alone will not fetch you too much traffic. Most of the time, the visibility of these posts will be limited to your followers. One way to get more out of your social media efforts is to submit your content to pages or groups where your audience members regularly visit.

This could be in the form of discussion threads, dedicated hashtags, Twitter chats, subreddits, groups, pages, etc. The people who follow these conversations are highly engaged. Therefore, the chances of them checking out your content will be higher.

The key here is to make sure you don’t appear too promotional. There are many content submission websites as well which you can take advantage of.

Utilizing WebCEO’s Submission Tool can also help you identify potential websites and communities where your content can be submitted.

2. Optimize your social sharing snippets, cover images, meta description, and the first line of your content

Though this is more of a content creation tip, it plays a key role in content distribution as well. Most of the times, these are your audience’s first touch point with your content. You have to give the audience a reason to go ahead and read it.

Here are a few tips to help you do this:

• Make your cover image more interesting.
• A/B test your social snippets.
• Make your first line interesting and authentic – ask questions, add new and relevant statistics, mention a problem your audience faces regularly and how you are going to solve it, share a personal story, etc.
• Learn to optimize your content for social media using Yoast SEO. Enhancing your content’s visibility on social media can be significantly improved by analyzing your social metrics, which helps in understanding what type of content resonates most with your audience.

3. Optimize share button positions

It is crucial that you place the share buttons above the fold. Keeping it at the beginning or the end is fine, but it is tedious for users to scroll all the way down or up to share your content.

Instead, keep your social share buttons floating, so that it always stays above the fold. The key here is to ensure that it doesn’t obstruct the content or hamper the reading experience, especially on mobile.

• Here’s how to add floating share buttons without any WordPress plugin.
• Here’s how to add floating share buttons with WP plugins for your WordPress SEO needs.

4. Slack communities

Slack is one of the most popular office communication tools available. But that’s not all. With its ever-increasing user base, more and more people are setting up or joining Slack communities.

They are basically Slack channels where people from different organizations come together to discuss and learn more about a specific topic. It could be related to anything from marketing to tech documentation. You can either start a new community or join existing ones.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind while using Slack for distributing content:

• Before you start distributing your content, make sure you build rapport with fellow channel members.
• You need to stay active and interact with fellow channel members regularly.
• Don’t be overtly self-promotional.
• Regularly read articles shared by fellow members and offer your feedback for them.
• Make sure you follow Slack etiquettes while communicating with fellow members.
• Make sure the content you share is relevant and helpful to fellow members.

A few communities that you could check out.

5. Reach out to people who have shared similar content

This is a great way to push your content to a set of people who are more likely to find your content useful. Firstly, pick out a few top ranking pieces of content that deal with the same topic to what you published. Make sure they contain outdated information.

Then, identify people who shared them recently. Reach out to them, saying that you have new and updated content dealing with the same topic and that they might find it useful. The likelihood of them checking out your content and sharing it will definitely be higher.

6. Use the Custom Audience feature

Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest have a custom audience feature. This allows users to identify and target people who have engaged with your website or your social network pages before. As the audience is interested and familiar with the content you produce, it will be easier for them to click on your ads.

Best Practice – identify people who have visited a particular section of your blog. Then, when you publish similar content, make sure you promote it to that particular section of the audience.

Here’s a guide to Facebook’s custom audience feature.

7. Leverage your mentions

Most of the time when you publish content, you will have a few outbound links. It could be a quote from an influencer, findings from a particular research paper, link to the website of a relevant tool. This helps make your content more trustworthy, helpful, etc.

What we forget is that we can leverage these links to promote our content. Reach out to these people and let them know about the mention. As you’ve done them a favor, this may lead to reciprocity and they may end up promoting your content. You may even get a newsletter mention if the quality of your content is high.

8. Use customer messaging platforms

These tools are mostly used for customer communication. But, they can also be used for content marketing too – right from idea generation to delivering content. These services are normally used by an audience who are engaged and are in need of the content. So, placing their search keywords in your content will definitely improve your SEO.

It can be very helpful for content distribution too. When customers ask for help, don’t restrict your answers to FAQs. Instead, take this opportunity to send them relevant, educational, and motivational content like best practices, real life examples etc. The immediacy and relevancy makes them a great platform to distribute your content.

Here’s how Intercom uses their own tool to do this.

9. Email series

Email is a great channel to distribute your content. Even though newsletters are ideal, getting readers to click is becoming more and more difficult. This is why we should start using an email series every now and then.

When you have written a really helpful article filled with actionable tips, instead of publishing it on your blog, divide it into an email series and send it out to your subscribers. It could be done on a weekly or daily basis. The language used should be that of a 5th grader – simple and clear. The article should not be published on your blog until the series is over. Again, it is all about adding value right in their inbox. And you will want to combine this with call to actions to buy your product or extend their service subscription with you.

You can use tools like MailChimp and ConvertKit to set up such an email series.

Wrapping up

Content distribution needs to be taken seriously. Doing it for its own sake will not cut it anymore. You need to actively find new ways to improve the reach of your content. You will have to be creative and dedicated. Above all, it requires persistence and perseverance.

You shouldn’t stop once you think you have achieved your expectations. You have to keep going on and on. There are always new platforms and techniques waiting to be found.

The post 9 Lesser-Known Content Distribution Tips appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

Companies these days tend to have their own page on at least one social network. Many SEOs recommend being active on social media as much as possible: it’s said to boost your website’s position in SERPs. Despite that, the status of social media activity as a ranking factor remains a controversial topic. Does being active in social media help you rank in Google or not? Contradicting statements on the subject from Matt Cutts only served to add fuel to the fire and distressed SEOs who had poured their resources into social media campaigns.

We do use Twitter and Facebook links and ranking, as we always have, in our web search rankings. – Cutts, 2010

…As far as doing special, specific work to sort of say, “you have this many followers on Twitter or this many likes on Facebook”, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t currently have any signals like that in our web search ranking algorithms. – Cutts again, 2014

I haven’t experienced trust issues of this magnitude since the day I opened Grandma’s box of cookies (you know the one) and actually found cookies inside.

Why is this a topic for debate? Because almost everything we know about SEO came from researching what works and what doesn’t. We would’ve given up on social media long ago if we were convinced there wasn’t any point in sticking with it. Whether or not it deserves to be called off-page optimization, the positive influence of social media activity on websites is a certain known.

8 SEO-Improving Perks of Using Social Media

1. New pages on your site get indexed faster

A newly created page needs to be added to Google’s index before it can appear in search results. In order to be indexed, there has to be at least one link pointing to it – and if it’s in a place that’s often crawled by Google’s spiders, all the better. Among such places are… you guessed it: social networks.

The simplest example is a blog. If your website has a blog, you absolutely should share links to your new posts in social media (like we do). They’ll get crawled in a matter of minutes, which is nice in itself… but the list of benefits is just beginning.

2. Social sharing gets you more backlinks

Dofollow backlinks are the bricks that build the temple of your presence in the Web. Or a small shed, if you don’t have enough. Outbound links on social networks are usually nofollow links and don’t hold the same power. But Google favors sites that have both dofollow and nofollow links in their link profiles, as opposed to sites with few nofollow links. The latter are often suspected to be involved in machinations and may earn a penalty.

You can use WebCEO’s Backlink Checker to monitor and analyze the quality and quantity of backlinks to your site, contributing to a balanced and effective link-building strategy.

3. Social media buzz drives you more website traffic

This is a logical consequence of the above point. More links naturally mean more traffic. How much extra traffic you receive depends entirely on your pages’ popularity: the more subscribers, the more visitors and potential customers that will buy from you. It’s definitely worth investing your time in helping your pages grow!

4. Your website gets more exposure via sharing

The Internet is all about sharing content with others. It’s easier on social networks than anywhere else. If the content you post on your page is good and interesting, your visitors are likely to share it. Then ”their” visitors will learn you exist.

Word spreads and your brand gets recognized, increasing your chances against your competitors. Google will see your site’s traffic rise and they may be counting that as a ranking factor now. Which leads us to the next point…

5. Customers can find you there

Social networks have plenty in common with search engines like Google, they pretty much are search engines themselves because people conduct searches for specific keywords within them. Social networks are just better fit for socializing than regular search engines. That’s what makes them so popular. Because people spend several hours a day on social media, they are more likely to find your company’s page there than in Google. Make it easier for them to find you – by getting subscribed and shared or via PPC ads, including retargeting campaigns. Then it’s only a matter of whether you can convert your visitors into clients.

6. You can easily follow the latest trends

If you know what your customer wants, your marketing campaign is already on its way to a bright future. What better place to learn more about your audience’s interests than a platform where they openly discuss the latest trending topics? That’s how you can create and post content they’ll find enjoyable, both in social media and on your actual site. To create high-quality content that is optimized for both your customers and search engines, you can try WebCEO’s Content Assistant Tool, designed to help you strike the perfect balance between engaging and search-friendly content.

7. Google ranks social network profiles too

When you optimize your site and it shows up in top positions in SERPs, that’s great. When you don’t and your brand still shows up in top positions, that’s even better. A social media page that’s well-optimized for specific keywords is as likely to appear in SERPs as any other web page out there.

8. It’s easy to receive feedback from your audience

Social networks are all about being, well, social. You can ask your customers to leave reviews and testimonials on your site, but it’s so much easier to ask your audience for feedback in comments on your social media page. Ask, and you shall receive; sometimes you shall receive without even asking if your followers are impressed by you. Be sure to impress them in a good way.

8 Tips to Use Social Media Effectively

1. Be where your audience is

Choosing the wrong place to advertise yourself is like fishing in an empty pond: you’ll waste your time and starve. Research a social network’s demographics before making your decision to post there. For example, the majority of Instagram users are female. Are you selling a female-oriented product? Then you should consider Instagram as your main battleground.

2. Post regularly

The more content you produce, the more awe-inducing and engaging it is, the happier your followers will be. Especially if you do it often. It’s best not to keep them waiting too long: excitement tends to die down quickly, and then your audience forgets why it loved you at all. Besides, don’t you want them to know what you’re up to? Some of your visitors are your prospecting customers, they just don’t know it yet.

Keep them entertained and ready to become your clients. Strike the iron while it’s hot!

3. Emphasize on the visual

An old and verified truth: visual information is powerful. It leaves a much deeper impression on a viewer than raw text and is processed easier. Since your job is to promote your brand, you have to employ visual media – images and videos – and use them to impress.

A picture is worth a thousand words; a video is worth that and a thousand more. Consider putting your effort into making cool, unique, shareable visual content. It will make you so much more distinguished and memorable.

4. Make your text posts short

In social media, less is more. Twitter in particular is notorious for its limit of 140 characters per post. Information, when distributed in small portions, is easier to swallow and digest than a wall of text made of overly long paragraphs. Make your text posts just long enough to motivate the user to visit your site and do something there.

5. Write and reply to your customers

If I had to name a difference between social media messages and emails, I’d say it’s the environment. Social networks feel friendlier and more relaxing, with a stronger sensation of chatting with a real person. Can you relate? Of course you can. When both sides feel comfortable, the task of winning the audience over feels much more enjoyable. As they say, do what you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.

6. Tag other businesses and share their pictures

Actively linking to other sites on your own is one of several ways to gain backlinks. The same is true in social media.

Tags and linked mentions of other companies in your posts cannot go unnoticed; the beneficiaries are likely to return the favor in the future and mention you in their own content, giving your brand more exposure. On top of that, bringing up a popular competing brand’s name in some of your posts can help people make an association between your two companies as part of a defined niche. Google values webpages and posts that mention various websites as part of a category.

7. Recycle expired content

It’s difficult to publish the same text twice on your own site without risking trouble with duplicate content. Fortunately, your pages in social media are exempt from this thorny issue. You can recycle old posts with virtually zero risk, except for annoying your audience if you abuse this. Do it right, and you can breathe new life into a piece of content that made you profits in the past (for example, one tied to a seasonal event like Christmas).

8. Optimize your social media activity for Bing

How many of you saw this coming? Not many, I bet. However, Bing has a healthy relationship with social media – more so even than Google the search giant, and gets a special mention.

In 2010, Bing made a statement about social signals being a ranking factor. But unlike Google, Bing has never retracted it. Without an overturning statement, it makes sense to assume it’s still true and use it as a basis for your social media campaign.

As one of Google’s main competitors, Bing has been gaining momentum lately. Don’t be quick to disregard it; rather, include it in your plans. Should Bing get big while riding the social tide, Google might get worried and review their stance on social media signals. And then you’ll be glad you’ve built a strong online presence.

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The post 8 Reasons Why Social Media Activity Affects Your Rankings – With 8 Tips appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

Hashtags are everywhere. Ask the youth today what the symbol is, and that’s what they’ll tell you – they’ve never even heard of a “pound sign.” But as a marketing professional, what are you supposed to do with hashtags and how can you create a great one? Can you just adopt some from the mainstream, like the infamous #TBT for Throwback Thursday, or do you need to make your own?

The importance of hashtags lies in their ability to help your brand aggregate user generated content and extend your following by creating a short, memorable slogan, and it’s not hard to do. For those still grappling with the format, however, we’ve pulled together a few key tips that will help you create catchy hashtags for your social media posts, but don’t forget to ask for help from millennials in your own workplace.

Additionally, leveraging tools like WebCEO’s Keyword Research Tool can significantly enhance your social media strategy by identifying the keywords and phrases that resonate with your audience, further amplifying the impact of your hashtags.

With these tips and a little support, you’ll be tweeting like a millennial in no time.

Keep it Simple

The best hashtags around are short and simple for a few reasons. First, hashtags emerged on Twitter, which has a 140 character limit for all posts. Users didn’t want to waste their characters on the hashtag. The second reason hashtags are brief is because it makes them more memorable.

When trying to create a hashtag for your own brand, focus on keywords that will bring more people to your posts and keep an eye on what’s trending. If you can apply a trending keyword or hashtag to your own work – they’ll pop up alongside your Facebook and Twitter feeds – do so, and watch the post views grow.

Have a Mission

One mistake many people make when using hashtags is applying them for no real reason. This may be fine if you’re a teen posting for your friends, but as a company, your hashtags should have a role in your overall marketing strategy. For example, hashtags are a great way to encourage users to create and share images for inclusion in visual commerce. When users take a picture that they want your company to see, they’ll tag it with the hashtag you’ve provided.

Be Original

When you create a hashtag, you want it to be specific to your company, or you’ll have to filter through thousands of unrelated posts to find what you’re looking for. That’s why it’s important to test your wording before you launch a hashtag, in case another brand or movement is already using it.

Take Marc Jacobs’ widely successful #CastMeMarc campaign as an example. This hashtag was successful because it offered an inspirational message – everyday people could be models for Marc Jacobs – and combined that with recognizable branding. Had the brand used #CastMeMarcJacobs instead, they would likely have still gotten a great response, but only because they’re already prominent. That hashtag is otherwise too clunky.

On the other hand, had the singer Marc Anthony already used #CastMeMarc to find performers for a music video, Marc Jacobs would have found themselves in a bind. Using the same hashtag in these circumstances isn’t an option because it would have produced murky results and confused users.

Know Your Platforms

When a topic is trending, it isn’t always trending on all of the social media platforms at the same time – something that has a lot to do with the different demographics concentrated on various sites. Before you launch a hashtag, then, it’s important to know what platform it’s likely to trend on. When you put your hashtag on the wrong site, there’s a strong chance that no one will even see it.

Hashtags are one of the best ways to draw more attention to your social media posts and increase your ROI in this area, which is why it’s so important to integrate them into your marketing strategy. Start slow – pull out some archival images from the early days of your company for #TBT or hop on some prominent trending topics and build from there.

You may be surprised by just how many more views your posts receive using this simple tool.

The post The Value of the Hashtag: 4 Tips for User Generated Content appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

For years, Google has been the brand to beat in online advertising. Its AdWords platform has been the central component of countless advertising campaigns, and since Google is such a household name, it’s often the first thing that comes to mind when people consider online advertising. Not only is Google by far the most popular search engine in the world, giving the platform access to billions of users, it also has some of the deepest reserves of user data, some of the best reporting technology, and one of the best models for ad pricing—a bid-based cost-per-click model.

But Google isn’t the only player in town; in fact, it’s quickly becoming outclassed by a certain social media platform with a similar—yet distinct—advertising model.

Facebook’s Big Draws

Facebook offers advertising in a cost-per-click model, much like Google, and has a similarly huge base of followers, with 1.59 billion monthly active users. Its advertising revenues grew from $1.8 billion in 2013 to $4.3 billion in 2015, and there’s no sign that this growth will come to a halt any time soon. According to datapine, this growth is largely due to Facebook’s flexibility for marketers, but what other specific factors have allowed Facebook to compete with, and sometimes outcompete such a massively established juggernaut?

Facebook’s Advantages             

When you compare Facebook to Google directly, it becomes clear why Facebook is becoming a more popular choice among marketers:

1. An intuitive ad platform. Google AdWords is fairly straightforward—if you already know what you’re doing. If you’re getting started with Google for the first time, you might be intimidated by all the advanced options, metrics, and features that it offers. In fact, it might take you weeks or months to feel comfortable launching a campaign. Facebook, on the other hand, has a more approachable, intuitive design, allowing the average small business owner or novice marketer to put together and launch a campaign in the span of a few minutes.
2. Accessibility for low-budget campaigns. When it comes to budgeting, both Google and Facebook have tons of options, but overall, Facebook tends to be friendlier to low-budget campaigns. In Google, if you restrict your budget to less than a few hundred dollars per month, you’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of keyword choices, but on Facebook, you can opt for a $5-per-day budget and still get in front of your ideal target users (just at a lower volume than you would at a higher budget level). This also makes it easier to scale a campaign over time.
3. More user data. Google has a ton of user information at its disposal, which is one reason why it remains so popular—but it’s all limited to how users search and engage with websites. Facebook, on the other hand, digs much deeper into the user’s psyche, with detailed information on all our likes, dislikes, past behavior, and even our connections with friends and family members. Because of this, you can target audiences in much more advanced ways with Facebook than you can with Google.
4. Lower competition. Though this becomes less and less true as Facebook ads become more popular, for the moment, Facebook has less competition than Google. Because Google is so popular, brands from all over the world are competing for ad space, which drives the cost of advertising up for everyone. On Facebook, competition isn’t this intense, so you’ll enjoy lower prices for a similar scope of advertising—at least for now.
5. Greater ad diversity. Facebook also offers a wider diversity of different advertising options, including “promoted content,” which are essentially basic Facebook posts that you put in front of new audiences with a paid “boost,” traditional advertising options, and ecommerce-like product listings that enable people to purchase your products directly.
6. Willingness to evolve. Finally, Facebook has shown a greater tendency to evolve, improve its offerings, and adjust its advertising platform over time. This may be a recent phenomenon, thanks to Facebook’s relative newness in the advertising world, but it’s worth considering if you’re looking for a long-term advertising partner.

Of course, none of this is to suggest that Google is no longer a valid advertising platform, or that Facebook is objectively a better choice. Facebook does have some clear advantages, but don’t forget that Google still has plenty of unique features and tricks up its sleeve, including advanced analytics information and product-specific targeting with its keyword-centric approach.

If you’re interested in paid advertising, it’s likely in your best interest to use both platforms to get the best of both worlds, or do some extensive research to decide which platform will perform best for your brand.

For those exploring the possibilities within Google’s ecosystem, WebCEO’s Online SEO Tools offer a comprehensive suite for managing and optimizing your campaigns, ensuring that you’re fully equipped to navigate the complexities of Google’s advertising network.

The post The 6 Advantages Facebook Advertising Has Over Google appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

When formal customer service comes to mind, most people think about call centers and service desks. And while these are certainly important components, modern brands also need to integrate social media into their customer satisfaction service strategies. This is the only way to meet the demands of tech-savvy consumers who are always connected to the internet.

The Need for Social Media Customer Service

The beauty of social media is that it can be leveraged in so many different ways. From a business perspective, it’s a great tool for pushing content, advertising your brand, establishing authority, engaging with customers, and, yes, investing in customer service.

Unfortunately, most businesses put their social media priorities in that order. As a result, the customer service aspect often gets lost amidst other goals and responsibilities. This is also why many marketers will tell you customer service is the most frequently missed opportunity for small businesses when it comes to social media.

A social customer service strategy is important for a number of reasons. Primarily, it matters because customers want it. Nearly half of all U.S. consumers already use social media to ask questions, complain, or report satisfaction. In other words, your customers are already using social outlets to discuss experiences with your brand – shouldn’t you meet them there?

3 Tips for an Effective Strategy

It will be harder than ever to ignore the importance of developing a social customer service strategy this year. And as you venture into this new area, you’ll want to remember these suggestions.

1. Provide Extensive Training

According to DMG Consulting Research, 80 percent of companies underinvest in formal social media customer service – and will continue to for years to come. This is a striking statistic that will need to be dealt with one business at a time.

“While it may appear that social media service does not require the same level of investment as demanded by other, traditional support channels, don’t underestimate the power of extra technology and agent training resources,” writes Global Response, “especially when diving into unexplored customer service territory.”

It’s important that you don’t just dive in head first with social customer service. If you want your strategy to be effective, adequate and extensive training must be supplied.

2. Proactively Monitor Feeds

The beauty of social media is that you can listen to what’s going on all over the world. In many cases – such as with Twitter – you can even listen to conversations you aren’t part of. From a business perspective, this is invaluable. It also points to the need to proactively monitor feeds, as opposed to waiting for users to contact you.

For example, it’s much better to use social listening tools and identify the moment when a customer first expresses frustration with a product they recently purchased than it is to wait until that anger reaches a boiling point, and they directly call out your brand in front of thousands of users. You can use Hootsuite for regular monitoring of your brand mentions and possible customers’ requests on Twitter. If you have not yet tried WebCEO for your online reputation management it’s a high time to embark on it. Once you’ve added you niche terms alongside your brand name or your site domain, the Web Buzz Monitoring tool will let you monitor the latest term-related articles, as well as reviews or posts with mentions (hyperlinlinks or implied links) of your brand over the web and Twitter. Using these or other tools, you will become more proactive in your business niche.

3. Use the Right Tone of Voice

The tricky part about social media is that it’s easy to take things out of context. This goes both ways. Sometimes customers will post something that’s nothing more than a quick sarcastic jab, but can be perceived as a serious complaint. Other times, your brief response to a complaint may seem inauthentic.

Because it’s so easy to misinterpret text-based comments, it’s important that you spend time perfecting your social customer service voice so that users know exactly what to expect from your brand.

Let Social Work for You

Ultimately social media is a powerful customer service tool that’s vastly underutilized in today’s marketplace. If you want to meet customers where they are and satisfy their demands for real-time support, now’s the time to make an investment.

The post 3 Tips For a Social Media Customer Satisfaction Strategy appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

Whether you are a business guru, a blogger or just an ardent social media user, you will concur that these are interesting times. If SEO optimization is Her Majesty, Social Media marketing is the new Prime Minister of digital marketing. Just when you thought things couldn’t get more social, in comes Instagram with the ability to share your most special moments visually. It is true that other social media platforms have integrated the capability to share photos but there is no denying that Instagram offers the most scintillating opportunity to put your experiences, products and services out there.

Brief Background

How did this amazing story come about? The mobile photo-sharing services dates back to 2010 when the app was established by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. Within two months, there were already 1 million users, clearly indicating that it was set to be a success story right from the start. By December 2011, it had already won the iPhone App of the Year Award.

Going forward, it launched on Android phones and from that point on, the growth became phenomenal. Everyone wanted to be on Instagram and for many good reasons. It was not only cool but it redefined the social media experience by enabling users to share their photos on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and other platforms.

Since acquisition by Facebook in 2012, more updates have been launched, thus refining the experience for users. Today, Instagram boasts over 300 million users.

The Beauty of Using Instagram

If you have not yet been bitten by the photo sharing bug, then you are missing out big time.  This platform allows you to share those special moments which you are able to capture instantly as they happen. It is a real-time sharing experience that makes your mobile browsing even more fun.

As a business owner, it provides you with a chance to share moments that will influence a customer’s mind. It is not only a social tool but a business tool that has helped millions of entrepreneurs to put forward their ideas and earn invaluable traffic to their websites. Some of the other invaluable benefits of leveraging this social media tool include:

• Sales conversion: As a suave business executive, you need to appreciate that over 300 million shoppers are found on Instagram. Once you create professional images and share them on social media, you are on the right path to earning quality traffic which in turn leads to higher sales conversion. A study by Shopify shows that over 78% of Instagram users visit the platform to interact with sellers before making a purchase.
• Reaching new audiences: As a website owner, you appreciate the need for a wider reach and while other social media platforms allow this, Instagram does it better. Your hashtags will enable viewers to follow you based on your posts. By creating optimized hashtags, it becomes easy for interested audiences to follow or like your photos. The Discover tab on the platform is also ideal in helping users to find photos that are relevant to them.
• Connecting to other social marketing tools: With the chance to connect to Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, you will get the perfect marketing network for your business. You can also integrate the content you are sharing on Instagram with your email marketing campaigns using available tools. Additionally, you can use WebCEO Social Analytics Tools to track your social mentions, analyze your social media traffic and see how well your content works for you in social media.
• Instant connection: This is of course the core of using this social platform. You will be able to connect with a more active client base as opposed to Facebook and Twitter users. Photos are irresistible and people will always have something to say or simply like. This means you have a chance to connect with relevant users who will then start following you and interact more closely with your brand.

The Harsh Reality of Managing an Instagram Account

Well, there is much more you can do by using Instagram but is it really as easy as it sounds? For you to get the most out of your account, you need to be actively involved. Now, assume you are a business entrepreneur who is involved in other activities.

How well will you manage that fascinating account? According to a study on Forbes, over 70% of Instagram users avoid accounts that are not regularly updated. This makes it important to constantly update, like, follow and engage with users if at all you are to reap any benefits. Your users will get weary of waiting for a week before they see any activity and with your competition observing your trend, you can bet they will jump at the opportunity to outgun you.

Automation as a Godsend

This is where automation of your account management comes in. With instamacro.com you have a chance to reclaim your spot by ensuring that your account is ever active even when you sleep. This is an integral partner in your Instagram campaign because it automatically likes, follows, and even unfollows on behalf of your account.

This is an ideal tool to enable you to get the crowd that you deserve by earning yourself some engaging followers. This is actualized by using your preferred hashtags to ensure only relevant users are targeted. If, for instance, you have a taxi service in New York, you can select tags such as #TimesSquare, #NYC, #TaxiNYC among others.

If you have been wondering how you can become a hit on social media, Instagram provides you with a very apt platform. By going for automation, you will be optimizing your experience. Not only will you earn more followers without lifting a finger, but you will also save a lot of time and enjoy stardom which translates to higher sales conversion on your site.

Once you set the Instamacro account on your mobile using your log in credentials you are good to go. You just need to select what you want the system to do for you and you can sit back and relax without any worry in the world. It is easy to monitor your account on the interface and in case of any queries, the 24/7 customer support service will have you sorted.

The post How to Become an Instagram Business Superstar & Increase Your SEO Power appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.

Developing a quality corporate blog takes time, money, and creativity. It’s not something you can simply develop and then sit back and watch. If you want to garner high returns from the investment you make, you have to understand how to drive traffic to your posts and push readers through the conversion funnel with well-developed calls-to-action. In this article, we’re going to focus on the first half of the equation: driving traffic. Specifically, we’re going to discuss how to drive traffic with the assistance of social media.

4 Social Media Tips for Driving Blog Traffic

According to recent report, 74 percent of adults are on social media. Furthermore, 71 percent of all adults have a Facebook profile (which is roughly three times as many as any other social network). That means you’re ignoring a large percentage of your target market if you aren’t making social media – and Facebook in particular – a priority. With that being said, here are some helpful tips. 

1. Focus on Visual Platforms 

While it’s important to rely on staples like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you can’t afford to ignore the growth of visual platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and Periscope. This is where the future of social media lies, and you need to use these to your advantage. 

Pinterest is a really interesting medium in terms of driving blog traffic. By highlighting blog content in the form of pins, you can promote your written content in a unique way. If you’re unsure of how this looks, just check out what The New Yorker is doing on their page. This is one of the better examples and will give you an idea of some possibilities.

2. Think About Social When Developing

You can’t publish posts and then turn your attention towards social media. Social needs to be a consideration from the very start. When brainstorming and developing ideas, think about how topics, titles, and imagery will work in conjunction with different social platforms. The angles and titles you choose will be very important. 

3. Create Powerful Previews 

When you compare successful blog posts to ones that don’t get many clicks, it becomes apparent that clicks depend on the quality and creativity of the lead generation source. In other words, a blog post doesn’t get clicks based on the quality of the content. You can have a blog post with writing that would make a Pulitzer Prize winner flutter with excitement, but it isn’t going to get any clicks without a compelling lead.

One unique strategy is to leverage short vine videos to preview your post. A vine preview only lasts for six seconds, but is an out-of-the-box way to garner attention amidst a user’s endless newsfeed stream of similar posts.

4. Study the Competition

The fourth tip is pretty simple and straightforward. You need to be studying your competition. Do they have a successful blog? What methods are they using to drive traffic to their blog? How can you put your own spin on these techniques? Aside from conducting an eye test, there are some tools that can help you uncover valuable information. 

Maximize Your Blogging Efforts

Surely you’ve heard the old riddle that asks, “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear, does it make a sound?” Well, you could ask the same question about your blog. If you write fantastic blog posts but nobody visits your site to read them, do they provide any value? Sure, they may give you an SEO boost – but do they influence your target customers?

If you want to maximize your blogging efforts, you need to understand what it takes to attract clicks and drive traffic. In today’s time, that means leveraging social media and tapping into your networks. There are plenty of unique strategies, but the tips mentioned in this article should give you a strong foundation to work from.

Thanks to WebCEO’s Social Media Analytics tools, you’ll easily track your social mentions, analyze your social media traffic and see how well your content works for you on social media.

The post 4 Unique Corporate Blog Promotion Tips for Social Media appeared first on SEO tools & Online Marketing Tips Blog | WebCEO.