Boost Your SEO with Social Media

Social signals are a hot commodity these days; without them, your SEO and overall traffic won’t be all it can be. Socials signals are any promotion or mention of your brand or products through tweets, Facebook “likes”, and related blasts. The more you engage your audience in commenting and sharing your social media and content, the better your overall SEO results will be.

Social Media for Business

Both Google and Bing have shown an increasing interest in the value of social signals, making an overall strategic social media plan an essential part of your marketing landscape. Understanding how and why social signals are so crucial to SEO will assist you in planning your overall SEO tactics.

How Social Signals Can Increase Your Rankings
The level of social interaction your customers have with your brand directly and indirectly impacts your SEO clout. Organic search rankings have been increasingly affected by social signals, and while it’s arguable to what degree (and varies by search engine as well), it is abundantly obvious that overlooking this aspect of SEO is flat out foolish.

How do social signals directly impact SEO?
The following are critical:

Google+ Circles – Yes, it’s apparent many folks have challenges with the popularity of Google. The thing is, Google loves its social platform, so if you learn to embrace it too, your SEO results can see a boost. Note that the number of people you have in your own circles is not as important as the number of folks who include you.

Facebook Shares – Get your Facebook followers engaged in your content. How? By creating truly valuable posts, ideally rich in graphics and video.

Twitter Followers and Tweet Mentions – Remember that a bigger audience isn’t necessarily better. You again want a demographic that is engaged and active with your content. Retweets and social mentions are golden – getting folks to write #yourbrand is extremely valuable.

Facebook Likes – Quality over quantity rules here too. 1,000 active followers are better than 2,000 fans who ignore your posts. Engagement is always key.
Social signals increase rankings in an indirect manner too.

Examples of these actions include:

Positive Reviews – If folks are saying nice things about you on sites like Yelp, Google Local, and various prominent blogs, your SEO will show it. In fact, Sam McRoberts of Vudu Marketing says the number and tone of these reviews are two of the three most substantial factors in determining local search. It’s integral that your social media strategy include near real-time responses to users that have issues or questions; many people now use social profiles for brands as their go-to for customer support. These interactions can then assist in your overall SEO results, so make a commitment to be very active in this space. You won’t just see an increase in your rankings through this policy, but in overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Inbound Links – These help increase your visibility and credibility, and have been the darlings of SEO efforts for some time. Matt Cutts, the Google search spokesperson, has repeatedly hinted that links are still SEO-critical. Although some feel this impact has been lessened in recent months, links still should not be ignored. Creating a strong social presence and a website that extends the feeling of credibility and professionalism is your best bet to attracting link support from equally reputable partners.

Advice on How to Improve Your Social Signals
You get it – social is crucial. So how do you increase your social signal power?

Here are some practical tips:

On-site Updates – Make sure your website has oodles of opportunities for folks to share your content. Let them tweet articles, Google +1, recommend, bookmark – you name it. Encourage visitors to follow you on the various social platforms too. Blogs are also essential – they not only give visitors lots of options to share, but frequent high-quality and current content makes search engines very happy.

Updated Social Profiles – Choose only those social networks that actually pertain to your business, and dedicate a member of your team to keeping it current. Profiles should be complete, and monitored daily for comments and questions. Facebook and Twitter are a must, as is a LinkedIn profile. Sites like Vine and Pinterest are hot too, and relevant if your demographic fits the bill.

Integrate Your On and Off-site Efforts – Every time you publish content on your blog or website, you should in tandem alert your social stratosphere. Give viewers the ability to follow you on your social spaces, and to comment as well. You don’t just want eyeballs, you want clicks, comments, and shares. The quality and frequency of your content is essential, as is your willingness to engage in return. Make sure everything you do is reflected appropriately on all your social channels. And please take the time to treat each social network separately – status updates and content shares on LinkedIn, as an example, need to be professional and concise. Facebook can be more informal and wordy, and Twitter is obviously short and sweet. Respect the nature and demographic of each network and your efforts will be rewarded.

All the tactics above will not only increase your SEO rankings, but your brand credibility and reach as well. Focusing on social signals is that proverbial win-win.

How have you seen your SEO impacted by your social reach – either positively or negatively? What tactics do you feel are the keys to success?

Social Media: How Much Do You Really Need to Invest?

Everywhere we look these days, companies are proudly touting their social media presence. Restaurants, car dealerships, ecommerce stores, even paid parking lots – they all want you to “Like” them, and are conceivably spending significant dollars to entice followers. But does social media make sense for every business? Can anyone afford to not be in the game?

The answer is mixed. Yes, everyone needs some social media presence, for reasons we’ll explore, but not every business should be required to spend a great deal of time or effort.

There are key aspects to the social landscape that all businesses need to be mindful of, or risk embarrassment or failure. Yet it seems most business owners think it’s an all or nothing cause. This attitude can waste precious marketing dollars, so read on to see where your business falls in the mix.

 Why Totally Ignoring Social Media is Dangerous


It’s obvious why many business owners would want to shut out the social stratosphere – it’s often filled with high-maintenance customers that only want to complain or score a discount or freebie. Yelp is a particular thorn in the side for many local entrepreneurs, but ignoring the complaints of the masses unfortunately does not make it all go away. Just the opposite, it sounds the alarm.

Let’s put it this way – if the internet has even a small smattering of complaints about your business that have gone unanswered, you’re in big trouble. Negative reviews can live in infamy for many, many years; like it or not, you need to have a staff member that is dealing with customer feedback. Don’t let the web engage in conversations about your company if you’re MIA. Be there, keep the record straight, make good on complaints, and be proactive about staying connected to your audience.

Need more incentive? If you don’t maintain a social media presence for your brand, someone else might do it for you, with highly damaging results. Just ask Exxon. When some clever hackers created a fake Twitter account called “Exxon Cares” this year, their lack of due diligence in watching their brand’s social presence resulted in a major PR coup. The hackers sent a gaggle of sarcastic tweets as a result of the Exxon Pegasus pipeline rupture. Because Exxon took eons to notice, the hackers had a field day, garnering hundreds of followers, retweets, and comments. It’s impossible to gauge how much this hurt Exxon’s image, or what it cost as they attempted to undo the damage, but you know it wasn’t cheap.

Finally, for the sheer sake of SEO rankings, you need to have basic contact and business information on sites like Facebook and Google+. Search engines are giving more and more credibility to social signals, and failing to have at least a minimal appearance can wreak havoc on your search results.
You know who would love it, however, if you did ignore the social space? Your competitors. If they’re working hard to build an audience of loyal customers, they would be honored and thrilled to steal your potential fan base.

 How Much Should You Spend? That Depends On Your Industry.


OK, so it’s clear that the head-in-the-sand approach isn’t beneficial regarding social media. This does not mean everyone should hire a full-time social media expert and go crazy on every single platform. In order to wisely spend your resources, it’s imperative you consider what kind of company you run, and the relevance of social media to your operation.

Let’s talk about some examples. Local businesses like coffee shops, restaurants, mechanics, dry cleaners – just about anyone who offers goods or services that customers regularly need or want, those folks all need a strong social presence. Non-profits are no-brainers too, as is any ecommerce site or fully digital business.

Who doesn’t need to go crazy in the social space? Folks that own niche businesses that customers only reach out to in isolated cases. Like paid parking lots, for example. Likewise, businesses that deal with the darker parts of life. Divorce lawyers. Government agencies. Funeral homes. Have you seen some of these funeral home pages on Facebook? One of them even posted a “business happy hour” (that has since been removed.) Seriously, do they actually think this will entice folks to choose their funeral services during a time of need? It’s bizarre, and frankly, more than a little distasteful.

Again, all of these businesses should absolutely have a basic social presence. The question is whether or not to invest hours and hours a month in creative campaigns and audience engagement. Divorce lawyers need testimonials, they need to be found on search engines – but they do not need to run social contests, to poll their fans, or to post content daily.

Social media is not, despite popular belief, free advertising. Creating a truly engaged and loyal fan base is expensive and time consuming. If it makes sense for your business, you’ll get lost in the media dust if you don’t jump in with full force. But be wise about your words and reputation, or your efforts may produce the opposite effect.

What kind of social media presence have you found works for your business? Have you opted for a “less is more” approach, gone all-in, or ignored it all together?

For more information on anything you have read in this article please call teh IT support experts Click Networks on 0141 530 9116 or visit our website here: http:/www.clicknetworks.co.uk

To read the full article visit:  http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/23/social-media-much-really-need-invest/

The new Yahoo logo underwhelms

You may have missed last month's "30 Days of Change" campaign, during which Yahoo rvealed a new variation on its logo each day, as a teaser for the final version which, according to CMO Kathy Savitt would be a "modern redesign that’s more reflective of our reimagined design and new experiences.”

Well, the new logo, created in-house by Yahoo's brand design group and product designers, has now been released. Yes, it has kept the familiar color (Pantone Violet C), exclamation mark and different letter sizes (which apparently represent a yodel). But the font has changed to a custom one using a curious chiseled color scheme that doesn't work well at small sizes. Even stranger, the exclamation mark animates briefly online, which is rather dated idea. Speaking of the final design, Savitt states that, "We wanted a logo that stayed true to our roots (whimsical, purple, with an exclamation point) yet embraced the evolution of our products."

Much of the credit for the final design would seem to go to hands-on CEO Marissa Mayer, who in a post claims to have spent the "majority" of a weekend with her team "designing the logo from start to finish." Mayar waxes poetic about Adobe Illustrator, declaring it to be "one of the most incredible software packages ever made" and claims to be a user, to the extent that she knows "enough to be dangerous :)." Could this be a new trend, for CEOs of billion-dollar firms to spend a weekend with their teams cranking out a new logo? Design firms are trembling at the thought.

Read the full story here: http://stocklogos.com/topic/new-yahoo-logo-underwhelms 

For information on anything you have read here, or for more advice about web or graphic design please contact the IT Support Glasgow experts at Click Networks on 0141 530 9116 or visit our website here: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk/Services/web-design.aspx 

Introducing Hashtags on Facebook

Every day, more than 4.75 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook.* In many cases, these conversations are about brands, products, public figures and local businesses. Today, we launched hashtags as a way for people and businesses to discover and engage in these conversations. 

 

Hashtags are now available to a small percentage of people and Pages on Facebook, and we will roll them out more broadly in the coming weeks.

 

Here is what marketers need to know:

• If you are already using hashtags in an advertising campaign through other channels, you can amplify these campaigns by including your hashtags in Facebook advertising. The same creative best practices on Facebook still apply – compelling copy and photography that is in the brand voice works best.
• Any hashtags that you use on other platforms that are connected to your Facebook Page will be automatically clickable and searchable on Facebook.
• Like other Facebook marketing tools, hashtags allow you to join and drive the conversations happening about your business. We recommend you search for and view real-time public conversations and test strategies to drive those conversations using hashtags. 
• Hashtags do not impact your distribution or engagement in News Feed on either desktop or mobile. We recommend you continue to focus on your existing campaigns to drive your most important business objectives.

Hashtags are a first step in surfacing relevant and important public conversations.  Over time our goal is to build out additional functionality for marketers including trending hashtags and new insights so that you can better understand how hashtags fit into your overall Facebook advertising strategies and drive your business objectives.

 

For more information on anything you have read here please contact the IT experts at Click Networks on 0141 530 9116 or drop them an email at info@clicknetworks.co.uk

 

Visit our website here: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk 

 

How to get your post seen on your Facebook News Feed?

Let’s start by stating the obvious, Facebook’s EdgeRank is complicated and it will be nearly impossible for any business to lay down an accurate projection of what is going to happen with each post published to the network.


While that could be a huge waste of time, having a basic understanding on how Facebook determines why some people sees your posts and others don’t is very important.

There are many factors playing a role in this mumbo jumbo that goes from previous affinity between the source and the recipient to the impact each piece of content generates and even negative feedback. All these items are directly affecting your Facebook Reach on a post-by-post basis.

The Infographic breaks down Facebook’s News Feed algorithm in 2 categories, which helps understand this better:

1. Personal Interaction, which includes affinity with the author and type of post
2. Network Reaction, which of course means engagement, positive or negative.

One last thing I’ll mention before leaving you is this, the News Feed is the single most important element of Facebook, you should understand how it works. In 2012, 40% of the time spent on the site goes to the News Feed, compared to 27% the previous year.

Read the full article here: http://socialmouths.com/blog/2013/04/17/who-is-more-likely-to-see-your-posts-on-the-facebook-news-feed-infographic/#more-11283 

For more information on anything you have read here or for more information on how to impove your online social media presence contact the IT Support Experts at Click Networks on 0141 530 9116 or visit our website here: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk