Content marketing, SEO, and social media are usually thought of as 3 separate entities, but some would say that’s wrong… We see it like this, these three elements work together toward the same goal, being relevant to your audience. Organic online marketing is growing into its own little eco system which is why these three are under the same umbrella. In order to have a successful organic marketing plan that gains your business new customers and increases your website traffic, you need to understand how content marketing, SEO, and social media rely on one another.
Here are three ways content marketing, social media and SEO work together to improve organic marketing:
Your Twitter Account is Being Indexed by Google
So think of the internet like a public library, which is growing constantly because of the consistent flow of new content. Google acts like the filing system for the “library” because without one, the internet would be even more chaotic than it already is. Google’s filing system works like this; Google gathers pages during its crawl process, organizes them through an index, and ranks them according to what is recent and relevant. Twitter has helped Google tremendously when it comes to finding your content. Factors like such as how many retweets, how many people tweeted the content, and the time frame of when the content was shared are all taken into consideration when indexing your twitter content. The faster your content is indexed, the quicker you get rewarded by a higher flow of organic traffic being driven to your site through Google’s indexing system.
Social Shares are the New Backlinks
Backlinks are one of the many factors that contribute to a high ranking on Google. Blackhat techniques such as keyword stuffing, invisible text, and creating “fake” websites backlinks are a way of the past and have forced Google into looking more at your social signals like Tweets, Facebook posts, +1s and so on. Social media back links are the way of the future when compared against the old blackhat techniques.
A smaller social platform most people forget about is your presence on Google +. Although this platform is not nearly as effective or popular as the other major social media sites, it’s still a product of Google. Think of Google as the mama bear and Google + as the cub, their bond is unbreakable and it’s time for you to accept that. Take 5 to 10 minutes out of your day to focus on your Google + page by sharing your business page or some of your relevant content such as your blogs, specials, etc.
Boost Your Relevance with Your Social Media Influence
Your social media influence is another factor that helps determine if you are a credible source to Google. Resonance, reach and relevance are the three R’s that determine your social media influence. Always ask yourself these questions when you’re sharing or reviewing the content you’ve posted on your social media account.
- Is my content relevant to my brand?
- How many people are you, or were you, able to reach with the content you’re sharing?
- Are the people engaging with your content valuable to your brand?
Relevant content is king when it comes to Googles algorithm. Google wants only the best when it comes to content and in turn the way we approach SEO now is more focused on providing our audience with relevant and authoritative content. For example, instead of focusing on a specific keyword when writing a blog, you could also place a focus on a phrase that includes that keyword that would be significant to your audience. Certain technical parts of SEO still matter such as your keyword placement in your heading and title tag but the amount of keywords you can stuff in a blog or website is not as important anymore. Your content needs to really impact people nowadays and can’t be just robotic verbatim.
Simply put, if you want a higher volume of organic traffic, you have to be willing to use all three categories; content marketing, SEO, and social media. By providing value, talking about what is relevant in your industry and making sure the content is engaging, you can increase your rankings organically.