It’s not uncommon these days to come across content aimed at digital marketing professionals that attempts to pit channels against each other in an attempt to determine which is “best”: PR vs. SEO, social media marketing vs. content marketing.
In reality, most informed marketers know that this isn’t quite the way things really work. While it’s true that every business must determine which channels are most effective for them, often, the optimal strategy will include multiple channels, each supporting the others.
An important aspect of successful digital marketing is avoiding silos within your organization and having a good understanding of how all the parts of your strategy fit together. Integrating the many channels of your digital marketing campaigns will not only improve the customer experience, but it will also boost results.
As a digital marketer, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything that needs to happen in order to meet your goals. And SEO and social media are two contributing areas where there seem to be endless possibilities of tactics that can be pursued.
With that said, there are ways you can integrate strategies to maximize results with limited time and resources. Social media and SEO present an immediate opportunity to do this.
Here, I’ll be addressing some simple ways to combine social media and SEO strategies. These tactics will help you improve results and efficiency while driving visibility to your content and supporting link building efforts. By implementing them, you’ll reach your targets and strengthen thought leadership.
1. Engage Your Audiences
Social media can be used to support your link building efforts by engaging with key contacts associated with each of your target sites. I’ve often seen a higher success and acceptance rate when establishing relationships and creating familiarity with a brand before reaching out about a link building opportunity.
For example, if you are looking to contribute a guest article on an industry-related publication, identify some of the editors at the publication and start engaging with them on social media before actually reaching out.
In addition to this, advertising across social media platforms can be a great way to take your strategy to the next level. Compile lists of existing clients, prospects, partners, affiliates, sponsors, media targets, influencers, and thought leaders. Then, import these lists on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for more advanced targeting.
2. Increase Visibility
Initial content distribution and promotion is an essential part of every successful online marketing campaign. This is something most marketers recognize; however, where we often fall short is continuing to drive visibility to existing content over time.
In order to get the most out of the content that you’ve worked hard to create, it’s important to distribute it beyond just the week of publishing. This will help increase traffic to your site, and reach people you may have missed the first time around.
On the most basic level, don’t forget your top assets. As long as the content is still relevant and valuable, there is no reason why you shouldn’t reshare it with your audience. If some of your top assets have become less relevant or outdated, maybe it’s time to refresh it with updated information.
3. Listen Up
Striking a balance between technical optimization and the experience visitors have on your site can sometimes be a challenge. These days, most marketers are savvy enough to recognize that spun or keyword-stuffed content isn’t doing them any favors. However, it’s not terribly uncommon to find content on websites where it’s not quite relevant, or is too high-level and general to make an impact for readers.
While creating keyword-focused content is essential, it also needs to be aligned with your audiences’ wants and needs. This can often be challenging; however, by monitoring conversations happening across social media around core keyword themes, SEOs can come up with some really valuable content opportunities.
Identify the questions people are asking on social media, and use this information to come up with new content ideas. Taking this a step further, you’ll now have several opportunities to distribute this content after it has been created and published.
To make this easier on yourself, consider leveraging one of the many social listening tools available. This will not only benefit marketing campaigns from an SEO perspective, but it will also help build and strengthen thought leadership.
Recap
A well-rounded digital marketing strategy accounts for the ways each tactic supports the others. Having a good understanding of how all the parts fit together typically leads to optimal results from each individual initiative.
While there are many ways to integrate your digital marketing tactics, these are a few immediate opportunities to better align your social media and SEO campaigns.
One final tip? Make organizational efforts to get your social media marketing and SEO teams on the same page. Take the necessary steps so both teams understand the role they have in supporting the other, whether it’s how keyword research can inform social media marketing strategies, applying SEO best practices to content developed for social, or ensuring both teams are aligned in messaging. Understand how the KPIs between these two teams are aligned, and you’ll likely see improved performance working towards your objectives.
