Besides the issues raised in the preceding section, Social Media affords a business with a variety of other benefits:
Improved Search Engine Ranking
If your website has social media elements (e.g., allows comments, has a blog), you have a greater chance of increasing your search engine ranking. This, of course, is dependent on the number of visitors who comment on your site, or the frequency of your blog posts. The Google placement algorithm includes weighting for freshness of content, and with users (and you) constantly adding and updating your site, the Google bots will smile favorably on your URL.
The Ability To Brand Yourself As An Expert
Timely, relevant content specifically targeted at the website visitors you wish to attract can very quickly help you to develop a reputation as an expert in your field or business. Combine your own blog with an effective on and offline public relations campaign and commenting on blogs within your niche area will not only develop a higher search engine placement, but will also bring more readers open to you , your product, and your service, to your blog. Further add to this image by hosting your own YouTube channel, appearing as a guest on Blogtalkradio, and setting up your own Squidoo lens.
Depth of Content
Yes, I guess I could have included this topic under either one or both of the first two topics in this section, but I wanted to highlight the importance of content depth beyond just improving your search engine results or creating expert appeal.
With good content depth, you build a pool of resource that provides a great service to your blog or social media site visitors. Lots of good content keep a reader engaged longer and therefore more likely to return again for more visits (as well as recommend your site to a friend or eventually purchase something from you.)
Before you formally launch your blog site, it’s worth taking the month before and posting at least 30 quality posts. The reason for this is the same one your real estate agent gave you for making sure you had furniture and decorations in that empty house you were trying to sell – the human mind very quickly loses interest without bright, shiny, new things to attract its attention.
Engage your readers with good quality, unique, relevant, fresh, and deep content and they’ll keep coming back for more.
Next: The Keys to Social Media Success
