Search Engine Optimization

When it comes to social media marketing, it’s more important to focus on connecting with the right audience, not just getting as many fans and followers as possible. Too often site owners scramble to increase the amount of connections in their social network and lose sight of their real online goals, which is to drive visitors and increase business on their site.

Watch this week’s SEO video lesson!

For more social media marketing lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick Marketing social media marketing video lesson archive.

Let me start off by saying that I think social media marketing is an incredibly important component of any inbound marketing campaign. Alongside SEO and content marketing, social media marketing helps build your overall online brand presence, connects your company with new and interested consumers, and strengthens your industry authority and more. Without a doubt, Facebook is still the 800 pound gorilla of the social networking world and should be incorporated into every company’s social media marketing plan in one way or another.

But in the last year or so I’ve noticed a growing trend when it comes to Facebook marketing—companies are giving their Facebook profiles a lot of “face time” on all of their marketing platforms—TV commercials, radio ads and print ads invite consumers to Like a company on Facebook; websites publish big “Find Us on Facebook” banners on prime page real estate and entire marketing campaigns are built with around the goal of getting more Facebook fans. While I think it’s great that so many companies are invested in having a strong social presence, it’s important to remember that every time you promote your Facebook page it’s Facebook that could reap the most benefits in the long run, not necessarily your company. If you’re not careful, your Facebook marketing just markets Facebook!

In my opinion, Facebook is not a place of commerce; people don’t head over to Facebook with the intent to buy. They go to check in with their friends, post funny videos or breaking news, upload photos from their family vacation, plan parties and so forth. Even though Facebook is doing all it can to become a one-stop-online-shop for users it’s still mostly a social site. When you promote your Facebook page, you are encouraging your target audience to check out Facebook INSTEAD of coming to your website. Facebook is the one that benefits from all of your traffic!

Think about it like this—let’s say someone does heed your call-to-action and searches for your company on Facebook. Once they are on your Facebook page, where do they go from there? Sure, they could click over to your website or blog (the end goal of any Facebook marketing campaign), but there are literally dozens of other links on you Facebook page that could take them away from your brand. Never mind the fact that their own profile and home page is just a click away, Facebook also puts ads in the side bar on your page. You might be advertising your own competitors! The last thing any site wants to do is send a targeted customer over to the competition.

Now I am not saying that companies should stop promoting their Facebook profiles altogether. Having a social presence is critical to online success today, and obviously you want to make sure your audience knows where they can find, connect and interact with your brand online. However, I am suggesting that site owners take a good hard look at their Facebook marketing tactics. The end goal should never be just “get more Fans.” You want to use your Facebook profile as a gateway to send more qualified visitors over to your site. Don’t turn Facebook into the end destination otherwise Facebook reaps all the benefits while you do all the work.

Let me start off by saying that I think social media marketing is an incredibly important component of any inbound marketing campaign. Alongside SEO and content marketing, social media marketing helps build your overall online brand presence, connects your company with new and interested consumers, and strengthens your industry authority and more. Without a doubt, Facebook is still the 800 pound gorilla of the social networking world and should be incorporated into every company’s social media marketing plan in one way or another.

But in the last year or so I’ve noticed a growing trend when it comes to Facebook marketing—companies are giving their Facebook profiles a lot of “face time” on all of their marketing platforms—TV commercials, radio ads and print ads invite consumers to Like a company on Facebook; websites publish big “Find Us on Facebook” banners on prime page real estate and entire marketing campaigns are built with around the goal of getting more Facebook fans. While I think it’s great that so many companies are invested in having a strong social presence, it’s important to remember that every time you promote your Facebook page it’s Facebook that could reap the most benefits in the long run, not necessarily your company. If you’re not careful, your Facebook marketing just markets Facebook!

In my opinion, Facebook is not a place of commerce; people don’t head over to Facebook with the intent to buy. They go to check in with their friends, post funny videos or breaking news, upload photos from their family vacation, plan parties and so forth. Even though Facebook is doing all it can to become a one-stop-online-shop for users it’s still mostly a social site. When you promote your Facebook page, you are encouraging your target audience to check out Facebook INSTEAD of coming to your website. Facebook is the one that benefits from all of your traffic!

Think about it like this—let’s say someone does heed your call-to-action and searches for your company on Facebook. Once they are on your Facebook page, where do they go from there? Sure, they could click over to your website or blog (the end goal of any Facebook marketing campaign), but there are literally dozens of other links on you Facebook page that could take them away from your brand. Never mind the fact that their own profile and home page is just a click away, Facebook also puts ads in the side bar on your page. You might be advertising your own competitors! The last thing any site wants to do is send a targeted customer over to the competition.

Now I am not saying that companies should stop promoting their Facebook profiles altogether. Having a social presence is critical to online success today, and obviously you want to make sure your audience knows where they can find, connect and interact with your brand online. However, I am suggesting that site owners take a good hard look at their Facebook marketing tactics. The end goal should never be just “get more Fans.” You want to use your Facebook profile as a gateway to send more qualified visitors over to your site. Don’t turn Facebook into the end destination otherwise Facebook reaps all the benefits while you do all the work.

Social media marketing and SEO go hand-in-hand. And much like SEO, a social media marketing campaign is long-term and requires consistency in order to be effective. Some website owners are still struggling to measure the effects of their social media marketing campaign and prove ROI. While it may not be as black and white as some marketing efforts, it is still possible to measure social media ROI.

Here are 6 ways to measure the effects of social media marketing:

1. Visitor growth
This is the easiest social media marketing benefit to measure—how many new visitors are coming to your site or blog via social media? Someone following you on Twitter or that has Liked your company on Facebook is classifying themselves as your target audience and is essentially giving you permission to interact with their online world. It’s up to your messaging strategy to drive them from your social profile to your website.

2. Comments
Comments on your company blog and Google+ or Facebook page or questions directed to your Twitter handle are a good sign that your content (which drives your social media marketing campaign) is appealing to your target audience. You want to get people talking to and about your brand, sharing your information and spreading your messaging strategy throughout their own social networks. Just remember that not everyone who engages with your brand on a social network is going to leave a comment. Out of 100 visitors to your Facebook page, maybe only 2 posted something on your wall. Don’t assume that the comments behind reflect the majority opinion either.

3. New fans/followers over time
Just throwing up a Facebook or Google+ page doesn’t mean people are going to bother to connect with your brand on them. You need to give your audience a reason to get involved with your brand on social networks. Social media will give back what you put in! How many new fans and followers are you getting across the board once you ramp up your social media marketing campaign? Are they real people or bot profiles? Are you connecting with more industry professionals or is it mainly your customers?

4. Additional social shares
Keep an eye on how many times your content is being reTweeted, shared, liked, posted, submitted to social bookmarking sites and so forth. The more times a piece of content is shared via social networking the more valuable it becomes in the eyes of the search engines.

5. Sales
Keep in mind that social media isn’t about immediate sales. A lot of businesses want to see a direct line from social media, like a specific Facebook post, to a new sale and it isn’t that black and white. Social media is just one more piece of the puzzle that impacts your sales/conversion rate. However, a ramped up social media marketing campaign will most likely impact your sales overtime, especially if everything else remains constant.

6. Business relationships
Having a presence on a social network is a great way to establish new business relationships. For instance, a reporter that followed me on Twitter contacted me for a quote in a story they were writing. Even though we have never met face-to-face, our online relationship is incredibly valuable. Without a strong social media presence, that reporter would have never heard of me.

Social media marketing and SEO are becoming more and more intertwined as time goes by. The search engines have freely admitted that they look at social signals to influence the SERPs. This means that the more times a piece of content is shared on the social networks the more valuable and trusted it becomes in the eyes of the search engines.

Watch this week’s SEO video lesson here!

For more social media marketing tips and lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick Marketing social media marketing video lesson archive.