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\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today\u2019s web has shifted from a \u201cone-to-many\u201d to a \u201cmany-to-many\u201d method of engagement. For businesses, the shift\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":2313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[59,46],"issue":[17],"collection":[],"acf":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2309"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=2309"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=2309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nT<\/span>oday\u2019s web has shifted from a \u201cone-to-many\u201d to a
\n\u201cmany-to-many\u201d method of engagement. For businesses,
\nthe shift in web consumerism and accompanying rise in
\nsocial media brings both opportunity and responsibility. The
\nsheer amount of data that customers make available
\nthrough social media alone is a marketer’s dream;
\nhowever, the real benefit lies in the opportunity to grow
\nlasting and scalable relationships with your customer
\nbase through social channels. Furthermore, just as
\nyour customers\u2019 behaviors have shifted, so have their
\nexpectations for yours. Whether your business is listening
\nand engaging with them or not, customers are having
\nconversations relevant to your operations. It\u2019s better to
\nbe part of the conversation. Plus, it helps increase your
\nwebsite\u2019s visibility.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nW<\/span>e are now increasingly going to social media
\nplatforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
\nto fulfill our search queries, whereas before, we exclusively
\nused search engines like Google and Bing to find information.
\nNow, it\u2019s not just the change in search habits that has
\neverything in a tizzy \u2013 the line between web content and
\nsocial media content has also been all but erased. Content
\nis now paramount and it\u2019s not quantity anymore, but quality
\nthat has so many brands struggling to keep their spots
\nin search ranks. Before we delve into the world order, it\u2019s
\nworthwhile to explore exactly what search and social are,
\nin addition to their past and future relationship with
\none another.
\n<\/p>\nDefining Search & Social<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nS<\/span>earch Marketing is the process of gaining traffic
\nand visibility from search engines through both
\npaid and unpaid efforts. It encompasses SEO & SEM.
\nSEO stands for \u201cSearch Engine Optimization\u201d and
\nis the process of earning traffic from the \u201cfree\u201d or
\n\u201corganic\u201d search results on search engines. All major
\nsearch engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo have
\nprimary search results, where web pages and other
\ncontent such as videos or local listings are shown and
\nranked based on what the search engine considers
\nmost relevant to users. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
\nis the process of gaining website traffic by BUYING ads
\non search engines.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nS<\/span>ocial Media Marketing refers to the process of
\nreaching prospects and customers, and gaining
\nwebsite traffic and visibility through social media
\nsites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest,
\nGoogle+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. It usually centers
\non efforts to create content that attracts attention
\nand encourages readers to share that content with
\ntheir social networks. Social media marketing is
\ndriven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in
\nearned media rather than paid media. Social media
\nhas given brands and organizations a platform to
\nincrease communication, which in turn, fosters brand
\nawareness and often, improves customer service.
\nAdditionally, social media serves as a relatively
\ninexpensive platform for organizations to implement
\nmarketing campaigns.
\n<\/p>\nHow Were They Independent Before?<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nA<\/span>s late as 2014, the influence of social media content
\nwas minimal on Google\u2019s SERP rankings. Social was
\nabout creating intent within a targeted audience, whereas
\nsearch was about fulfilling it. Search\u2019s popularity and value
\nto businesses has always come from its ability to help
\nconsumers find relevant companies, products, and services.
\nWith search, intent and desire to find relevant information
\n(navigational, informational, transactional) has always
\nbeen the driving force\/purpose behind it. If someone visited
\nGoogle, they were looking for something specific, whereas
\nback in the day with social, people might have logged onto
\nFacebook for no particular reason. Basically, search played
\na vital role in the sales cycle, but social did not.
\n<\/p>\n
\nIn 2012, there was a paradigm shift that combined the
\nworlds of search and social, despite how effective they were
\nindependently. Social\u2019s primary value to consumers was its
\npeer recommendations. Econsultancy found that 75% of
\npeople ages 18 to 26 used recommendations on social sites
\nin product research before making a purchase, whereas
\nsearch was primarily used to create a list of purchase
\noptions. Social media recommendations were used to
\nvalidate (and continue to be used to validate) the relevancy
\nof our choices with the people in our social graph.
\n<\/p>\nHow Are They Coming Together?<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nT<\/span>he paradigm shift forever altered the way consumers
\nuse search and social. They are now inextricably
\nintertwined and you can not have one without the other.
\nPeople now use social to search and discover content.
\nSearch and social now work toward the same thing:
\nachieving relevance for your audience.
\n<\/p>\n
\nWith so much engagement and activity happening in social
\nforums, Google is no longer able to turn a \u201climited\u201d eye
\nto social media and its impact on the internet. Things
\nare rapidly changing, with more than 71% of consumers
\nbeing more likely to make a purchase on social media
\nreferrals and the amount of content being generated in
\nsocial forums, leaving it nearly impossible for Google not to
\nutilize social media channels in a heavier fashion in their
\nalgorithm reviews and organic SERP influence.
\n<\/p>\n
\nLinks to your website via social media accounts DO have a
\nmajor impact on your rankings. While authority of a social
\naccount may not impact search rank, links published on
\nsocial media could be marked as credible backlinks, and
\nthus influence a page\u2019s rank. Links to your content on social
\nchannels and networks help the search engines understand
\nwhat websites are credible and should be ranked for what
\nkeyword phrases. While social shares may or may not affect
\na webpage\u2019s position in search listings, your social profiles
\ndefinitely influence the content of your search results. In
\nfact, social media profiles are often amongst the top results
\nin search listings for brand names. Social media often feeds
\ninto the discovery of new content such as news stories,
\nand \u201cdiscovery\u201d is a search activity. Social media can also
\nhelp build links that in turn support the SEO efforts. Many
\npeople perform searches on social media sites to find
\nsocial media content. Social connections may also impact
\nthe relevancy of some search results, either within a social
\nmedia network or at a \u2018mainstream\u2019 search engine.
\n<\/p>\nWhat Does the Future Hold?<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nO<\/span>n November 16th, 2015, a significant shift occurred
\nwhen Google announced that Facebook would begin
\nallowing more of their pages to be indexed, including in-app
\ncontent. Search engines are crawling Twitter, LinkedIn, and
\nother social sites, and social indexing will grow significantly
\nin 2016, with posts soon carrying the same value as web
\npages. Thus it will be even more important to create
\nsomething that people want to share. \u201cSocial media efforts
\nwill be tied more directly to SEO results. While social efforts
\nhave historically been challenging to tie to the bottom line,
\nmeasuring the impact of social media on SEO results will be
\na new, measurable inbound metric.\u201d (SproutContent)
\n<\/p>\n
\nSocial is the new SEO. There will be a focus shift in SEO to
\nsocial media. User behavior, when it comes to searching out
\ninformation on products and services, is changing. While
\nusing search engines to find information is still the most
\ncommon behavior, there are many users who are skipping
\nthe search engine and performing their searches directly on
\nsocial media.
\n<\/p>\n
\nThere are different reasons that this is happening. First,
\nconsumers know that they are more likely to find visual
\ncontent if they search on social media, and to them, this
\ncontent is far more trustworthy than text-heavy content.
\nThe other reason is that consumers value feedback from
\nothers, and they know they are more likely to find reviews
\nand comments on social media content than they will in
\nother places. This means that marketing strategy must move
\nbeyond \u201cHow can I get found on Google?\u201d to \u201cHow can I get
\nfound on Google and social?\u201d Most mobile users skip the
\nuse of the search engine. Consumers have become more
\ninterested in visually-rich content and would rather do their
\nsearch through social channels.
\n<\/p>\nHow Does This Apply to Your Business?<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nT<\/span>he big takeaway: Companies should expand their
\nconcept of SEO to include not just the traditional
\nsearch engines \u2014 Google and Bing \u2014 but also social
\nsearch engines.
\n<\/p>\n
\nJust because Google hasn\u2019t officially come out and stated
\nthat social signals are a factor in their algorithm, doesn\u2019t
\nmean you can discount social\u2019s impact on your SEO.
\nNumerous correlation studies have shown that they do have
\na positive impact on search rank. Social media shows no
\nsigns of becoming a less important part of a brand\u2019s online
\npresence anytime soon. Moreover, Bing, which is the second
\nmost-used search engine, has clearly stated that their
\nalgorithm DOES incorporate social signals into their search
\nresults. Smart brands will continue to build their authority in
\nkey social channels and think about social when designing
\ntheir SEO strategy.
\n<\/p>\n
\nContent will always rule SEO \u2013 so here are some best
\npractices for expanding your SEO efforts:
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n Create content that provides real value to the audience.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n Focus on content quality and relevancy, rather than just quantity.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n Capturing your company\u2019s voice and sharing it with
\n the world through social media will open up unique
\n opportunities in all other channels of inbound marketing,
\n including SEO.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n Social Media needs to be a fully integrated part of your
\n marketing mix. Think of it as a means to an end, not an
\n end in itself.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\nSocial Media Marketing\/Optimization is a hugely important
\npiece of the SEO pie. There are many places across the
\nweb that customers\/prospects can go to find out if you are
\na company who knows what it\u2019s talking about, treats its
\ncustomers well, and provides good service at a good value. If
\nyour SEO strategy leaves out these other sources (i.e. social),
\nthen you\u2019re missing out on a lot of potential customers.
\n\u201cUltimately, the web is all about building relationships,
\nfostering audiences, expressing identity and sharing ideas\u2014
\nit\u2019s inherently social, and there\u2019s no reason that SEO best
\npractices would go against the grain, especially since the
\nrules that govern SEO are ultimately meant to make the web
\na more enjoyable and useful place.” (Kissmetrics)
\n<\/p>\n
\n![\"Search](\"https:\/\/leapsparkagency.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/08\/search-social-unicorn.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSynergy Is the Key<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nT<\/span>he key to using social media to drive SEO, is to build it to
\nbe your very own PR channel to promote your great
\ncontent. You should seek to create a powerful synergy between
\nyour content publishing, social media, and SEO programs.
\nFrom an SEO perspective, your social media promotion
\ncan help provide the exposure to your content that results
\nin other people linking to it from their websites or blogs.
\nBecause as we know, links are still a major driver of SEO.
\n<\/p>\n
\nTo build this synergy, you must align your social media and content
\npublishing efforts, and build your visibility on social media.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n Align your target audiences and the topical themes of
\n your content publishing and social media efforts.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n Build relationships on social media platforms.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n Participate in related communities in social media.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n Regularly share or comment on other people\u2019s posts.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n Prepare to learn \u2013 practice makes you better and with
\n time you will improve.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\nAnd of course, this synergy is facilitated by creating and
\npublishing great, unique content.
<\/p>\n
\nWhatever industry you are in, figure out what the major
\nun-met needs are (content-wise) and figure out which ones
\nyou can meet. This will make it easier to attract attention
\nand grow your reputation and visibility. Bottom line? Social
\nmedia campaigns can impact your SEO.
\n<\/p>\n
\nSome impressive stats that illuminate just how much
\npeople are using social media to search:
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n As of 2015, Twitter handled close to 2.1 billion
\n search queries a day, or close to 60 billion queries
\n each month.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n In 2015, Facebook received an estimated 1.5 billion
\n search queries per day, equating to around 45
\n billion monthly searches.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n
\n
\n As of 2013, YouTube receives more than 3 billion
\n search queries per month. Also, 100 hours of video
\n are uploaded to YouTube every minute, making it
\n one of the largest content repositories on the web.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/li>\n