It seems that every day I find less time to work on what used to be my daily duties. A shift towards social media has started, and it’s bound to continue bleeding into every part of online marketing. As the New Year begins, I know that I will be spending an increasing amount of time dedicated to social media for our clients. When I leave the office, I often think about how to balance this emerging trend in social demand with my general work load.
I recently read an article about the importance that Google places on what they call “social authority”. As is Google’s goal with most of its algorithm updates, they look to promote qualified websites who provide the most accurate, real, and relevant content to its users. Despite social media’s emergence as one of the most common avenues for marketing brands, there continues to be a surprisingly large share of poorly managed profiles. Doing the minimum is no longer enough, and just having a presence could hurt more than it helps if it isn’t paid attention to. In all likelihood, Google will continue to place emphasis on social profiles with both function and relevancy. From an SEO standpoint, social indicators are likely to continue to grow as influencers in organic search rankings as Google finds more ways to evaluate the social sphere.
At first, I really dug my heels in at this change and demand for “social authority.” The more time I spent building social presences, I came to realize it could really simplify some of my other tasks and help attain better results over-all. It isn’t just about posting updates or trying to increase rankings. Listed below are my top 5 reasons why social media helps build your brand more effectively and efficiently.
Customer Loyalty
The greater your presence and support to customers, the more loyal your following will be. It’s quite obvious how social media is a must to demonstrate loyalty. Consumers are online and will show their loyalty by connecting with your brand online (given that you have a proper social profile). Similarly, brands must show their loyalty to customers be ensuring they provide the necessary information and customer service where their customers are. The result? A relationship is formed and you’ll see increased referrals, shares, and links.
Brand Recognition
Recognition is important both for your brand in general as well as for the type of content. The more a social brand is developed, communications and recognition with customers becomes instantaneous and fluent. Once a customer becomes familiar with the style of a brand socially, it will likely become the most efficient form of communication and influence.
Value
Social media is the perfect platform to show your customer the value of your brand (or lack there-of if you do a poor job). The value of quality content is highly important both for shaping the perceived value of customers as well as for Google’s authority ranks. Keeping fresh, quality content will drive positive growth both in value and traffic.
Earned Credibility
Using ethical and engaging tactics for social media are important for building credibility with your consumer. Using responsible and amicable tactics helps customers to trust you as a brand and trust in your guidance. While building credibility may be time consuming and takes dedication, in the end it is the most well rounded and long lasting solution for building a brand. If potential customers research your company past your website, finding active social media accounts certainly lends to credibility. With trust being a major factor influencing online purchases, social profiles can go a long ways instilling confidence in customers if they see you mean business and manage your communities effectively.
Social Authority
While social authority really encompasses all of these tactics, it is the most important. Engaging in these tactics helps to position your brand as a leader, an expert, and influencer of related topics. Ensuring that your customers can see you brand in this light will help propel you ahead of the competition and control your branded image. With this trust and authority comes natural link sharing, industry recognition, and makes sharing information and resources with other industry professionals much easier (helping your SEO in more ways than one).
Engaging in social media and positive growth tactics can have a positive influence on conversion rates for all your marketing tactics. As long as you use responsible social marketing, build relationships, and generate unique and qualified content- social media will prove to be an efficient outlet for growth.
So what does all this mean? How can building social authority impact a brand? The indirect benefits of that increased social authority discussed above results in:
* Increased Conversion Rates
* More Repeat Customers
* Natural Links for SEO
* Increased Customer Referrals
* Positive Social SEO Indicators
If you’re unsure of your social authority, tools such as Klout help estimate your general social authority. For more information on social marketing, and other online services contact Londes Digital Marketing at 4 West Ave, Spencerport NY 14558. Call us at 585-617-3242 or visit online at http://www.londes.com.