We love digital 0330 353 0300
The rise of social media has made it essential as part of modern online marketing and link building campaigns. Search engines, especially Google, are paying a lot more attention to links in the social space and it is believed to help site rankings.
Contributing to the social space is a better strategy than trying to fill it with as many links as possible. Here are a few tips which will help you get the most from your campaigns.
The Big 2 – Twitter and Facebook
If you are serious about developing a consistent social media campaign, Facebook and Twitter are sites that you want to be on. An important thing to remember is to commit to updating your profiles. Nobody wants to follow (or like) a group/company who never posts or engages within the community. To get the most out of these sites, it is recommended that you post frequently to keep your brand in front of people’s eyes.
It is also important to make sure you provide value in your posts. Don’t just talk about your company and its offers, talk about related subjects and news in your industry. Engage within your community and don’t be afraid to link to another website if you feel they have a good post or resource.
Bookmarking Websites
Bookmarking websites (such as Digg and Blink List) can create anchor text optimised links to a specific page on your website. These links are generally low quality as far as links go and so they shouldn’t take up a huge amount of time in your link building efforts. They can be useful for sharing your link with others who are interested in the topics you write about, others may also choose to link to the content. Stumbleupon is a good example; users can choose certain topics of interest and they can click stumble to land on a random page related to their interests.
The main aim of bookmarking websites should be to share your content with people actively seeking information relating to topics within your expertise.
Forum Contribution
Forum contribution is another good way of engaging within the community. Signing up to a forum to just create a few spam links is not a good strategy. Try finding forums related to your industry and join in on the conversation, help others and refer them to other websites, tools and blog posts if you feel it would help them, not just your own content. If you think a resource you have created would be useful to them, post the link. The idea is to be friendly and provide useful information, shoving your forum signature with links is not recommended.
Niche Websites
Niche community websites, including forums and bookmarking websites can be great for gaining a few links where appropriate. Again it is important to remember to be helpful and stray away from being spammy. Link to your own content on occasions if you feel it is relevant and provides value.
Squidoo and Hub Pages
Squidoo and Hub Pages can provide relevant links back to your website. This works better if you create an informational resource related to your industry, then throw in a few subtle links. These pages can build up a nice amount of authority and the link back to your website could become valuable. For more information on how to best use Squidoo for SEO, take a look at the page – How to use Squidoo for SEO.
RSS Feeds
RSS Feeds are good for providing site visitors a way of subscribing to site content. This makes sure that your content is regularly shown to people involved in the same industry as you. They may choose to share your content on the web and across their own social spaces; this is a great way to gain additional links.
What Not to Do
Using all of the above methods will ensure you have the basis for a good social media campaign. It is important to remember not to spam these different channels. The main aim of your social media campaign should be to engage within the various communities related to your industry and provide value. You may link to your own website where relevant and if you think it would provide value to someone else.
If you follow these tips, you should see a good increase in links from the different social media channels and a possible increase in the traffic coming through to your site.