Social media websites have spread like wildfire over the past couple of years. Today, so many people spend more time on Facebook, Twitter or some other social network than any other website.
Aside from connecting people, social networks also provide advertising opportunities. Take Facebook, for example. What do you do when you come across a website with half a billion active users? Develop Facebook Web promotion strategies and use the website as a marketing tool, of course.
It's not surprising to find so many businesses utilizing Facebook Web promotion these days.
In fact, lots of businesses have an FB page as their second homepage. So, the challenge here is how to use social media SEO to your business' advantage.
Social Media SEO
It's not so hard to advertise via Facebook Web promotion. FB and other social networks allow you to post ads, updates, pictures and videos in a snap. When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), on the other hand, there is some doubt whether Facebook SEO is really effective. For one, this particular social media site uses the “nofollow” tag. This means that your backlinks from Facebook aren't given any value by search engine crawlers. Thus, those links aren't affecting your search engine rankings at all (but they will still give you traffic).
Facebook links may be nofollow, but this doesn't mean that the website completely doesn't have social media SEO opportunities. Here are a Facebook SEO tactics:
- Post links to your website in less obtrusive areas. A good thing about Facebook Web promotion is that it presents ads and links in a rather subtle way. If you can notice, most of the ads on FB are at the right side. Although links can be found everywhere, they aren't slammed right in your face. By posting links only in your bio box, info tab, right side panel etc., you won't be turning off users by spammy messages. Thus, there are more chances of people checking out content in your site and linking to it.
- Don't stop the posting. Many a time have companies felt excited about reaching fans via Facebook Web promotion, but find that the excitement dwindles after a month or two. Keep on posting --- send out daily posts, and write about interesting things regarding your business, services, and products. These posts can encourage conversation, likes, and comments. Besides, if all your status messages are all about your products and services, your page will lean more on spammy.
- Give away free stuff. Almost everyone loves free stuff. Start a contest or coupon codes with enticing value to encourage fans to participate in your social media SEO campaign. If you get fans excited, they just might tell their family or friends and blog about it. This Facebook Web promotion tactic can result to more links pointing to your main site.
- Don't hesitate to ask for a link. It never hurts to request, or even beg, for a link. Once you have a minimum of 25 fans, post an update and ask your fans to post a link pointing to your site on their blog. If they're truly your fans, chances are they'll help you out with this Facebook SEO strategy. To increase the chances of getting that link, give out coupon codes or other free items.
