As social media plays an important role in digital marketing for most businesses today, many people think social media is just for expanding their reach, increasing their brand awareness and engagement without thinking about the impact it has on search results.
When links are posted through your social media accounts, depending on how many people share your posts, this can influence your search rankings. All search engines’ new rankings, organic searches and social search functions can be impacted by the number of times your posts have been shared by key influencers. Because of this your social media accounts play an important role in your search engine optimisation efforts.
To start getting your social media accounts found in search results we suggest you start by optimising your twitter account. With these 5 simple techniques you can increase the chances of your twitter account showing up in search engine and twitter results.
1. Identify relevant keywords
Gather the keywords you are already using in the metadata of your website and pick out the most important. Now you have a list of keywords start to generate tweets around them, if they relate to the topic of your post but they don’t fit in with what you want to say include them as hashtags. By including keywords in your tweets this will help your twitter account to show up in search results when people are carrying out searches on your keyword.
Monitor your posts with Twitter analytics and see which tweets generated the most engagement, link clicks and reach. By doing this you can identify which keywords work the best and begin to generate more tweets around the most effective keyword.
2. Optimise your profile
For your bio Twitter allows 160 characters to be used in this space. This is where you explain to potential followers what you tweet about and why they should follow you so use these characters wisely.
Now you’ve identified the keywords that generate the most engagement include these in your Twitter bio. Just like your posts, you can add them as hashtags if they don’t fit in with what you want to say. By adding keywords and hashtags to your bio this increases the chance of your account showing up in Twitter and Google search when the keywords and hashtags are being searched by others. Make sure a link to your website is included also.
Choose a unique and professional username and Twitter handle, stay away from including a bunch of numbers as Twitter identifies this with spammers. Your username and Twitter handle doesn’t have to be the same but they need to relate to keep your branding consistent throughout your account.
3. Build a group of influential followers
It’s important for any social media account especially Twitter, to build a following of key influential people and businesses who will share your content and links. By increasing your following this can have positive effects on your Twitter authority which is directly related to your reach. To generate a group of influential followers make sure you share content that’s relevant to their interests and needs.
4. Include links to your Twitter account from your website
Whenever you update your blog post always try to encourage people to engage with you on your social media accounts. At the end of your blog post include a short paragraph with a hashtag and your Twitter handle aswell as a link to your Twitter profile and ask people to share their comments, tips and photos etc. Also it’s good practice to have social media icons visible in the header and / or footer of your website so viewers can visit your social media accounts with ease.
If you’ve followed these simple steps you will find that over time your Twitter page will climb the ladder of authority and your page and tweets will be more likely to be found and retweeted. Have you tried any of these techniques? or do you have some of your own? Share your tips and comments below, we’d love to hear them.