Some marketing agencies view social media and SEO as being two completely separate areas, with little communication between the various specialists engaged in each. By operating in that way, they may well be missing out on opportunities.

I’m certainly an advocate of treating social media on merit. If you’re spending time posting updates on Twitter and Facebook, then I think that there’s a clear need to measure the impact of that work. How many new customers are you getting as a result? What sort of return are you getting on that investment?

You may feel that this is a strange way of considering things. After all, how much are you really investing? If you’re simply asking a member of staff to spend a spare few hours each month updating social media profiles, then you may argue that you’re not actually spending a lot of money in this area. You need to think, however, about the opportunity cost involved.

In other words, if you weren’t asking someone to get involved in this element of marketing activity, then it may be that you could ask them to contribute in a different way. If time spent on Facebook, for example, is not really yielding results, then you are missing out.

Measuring the impact of social media

But should social media impact always be measured in terms of raw numbers? There’s certainly an argument to suggest that doing so risks ignoring some of the contribution from this type of activity.

Are you able to identify, for example, the fact that your Twitter presence creates confidence in your business? Although some customers may have been sourced via an Adwords campaign, to take one example, is there a chance that Twitter or Facebook have played some sort of role in securing a sale?

It’s also notable that many big brands use social media to provide additional Customer Service channels. This can be effective and may add to the overall success of the business.

Linking SEO and social media

So why should you choose to think about the contribution that social media makes to your SEO efforts? Plenty of analysts believe that Google’s Panda and Penguin updates make it more important than ever that you should be able to establish the idea that you have a brand.

You’ll be looking to ensure that you are seen as providing a genuine business. Within that context, there can be no doubt that regular social media updates can really contribute. They help to give confidence and to build authority.

But they can also be used in a more direct way. If you’re making use of guest blogging or contests as part of your SEO process, then why not draw attention to them using social media? Not doing so simply means that you are missing out on more opportunities.

Conclusions

You may be employing separate specialists to deal with SEO and social media. Even if that’s the approach that you’re taking, it makes sense to ensure that those individuals, or teams, are communicating well with each other.

This means that there’s a clear need to share information and to agree on the key objectives. That’s an approach that will really allow you to make the most of the time and money that you are investing in these online marketing strategies.

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About the Author

Keith Barrett writes on a number of subjects relating to digital marketing. Acting as an SEO consultant for a leading UK agency, he has a considerable level of experience.