Your brand matters far more than it used to matter, since search engines now give more weight to brands than domain names and keyword density. Fortunately, you can use social media to build your brand and improve your brand’s search engine optimization.
Here are four ways to use social media to build your brand.
1. Coupon Codes
Coupon codes are like bait for social media, generating a lot of attention and luring in many who otherwise would swim by. They are snapped up by coupon sites, putting your business brand in front of many people who’ve never heard of you before while enticing many to check out your site and convince some to buy for the first time. Others will share the coupon codes via social media simply to generate attention and likes by friends or followers.
To do coupon codes right, you should reference the brand name of the product and type of deal, such as “20% off X brand items.” To maximize profits and attention, combine it with an urgent call to action like “good through date X.” Always give a clear expiration date on coupons so that old codes don’t attract people to the site only to get angry when they cannot use them, and ensure that your checkout process makes it obvious when and where to enter coupon codes.
2. Sharing Builds Caring
When someone posts a glowing review of your product or business, share it via your social media accounts with a shout out to the creator. When you share content created by your social media followers in a way other followers see, it builds engagement with your brand’s most loyal followers.
Encourage sharing this way by asking people to share content they create with your company’s social media page so that you can then promote it. Also engage with your followers by responding to their comments and questions, so that they feel you are listening.
One way to encourage social media followers, which increases your company’s social media profile’s standing with search engines, is to share coupon codes with your followers first or have giveaways to your followers. The “word” about these acts will literally go viral on social media.
Your company needs to create a hashtag for its company name and brand name, and then you need to control it by sending out nearly all of the content related to these hashtags. Hashtags are not just for Twitter or its libertarian rival Gab. Use the brand and company name hashtags for social media posts about the company. Put these hashtags at the end of bit.ly URLs linking to content marketing and press releases so that they show up in searches for the company or hashtag.
4. Include Branding in Your SEO
Your company’s search engine optimization needs to include its brand name. This doesn’t require abandoning SEO for each product page. Instead, when discussing product ABC, include references like “Made by company X” or “brand name product model version number” descriptions of the item. You can use the brand name as a secondary latent semantic indexing term, or, if people search for the brand name as often as the company name, in conjunction with the main search term.
Conclusion
Use coupon codes to attract attention and sharing while referencing the company brand name in the coupon code’s description and initial mention. Share content that refers to your brand, especially customer created content that is a serious brand endorsement. Own your company’s hashtag and use the hashtag on social media sites as well as Twitter or Gab. Finally, include your brand in your SEO strategy.
