Tuesday, April 8, 2014

How SEO Practices Can Measure Social Media Success

Although new tools and methods of compiling statistical evidence of campaign performance are being introduced every day, many social media professionals still seek more information to inform their content strategies. By thinking laterally, combining SEO practices with social media can boost both areas while also creating hard numbers to indicate levels of success.

Including specific keywords and links within content can help to analyse the technical aspects of reach and engagement across social media profiles in three significant ways.

Clickthrough monitoring: Employing keywords alongside traceable links can help to reveal how appealing a specific post might be to followers, as well as the influence of a social platform over time. There are several third-party tools that can shorten, brand, and track links to allow the number of clickthroughs to be recorded for measurement purposes.

Traffic monitoring: Analysing traffic from various sources during set time periods, coordinated with certain campaigns or specific posts, can create a comprehensive picture of social media influence. By incorporating tracking codes into the URLs used within social content, factors such as clickthroughs, bounce rates, and conversion paths can be examined in Google Analytics.

SERP monitoring: Evaluating the search rankings of specific keywords before, during, and after a campaign can add further depth to measuring social media efforts. For example, if a keyword suddenly jumps up in the rankings by a significant amount in conjunction with being used in a post on Facebook, a logical conclusion can be drawn that this particular activity was successful.

By incorporating SEO initiatives within social media strategy, a symbiotic relationship can be formed that benefits both areas of activity. SEO results can be improved through the inclusion of keywords and links across various profiles, and social activities can be enriched through a greater level of understanding to inform more successful tactics and compelling content. Lastly, a brand’s presence on different platforms can be strategically highlighted to draw greater traffic and engagement.

For many brands, these two disciplines remain the responsibility of different departments and implementing an integrated approach requires buy in from both teams as well as a unified strategy. However, if cohesive working cannot be achieved in the short term, social media professionals can easily obtain clickthrough data and search rankings themselves.

Integrating these disciplines is a substantial step closer to answering one of the core challenges of social media, which is creating a concrete definition of success within a field that is governed by constant change, subtle cultural and psychological influences, and untapped potential.

Publisher: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=52

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