What is Social SEO?

Social media marketing and SEO are often thought of as two separate marketing powerhouses, but they work together in more ways than you may realize. Let’s talk about the different strengths social and search have to offer and how B2B brands can get more bang for their buck by striking the right harmony between them.

Social vs. Search
Social media and search engines are the two of the biggest players in the content marketing game. (Some even claim video giant YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, though finding evidence to support the claim isn’t as clear cut.) When it comes to their function as marketing channels, social and search aren’t just different — they’re opposites in nearly every key area.

These differences, while significant, are what make the combined efforts of the two channels such a dynamic force for B2B brands. Striking the right balance means treating social and search as natural complements to one another, rather than viewing them as competing forces. For marketers, that balance is referred to as Social SEO.

What is Social SEO?
Social SEO refers to content optimizations that can help maximize the relationship between social media and search engines. Because social profiles often rank in search, the added content visibility is a driver of shares, follows, and other engagements. On the search side of things, the brand relationships that are more easily formed on social media often lead to collaborations, influencer interactions, and link shares that drive rankings.

Because the content formats used on these channels are fundamentally different, content that performs well on social likely won’t yield the same results on search. Likewise, top performers on search can (and often do) completely flop in social spaces.

With a solid Social SEO strategy, marketers can bridge the gaps between social and search performance by leaning into the natural advantages each channel has to offer. This can look like varying media and content formats, utilizing channel-specific optimizations, or realigning your messaging approach so that it resonates with your channel-specific audiences. As a result, more relevant content is seen by more people regardless of which space they’re in — leading to more engagements and conversions from both.

How to Improve Your Social SEO
While there are specific optimizations that can be made for most social platforms, there are a few other ways to start improving your Social SEO overall.

1. Use Your Keywords — Add relevant keywords to your page titles, about sections, bios, descriptions, and headlines. Long-form content should also be based on relevant keywords and phrases whenever possible.

2. Make Your Content Accessible — Utilizing compliance optimizations like video and audio captions, alt text, and quality imagery will not only improve your SEO performance, it will also improve and increase the interactions between your audiences, your content, and your brand.

3. Be Helpful — This best practice certainly isn’t exclusive to Social SEO, but as a general rule of thumb, make sure that your content is truly valuable to the audiences you’re trying to reach with it. Does it answer their question? Offer a solution? Resonate with how they feel? If not then it probably isn’t helpful, meaning it probably won’t do anything for them or your KPIs.

Like any other aspect of marketing, strategy and consistency are everything. Improving your Social SEO performance is more about making small, intentional changes regularly than making drastic changes sporadically. While the changes you’re making may feel insignificant in the moment, they are absolutely key to building momentum behind your brand’s online presence.

Need to build some serious momentum behind your brand or marketing efforts? Contact CID and let our digital strategy team give your business a boost.