Social Media and Search Engine Optimization
Facebook is currently the worlds most trafficked website. As search engines and social media evolve its pretty clear that these pages will play a greater and greater role in optimization strategies. Were finding that Facebook and social media pages are akin to building little versions of your website in other places and sometimes theyre generating a ton of traffic.
Social media usually sends a link back to your proprietary site. This helps create a credible inbound link for your practice site. Also, if someone calls you from a Facebook page about your practice, or if they call you from your webpage about your practice... who cares? Were trying to generate traffic and calls! They can get your phone number from a bathroom stall (this is known as stall optimization). Its really all about visibility and traffic.
Facebook is also an effective way to build a list of people in your market with interest in your services. What is the value of an opted in list? The thinking in direct mail is $3.00 per person, per mail. So, based on a direct mail model, a list of 2000 people has a value of $6000 every single time you send out an email. Also, your list will be all opted in and are more likely in the correct demographic. Thats a much better list than a simple zipcode based list from a direct mail house. Plus, you CONTROL the list you generate through your site or Facebook. We are trying to build great resources across multiple platforms. Its a good long term strategy. You know you are set up to have success.
Twitter is another piece of the SEO puzzle. Twitter pages and their number of followers helps show importance of your site. Building a Twitter page and connecting it to your Facebook and website can only help your search positions.
For most people, the number one result for a search for their name, is often their LinkedIn page. So, if were trying to control your reputation and garner more traffic, building a LinkedIn makes a lot of sense. It implies that you are a real person attached to a real business. Google is trying to find respected, authoritative resources to define searches and LinkedIn is just that.
Social Media Integration
Your website should be the command and control center of your web strategy. The Einstein Social Media Tool is a great way to integrate your core site with social media channels. Connecting your blog to Twitter and Facebook is a great way to eliminate double work and maximize the reach of your message. The stereotype of Facebook as a massive time waster, comes from massive amounts of time wasted on it. By integrating your site and your social media you save a ton of time and practice resources.
