The post Marketing Tip of the Day: The SEO Pie — Social Media appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

The image above is an example of what a well-constructed LinkedIn post looks like …Let’s dissect it to give insight as to how this post is using SEO, user experience and conversion.

Note:This same methodology can be implemented in your LinkedIn personal profile or business page. It’s just a matter of where you feel your post will have the most impact. For my business, I have many more connections on my personal profile page, so I post there and then simply share to my Cuppa SEO business page …

TITLE (HEADLINE)
What’s the Point of Having a Website Nobody Can Find?

The clear, emotionally engaging title is meant to connect with business owners who are frustrated because their website is not getting found — in other words, their sites are not generating enough traffic.

SEO: Whenever possible, I like to include a keyword phrase in the title of my LinkedIn Company Page posts. As you can see, this is NOT the case here. I always like to say, “Never sacrifice the quality of your content for the sake of SEO. Search engine optimization needs to support your content, not weaken it.”

Here, the emotional engagement I was looking for was paramount, which goes to show there is no one-size-fits-all solution for social media (or anything else, for that matter). Always take a moment to think about what your intention (or goal) is for every single post you publish, and then follow through on that intention.

UX: The title is clear, especially to those who are having problems with website traffic — and those are the folks we want to connect with. The title also offers a good UX to this demographic, because it shows understanding of a serious problem they’re experiencing. If people reading the post fit into this category, they might be feeling hurt (even betrayed) by their previous web developer who charged them a premium price for a sub-par website that isn’t performing.

The title is further clarified by the brief copy and imagery that follows it.

Conversion: As you might have guessed, conversion doesn’t come directly into play in the title. BUT, if the title didn’t have a good UX — say it was really long, ambiguous or didn’t have an emotional tug — you’d have less chance of someone reviewing the rest of the post and clicking on your link. That’s why I consider the title a “soft conversion,” or a conversion leader.

BRIEF CONTENT
Under our headline, the copy reads:

Cuppa SEO builds sites that get found, build trust & make it easy for visitors to become customers. Sound good? Find out more @ https://lnkd.in/eqrSePy

SEO: Except for “SEO” our copy doesn’t have keywords in it. And that’s OK, because once again I am trying to engage with readers on an emotional level — and connect with them in terms they understand. So if you’re wondering why my example isn’t chock-full of keywords, that’s why. Your LinkedIn Company Page post content (and title for that matter) may not always be optimized with keywords. If this is the case, it’s OK — as long as it’s a choice and not an oversight.

I’ve done a lot of testing and research, and I’ve found that even my marketing- savvy clients don’t respond well to words like “SEO,” “user experience” and “conversion.” They respond well to knowing that I understand their problem, and that I know how to solve it! Thus, the copy here offers solutions to the problem addressed in the title — in plain English.

UX: As you might have guessed, this content is good for UX because it “pays off” the title and adds clarification. It’s also on the short side, which also provides a solid UX. The shorter the better — as long as you’re not sacrificing a clear, engaging message for brevity. As we mentioned in the Google My Business section, the content in your post is an appetizer — not a main course. It’s meant to entice and engage readers so they are eager to take the next step, which of course is …

Conversion: Once readers have taken the time to read our title and copy, we need to give them a clear, easy path to taking the next step we want them to take. In this case, it’s visiting Cuppa SEO’s Web Design page. In our example, this is accomplished with a shortened text link (LinkedIn automatically shortens text links in posts; you don’t have to worry about it).

A note on content and text links …
These days, though, it’s totally OK to write your posts long form, as LinkedIn likes it when people stick around on their platform, and longer content (that’s relevant to the reader) can help accomplish this.

Another tip is to test out placing your text link in the first comment after publishing the post. This can GREATLY increase the amount of views.

Why? Because LinkedIn (and all other social media platforms for that matter) don’t like it when you leave their site. So, when they see a text link in your main message, there’s a good chance LinkedIn will present it to less people because it doesn’t want people leaving. Placing the link in the first comment is a loophole or sorts that still currently works … for now …

IMAGERY
It’s no surprise that imagery is a critical component of your LinkedIn Company Page posts, so let’s dive in …

SEO: The image is well optimized. The actual image name is: Cuppa-SEO- Madison-WI-Web-Design-UX-Services.jpg.

As we’ve discussed before, an optimized image makes your post easier to find on social media and in organic searches. Be sure to optimize your imagery as we outlined earlier in the book.

UX: Your picture/imagery is what I like to call your “stopper,” because it can literally stop viewers in their tracks while they’re scrolling through their Facebook feed. The picture is your instant UX meter — providing a positive, negative or neutral experience in the blink of an eye. If the image doesn’t cause a positive UX, the scrolling continues (which is why choosing or creating engaging imagery is so important).

Your imagery should always support your post’s headline and copy. When it does, the overall UX of your post rises. It’s all about creating a cohesive post so the reader doesn’t have to think about how the copy and the picture go together — because it’s obvious.

Conversion: If possible, make sure your imagery is clickable AND that it leads to the content you’re highlighting in your post. For example, when clicked, the imagery in our current example leads the reader directly to our Web Design page. But this does not happen by chance, so let’s discuss the process …

To have the imagery in my LinkedIn Company Page post to link directly to my Web Design page, the image first needs to live on my actual Web Design page. In other words, when I created the page, I needed to think ahead and use imagery that would also look good on social media. It needed to be sized correctly (so it fit well in within the parameters of my LinkedIn post), and have a clear message that made sense on my site as well as on social channels.

Once the imagery is on my Web Design page, when I add the link to my Web Design page into my LinkedIn post, LinkedIn automatically pulls the image into the post. Even better, that image is coded (by LinkedIn) to be a direct link to my Web Design page!

Now my image and my text link both drive people to the same place, which is a big plus for conversion (and for UX, too).

On the other hand, if you upload an image directly into your LinkedIn Company Page post (from somewhere like your desktop, Dropbox, or photo library), when clicked it won’t lead people to where you want them to go. Instead, it will only make the image bigger — which means you’ll potentially lose out on converting someone. Avoid this. Take the time to set things up right, if it’s possible to do so.

Want to learn more?
This post is an excerpt from my book, A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing, which contains many more tips to help you with your online marketing.

Thanks for visiting, and stay well!

The post SEO, UX and Conversion in Your LinkedIn Posts appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

A Means to an End

It’s easy to get caught up in the success of a social media campaign. As more and more people follow your pages, and Like and Share your content, it can give you the satisfaction of a job well done. But you need to remember that social media is just a means to an end.

The people viewing your content represent the top of the sales funnel: brand awareness. Those likes and shares don’t mean anything unless they can prompt your audience to move through the subsequent levels, until they eventually make an actual purchase.

Lead Generation

If you want people to move from casual followers of your brand to actual customers of your company, you need to get them to do more than just view your content. They to interact with it, and with you.

Try offering them something more than just what they see on your page. Invite them to download an in-depth ebook or white paper on a topic that interests them. Encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter, so you can send them even more premium content. Offer them an exclusive coupon or discount code.

To claim these special offers, first they need to click a link and be taken to a landing page on your website. Then, they need to enter in their name, e-mail address, and other basic contact information. Now you have a direct line to the people with more than just a passing interest in your brand and what you do. And just like that, they’re no longer viewers. They’re leads.

Follow Up

Once you have your list of leads, the next step is to follow up with them. Don’t spam them or inundate them with ads they don’t want or sales pleas they won’t listen to. Take note of what they downloaded or requested from you. Now you have an idea of the specific area they’re interested in.

Start by offering them more content that’s related to that same specific area. You can also ask if they have any questions, or if there’s anything specific you can help them with. Develop a real relationship with them over time. Find out what it is they’re looking for, and do what you can to help them find it.

By taking an active interest in your target audience and what they want out of your brand, you can go a long way towards converting them to sales. Not only that, but by treating them well and making that extra effort, you can make sure you’re the first one they think of next time they need something too, and keep them as a customer for years to come.

Conversion aversion is an easy rut to fall into. But it’s not hard to get over. Just make sure your customers are cared for, from the top of the funnel to the bottom, and you’ll be increasing your sales in no time.

Want more tips and insights from Cuppa SEO?

The post Do You Have an Aversion to Thinking About Conversion? appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Yet somehow, you still haven’t started actually blogging yet. What’s holding you back? There are a number of things that might be doing it. Here are some of the most common blocks that keep brands from blogging regularly, and how you can overcome them.

“How Will I Find the Time?”

Your brand’s marketing department has a thousand other tasks to perform at any given time. The team is stretched thin as it is. How will anyone manage to write and research three or four high quality, engaging blog posts every week on top of their regular duties?

There’s a very simple solution. If you don’t have anyone on staff available with both the time and the writing talent to maintain a good quality blog, you can simply outsource it. By hiring professional writers, your brand can produce high quality content, week after week, that will engage your audience and generate interest, while at the same time freeing your own team up to focus on the myriad other tasks on your plate.

“How Do I Come Up with Topics?”

This is another issue that can turn people off of blogging. They start out strong at first, creating three or four brand new blogs each week, each on a different topic of importance or concern to their audience.

But after a while, their ideas start to run out. Three or four times a week becomes once a week, becomes once or twice a month at most, simply because they don’t know what else to write about. Even if you’re outsourcing your blog, you’ll likely have to come up with many, if not most of the topics, yourself. So how do you keep things fresh, week after week?

Keep your ear to the ground. Search popular news sites for new stories about your industry. Set up Google alerts for the most popular keywords related to your brand, industry, and products, to be notified whenever someone else posts about them. Check LinkedIn and other sites to see what people in your field are talking about at the moment. All of these things are fodder for blog topics. The potential is limitless, if you just know where to look.

“What If Nobody Reads It?”

Maybe you maintained a blog for a while, but you couldn’t get anyone to take notice. With nobody reading it, it didn’t seem worth the time and resources to continue blogging.

Well, just writing the blog isn’t enough. You need to promote it. Post it to social media. Share it with friends and connections in your industry. Develop an e-mail list and send it out as part of your weekly newsletter.

Also remember that building up a following takes time. The readers won’t come overnight. But if you continue blogging consistently, and continue promoting your blog, then people will start to take notice, and you can build up a loyal readership that’s invested in you and your brand.

You can always find plenty of reasons not to blog, if that’s what you’re looking for. But in the end, you have to remember that there are many more reasons TO blog, and a lot of success to be had by creating content for your brand. But the only way to see that success is to get over your aversion and blog, blog, blog!

Want to Jumpstart Your Blogging?
Download Cuppa SEO’s complimentary Blogging 101 ebook for tons of tips and strategies!

The post How to Overcome Your Aversion to Blogging appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Here’s an example, I recently worked with a client whose clients were entirely B2B. Naturally, they expected the best time to post to all their social platforms was during normal business hours. Once we dug into their Facebook page analytics, we learned the largest volume of their audience tended to be online at 9:00 p.m. The organization was one with limited resources. Based on our new information, we were able to make a plan. If there was only time for one post in a day, it would be at 9:00 p.m. because that was when there was the most opportunity for organic reach.

Let’s Get Started!

I assume you’re all so fascinated by this story that you’re logging on to your business Facebook page right now. Are you there? Great! Let’s figure out when your audience is online.

At the top of the page, you’ll see an “Insights” button on the toolbar. This is where the magic happens. Once you click on “Insights,” you’ll be presented with an overwhelming amount of data. Don’t get stressed! We’re only here to look at one graph.

Along the left side of the page, you should see a long menu of options. Click on the button for “Posts” and be sure you have selected “When Your Fans Are Online” at the top.

This graph provides a holistic view of what times a day your audience is online. In this case, you’ll see the audience is online fairly consistently throughout the day. Next, you’ll want to mouse over each of the days of the week to learn about you audience habits for that day.

In this example, I’ve moused over Tuesday to see how the audience on that day might differ from the average. The graph tells me that 8:30 p.m. is when I have the most number of fans online. Now I know I should adjust my planning calendar to ensure that Tuesday’s posts publish at 8:30 p.m.

Make a Plan

Now that you’d learned how to check in on you audience’s activity, it’s important to keep checking. As your number of followers grows, your trends will change. Ideally, I’d recommend checking in each month before you make you planning calendar. If you tend to post on the fly, make sure you’re at least checking once a quarter.

Want more tips and insights from Cuppa SEO?

The post Knowing Your Audience Means Knowing When They’re on Social Media appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Once we’ve got these four components of our online marketing up and running, it’s time to begin working in the realm of social media.

Why Wait to Implement a Social Media Plan?

The reason social media is #5 on our online marketing to-do list is actually very simple:

You’ll want to use social to drive visitors to your website and blog — not to content written by somebody else.

In order to do this, you need to have rich relevant content on your website — while providing a good user experience and solid conversion. In addition to publishing social media posts that lead to products and services pages (which is sometimes a good idea), it’s your blog that will provide a wealth of fresh, relevant content to share on your social media channels.

Using social media this way helps increase traffic to your website and blog. But there are other perks. It also helps position you as  an expert and thought leader — and it can help increase the authority of your website as a whole, which means you’ll rank higher in natural search results.

As with your website and blog content, your social media content needs to be rich, relevant — and benefit driven. Remember, if you’re solving someone’s pain point they’re much more likely to click through to read more. If you’re telling them about your latest award — there’s a high probability they won’t care.

The Two Sides of Social Media

Just like a coin, there are two sides (or purposes) to social media:

1. To connect with people and develop relationships
2. To connect with Google and up your SEO value

Connecting with People
Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are for human to human interaction. They’re great for building relationships and brand awareness with actual people.

In each post, you’ll want to include some SEO strategies, like use of optimal keywords in content and imagery, to help get you found by clients and potential clients. But keep in mind that these channels don’t hold the lion’s share of SEO value. Let’s talk about which ones do …

Connecting with Google
Google+ and Google My Business hold about 80% of the SEO value when it comes to social media. Like it or not, this is where you need to be if you want to increase the authority of your website, your blog — and your Google My Business listing (which is the map/business listing you sometimes see in search results).

The good news is that you don’t need to write new content for Google+ and Google My Business. All you need to is publish the same content and imagery you’re using on your other social media platforms to gain some traction.

Looking to learn more about online marketing?
You can sign up for our complimentary Holistic Approach to Online Marketing webinar.

You can also check out other articles in this series:
– Understanding Online Marketing, Part 1: Your Website
– Understanding Online Marketing, Part 2: User Experience (UX)
– Understanding Online Marketing, Part 3, Conversion
– Understanding Online Marketing, Part 4, Blogging

The post Understanding Online Marketing, Part 5: Social Media appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

“You’re missing opportunities with your social media accounts.”

That message is rarely well-received, especially when I deliver it to colleagues and clients. Quite often, people tend to dismiss the idea that something as simple as Facebook or Twitter can be used incorrectly, or at least less than ideally, for professional purposes.

Yet many of them do it. Perhaps you do, too, with your business pages. The problem arises when search engine optimization (SEO) is left out of your social media strategy.

Well-written content with targeted keywords and shared links help you draw new customers to your website with SEO through tools such as Google. But we know search engines crawl more than your website for information on your business. They also index your social media accounts. Plus, your prospective customers are looking for you in search engines and social media. Can they find you in both places?

If you’re not convinced about implementing SEO in your social media, consider these three points:

Social media reinforces your online presence: The more you share strategically in online space with the goal of helping your customers, the more authority – and business – you develop. Put the same keywords you target in Google in your social media posts and on your profile pages. Then, maintain your social media accounts with links and content that reinforce your authority for general audiences and search engines alike.

Google has added your Facebook and Twitter feeds to its results pages: Memes of angry cats and pictures of puppies telling us how close it is to Friday are appropriate for personal social media pages. They might even help you tally a handful of likes and shares. However, your business is better off sharing links that lead your prospective customers back to your website for the sake of generating business. Be strategic so you can provide more than entertainment when prospective customers Google you.

Some of your prospective customers use social media platforms as search engines: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and more – all of them have search functions that help prospective customers find you and what you offer. Some will prefer searching for you in social media because a Facebook page, for example, provides clearer examples of what you can offer than a glance at your homepage does, especially if your website is difficult to navigate (if this is the case, Cuppa SEO can help). Lead customers deep into your website through social media posts for the sake of getting them closer to a buying decision.

So where do these points leave you? Regardless of how many followers you have, maintain your social media platforms regularly through SEO strategies. If you do, the links, blogs and stories that build your authority will provide you with more business.

Need help with SEO for your social media or website?
Feel free to contact Cuppa SEO to set up a complimentary consultation.

The post 3 Reasons to Use SEO in Your Social Media appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

You click the publish button, and your latest blog post is now live. It’s a pretty good one, containing an original image, a great title and many of best practices contained in Cuppa SEO’s Blogging 101 E-book.

If you’re like most people, the next logical step is to publish your new blog post on all of your social media channels, which is a good idea for sure.

But wait — don’t be so hasty to syndicate that blog post!

Why You Should Wait before Sharing Your Blog Post on Social Media

Most people don’t know this, but sharing your blog post on social media too fast can actually be bad for your blog and the website it’s attached to. This is only true if you’re publishing the entire blog post on a platform like LinkedIn’s “Publish a Post” feature, or something similar. Here’s why …

When you post new content to your blog, or your website for that matter, it can take Google days (sometimes a couple of weeks) to index the post or page. Essentially, indexing means that Google and other search engines have discovered your new content and now see it as part of your blog or website. In other words, it get’s a “received” stamp from the search engines.

With social media, it’s a different story.

When you publish the full blog post (along with a link back to your blog of course) on social media channels, the search engines index this pretty quickly. Since it’s social media, it’s more time sensitive (at least in theory), so the search engines go out of their way to make sure each shared posting on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and the like, are indexed fast.

How this Can Hurt Your Blog’s Authority

When Google indexes your social media posts before indexing your actual blog post, an odd thing can happen. The social media postings are perceived as original content, while the blog post is perceived as duplicate content.

When this happens, there’s a possibility that Google will give less credit (authority) to the blog post, which in turn can negatively affect the SEO value of the blog post in question — as well as the SEO value of your entire blog and website.

I’ve seen websites with active blogs being pinged for dozens or hundreds of pages that are being seen as “duplicate content,” even though they’ve broken no actual rules. Common sense would dictate that we publicize our efforts ASAP, but in reality we should be doing the exact opposite.

The Solution

The good news is that it’s pretty easy to get your social media efforts in line with supporting your blog and website. The simplest solution is to post snippets of a post, or write a completely new “mini-description” to engage with readers. As long as you’re not cutting and pasting your entire article into a social media platform, you should be OK.

If you are publicizing the entire article on social, begin sharing (syndicating) your blog posts about two weeks after you actually publish them. To do this, you can use a third party app like Hootsuite or Sendible to schedule your postings, or if you prefer to post them all yourself just make a note on your social media calendar as to when you can share each new blog post.

In the meantime, you don’t want your social media communications to disappear, right?

That’s why I suggest going back to some of your older blog posts and sharing one specific tidbit from each of them on your social platforms — again, providing a link to the entire post. It’s OK to recycle content multiple times, as long as it’s still relevant and helpful. You might even want to start a discussion around a blog post topic to engage with your audience!

Thank you for visiting Cuppa SEO. If you found this blog post on social media, I guess that means it’s been at least 2-weeks since I published it …

The post The Best Time to Share Your Blog Posts on Social Media (Syndication) appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

In today’s golden age of online marketing, the answer to this question would certainly be yes.

Although a better question would be HOW should the Ghostbusters use social media, and WHO should be creating the content?

In order to know how to proceed, the Ghostbusters would have to answer the same questions as any other business, like:

• What social media channels are our customers and potential customers using?
• What are their pain points?
• What benefits of our product or service do they care about the most?
• What kind of content will resonate with them? Remember, we want engagement, not a one-way conversation.

And before any social media campaign begins, or any marketing collateral is created for that matter, another important question must be answered:

What does the voice of our brand sound like?

Voice is more than tone, it’s the embodiment of your company’s personality.

Imagine for a moment, that the Ghostbusters were sitting around the dinner table in the firehouse eating cold Chinese food. They’re debating as to who should handle their Facebook page. You’ve got four distinct personalities, all of which will appeal to a niche of customers …

RAY: the playful, child-like geek that still gets excited about the intersection of technology and the paranormal.

PETER: the sharp-tonged, quick-witted charmer who essentially has no filter.

WINSTON: the good-hearted guy who appeals to the non-geek crowd, he’s the every-man that fell into a job that happened to include wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.

EGON: my personal favorite, Egon will most likely want to discuss his fungus and mold-spore collection, while delivering dead-pan humor with a sly smile.

Depending on their audience, any of these personalities could be a winner. My initial feeling is that all four of them should be working on their social media as a team, testing their efforts and seeing what’s gaining the most traction and engagement. If nothing else, there would be variety and richness to their campaigns that none of the four could accomplish themselves.

On the other hand, if 90% of their customer base are interested in mold spores, then maybe the rest of the team should just stick to catching ghosts.

In the end, this post isn’t meant to offer one clear answer about your social media. It’s meant to make you think about your own business, how you’re currently handling your social media efforts, and how a shift in the way you communicate just may help you engage with more people.

The post Would the Ghostbusters Need Social Media? appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

… It may resemble you, and it may sound like you. But in the end, your social media is only a very thin sliver of who you actually are. The real you is far more robust and interesting.

The truth is that social media was never meant to be  a replacement for live, in-person handshaking and networking. Instead it’s a complementary tactic, a supportive endeavor — at least on a local level.

Don’t get me wrong, you can attract a good amount of business from well-conceived social media efforts — especially when you’re sharing relevant info, or having a dialog on the social media channels where your customers spend their time. But if you’re a company that does business locally, at least to some extent, you can still get a fair share of clients from in-person networking. Of course, you’ve got to know which groups to network in, which may take some trial and error.

Avoiding the Hungry Wolf Syndrome

Have you ever been to a networking event where you’ve seen someone suffering from “hungry wolf syndrome?” Have you ever suffered from it yourself?

Classic signs are a tad of wildness in the eyes, a bit of a snarl — even some drooling might be seen — where someone is so desperate to make a sale or land a customer that they come off looking like a hungry wolf who’s only concern is finding his next meal. Avoid this syndrome at all costs, because people will see you coming from a mile away!

You’re much better off going to a networking event with one simple goal in mind:

Develop relationships.

This is the same philosophy that goes into the creation of a successful blog, website, social media or email campaign. Some of the relationships you develop will lead to learnings, some to friendships, some to customers. When your intention is to develop relationships, you can be your authentic self, not your “selling self.” And if you’re developing healthy relationships, when someone you know needs a service or product you provide, there’s a very good chance they’ll come to you. You might even get a recommendation or two.

The post Your Social Media is Not You … appeared first on Cuppa SEO.