User engagement is one of the greatest metrics to measure ranking-movement.
While Google has denied user engagement as a SERP-changer, independent experiments like the ones done by Rand Fishkin on Twitter and many, many more have confirmed. User engagement (including when directed from off-site social) has HUGE impacts on your rankings.
Social media is a giant pool of people. It is a great way to access engaged users who can improve your rankings. It can connect you with people that like your stuff, and if your audience does not have an online presence, it’s one of the few places they will be.
1. Access to Engaged Users.
Engaged users are a gold mine for traffic gains and raising your site’s rankings in the SERPs.
Those engaged users will click through, explore, and in an ideal situation, eventually purchase your goods. Them clicking through will add to your rankings. That means that social assists you in accessing the huge amount of organic traffic that goes through Google.
Engaged users are the ideal users on your site. They are users who care about what’s there.
To ignore the enormous potential on social media is to ignore a giant group of potentially engaged users (which is just a silly thing to do).
You can attract them in droves (and help your SERP-results) when your wonderful, engaging content is correctly
2. Improved rankings.
The best reason to access user engagement on social media is because engaged users funneled onto your site is a SERP super-charger.
The click-through rate, bounce rate, and the volume of users all matter to your SERP rankings. Tapping into the enormous number of people on social media and turning them into engaged users helps your site show up higher.
That means way more traffic, and an ever-green influx of users who like your site.
3. Engaged Users Who Might Not Be Online.
The best part of getting traffic through social media is that it cannot only tap into people who like and read about your products, but it helps gain traffic from non-internet consumers.
If your ideal audience is poor, elderly, or just doesn’t Google what your selling, social media is the fastest way to reach them and improve your rankings.
Using user engagement from social media is a really smart way to access engaged users who are typically not heavy internet consumers (who won’t respond to guest posts, or resource pages).
Social is smart SEO.
It accesses a larger pool of engaged users, and if done well, can target the ideal on-site user. It’s amazing for the SERP changes that can come from engaged users and because it’s a great way to access users who aren’t Googling your product all the time, but totally need it.
If you’re on site is sharp, and your content is great, consider branching out into some smart social and get your site the attention it deserves.
How To Do This Magical Task
Everyone is on social, but getting noticed and connecting with your consumer base can seem impossible.
You’ve probably tried paying for a few Facebook ads or creatively using hashtags, but until you really connect with your consumer base, you won’t see the results you’re looking for. One super-star of social to look at as an example is the way Denny’s connecting with their late-night crowd on Tumblr.
They started with stellar content that was easily shareable on mobile devices and subsidiary social medias (Tumblr feeds Pinterest). That gave their posts a huge amount of traffic.
While you may not be trying to connect with the alt. crowd at two a.m., their methods are still reusable.
Creating shareable content that your users want to connect with that can be shared on a variety of platforms is important.
For your blog, think something like an infographic with a link back to your own site that can be embedded elsewhere. That’s a really useful, shareable image that contains a ton of information. You can also use that infographic in your own guest posting on other niche sites, and use it in a variety of marketing platforms.
Smart social is about finding your users and addressing them in a relatable way. Hashtags, @, and tagging will only get you so far if your content isn’t mobile friendly or relatable. There are huge benefits to connecting with the giant pool of users on social. If you’re interested in connecting with more engaged traffic online, you should definitely be trying out some social.
About The Author
This is a guest post by Connor Douglas, an experienced entrepreneur who currently operates Rocket Updates. He enjoys writing about his experiences in all facets of branding, marketing and social media.
Stock Photo from ArthurStock @ Shutterstock
