How to Benefit from SEO and Facebook

For many people, social media is simply for getting in touch with friends, finding entertainment, and connecting with other Web users from all over the world.

But for some individuals and organisations, it means much more. It can serve as a platform for promoting their products or services, airing their advocacies, or sharing their interests.

If you are a business owner, you can benefit greatly from it. And if you are wondering how, check out these statistics.

• Around 81% of small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders use it for getting in front their target market and generating leads.
• Approximately 44% of SME decision makers use it too.

Based on this data, you can see that plenty of entrepreneurs are already jumping into the bandwagon. Surely, you do not want to be behind the competition; therefore, get into it too. When you do, do not just choose any channel, go for one that leads the industry.

And which one is it?

With over 901 million active users as of April 2012 and roughly 86% of SME decision makers (who are using social media) signing up on it, Facebook is certainly a great platform.

As an entrepreneur, you have to remember two key pointers, which are the following:

1) Create a fan page rather than a profile page

This is important because the latter is mostly for personal use, while the former is specifically for promotional purpose. Additionally, you can gather “fans” instead of “friends”. And, most importantly, you can take advantage of unique features such as multiple page administration and Insights.

2) Apply SEO

As of late, search engine optimization and social media has become more and more interwoven, what with Google pushing the integration of social and search results. This is due to the Web giant’s intent to include personal queries in the SERPs.

So now, you can expect to see content that many social network users favour together with algorithm-ranked query results.

Given this insight, you can see the great importance of combining SEO and Facebook strategies. With that said, check out the following ideas and find out you can make the most of your fan page.

Facebook Optimisation Tips

• Create a name for your page—and stick to it

Do you know what type of handle works best? It can be your business or brand name, something that the consumers can easily recognise. To drive home this point, let us have a look at what the major brands are using.

 

 

This is an essential component of your page since it appears under your cover photo and right beside your profile picture.

Naturally, using your trade name must not involve stuffing keywords because this is a major no-no. Furthermore, avoid using a category (e.g. spa service, holiday accommodation, food recipes, etc.) as your fan page name.

• Personalise your URL

If you do not customise your Facebook link, it looks like this – www.facebook.com/pages/username/1499495845. But once you have around 25 fans or more, you can create a personal URL.

Now, you have to know that while this gives you the opportunity to incorporate keywords for optimization purposes, it is best if you avoid such a strategy. What you can do is use your company name to make it easy for the users to remember.

• Have plenty to say in the ‘About’ section

This may seem like an impossible feat given that the social network gives you just 255 characters to say something about yourself. To top it off, it only shows 78 characters at the sidebar of your page, prompting the visitors to click on “More” to check out the rest of your bio.

Given that, you need to choose and combine words wisely because the short description is going to provide information about your business and offers. Therefore, come up with something clever, unique, and catchy to attract the attention of the users and entice them to have a further look.

And, most importantly, make the first 78 characters count by adding your website or blog URL. This way, you can say plenty of things about your company without running out of space.

• Fill out all the given fields

As you are doing so, make sure that you do not leave certain boxes blank. Additionally, take time to provide complete information such as your services or products, company location, and contact details. This is the time, when you can incorporate niche-relevant keywords.

• Attach a link and say something about it

This publisher tool uses the title, body, and image from a page on your website and posts it to your News Feed. It even suggests a thumbnail and URL, which the viewers can click.

When it comes to this aspect, a box will pop up asking you to “say something” about the link. Think of it as a means of optimising your status post. With that said, begin your description with relevant terms since the first 18 characters appear as title on your fans’ feeds.

• Put captions and descriptions for uploaded images

While doing this, add relevant keywords to help the pictures rank in search results, especially for related images.

• Create notes

According to plenty of SEO experts, you need to limit backlink generation through your social pages. But what if you want to provide your audience with lengthy information or updates, what other strategy can you use?

This is when the “Notes” feature comes in handy. Through it, you can come up with longer and more detailed posts without directing the users to other portals or Web locations.

Final Note

So there you have basic optimisation tips for your Facebook fan page. You can put these ideas to good use and add your own strategies to help you come up with satisfactory results.

As conclusion to our topic, you have to know that integrating your social activities with SEO strategies does not guarantee a top rank in SERPs. Despite this, there is no harm in combining the two.

With that said, experiment on different techniques to find out which ones work best for your page. Then, you can add or eliminate certain ideas for improvement.