11/10/2011 // Market Harborough, Leics, UK // BenLeuty // Ben Leuty
Google and other such search engines are continuously establishing new means of measuring a site’s influence, relevance and therefore search ranking, with social media activity being pin-pointed as a relevant indicator of growing importance. However, businesses running social media campaigns need to be careful how they incorporate SEO activity as the inclusion of obvious SEO tactics could damage a brand’s following, fan engagement and EdgeRank score, warns Public Relations agency, Punch Communications.
Social media campaigns provide businesses with an extremely versatile and easy means of engaging with existing and potential customers. They allow businesses to portray a personality, update fans on the latest industry and company news and, most importantly, allow fans feel like they have an almost one-on-one rapport with the brand.
This rapport, however, is often fragile and easily broken. Once a brand starts to act ‘out of character’, such as posting additional and often out of place links for obvious SEO purposes, the ‘fan’ will more often than not wil stop engaging and may leave the page altogether.
Whilst social media links can have an effect on search engine results, brands should aim to mobilise their communities to share links, rather than posting multiple links themselves, in order to see benefit through both engagement and search.
Ben Leuty, account manager at PR Company, Punch Communications, commented: “PR and SEO agencies alike need to be aware of the cross-over between social media and SEO campaigns, yet allow them to primarily operate independently of each other to draw the best overall results. There’s a danger that over using social media platforms as a means of increasing SEO rankings will cause permanent damage a brands social media status and ability to attract and therefore engage with fans – obstructing its original purpose.
“SEO is often a company’s primary means of lead generation so its importance is unquestionable, but social media also serves a very worthwhile purpose. I would intermittently include links in social media campaigns but only as a means of offering a small complement to a search campaign and certainly wouldn’t risk sacrificing one for the other – it’s all about planning and finding that happy medium.”
For more information about Punch Communications and its PR, SEO and social media services, please visit www.punchcomms.com
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