Back in the day, SEO (search engine optimisation) was all about stuffing your web pages with keywords so that your site would pop up when potential customers searched for your products or services online. Back then, SEO and social media were completely different disciplines. You had to be doing one or the other, but not necessarily both.

These days, SEO and social media are deeply interwoven.

SEO is now about much more than just stuffing your site with keywords. Back in the day, SEO=search engine optimisation. These days, SEO can encompass elements such as content marketing, social media marketing, and link building. When you have a look at the 2018 SEO Trends report from Google, you’ll see that about 60% of all SEO activity is focused on content marketing (which includes blogging, vlogging, and podcasting). And guess what? Social media is also dominating the rankings.

Why Should You Care About SEO, Social Media And Agency?

If you’re reading this, I assume that you already know the importance of SEO. After all, you’re here, reading this article. But to reiterate, SEO is all about getting your website to appear at the top of a search engine’s results when someone types in a keyphrase (usually a word or phrase that is related to your business).

Nowadays, SEO is more relevant than ever. Consider the following stats from the SEO case study by HubSpot.

• 75% of millennials use Google to find products and services they’re looking for.
• 90% of respondents would rather pay more for brands they trust.
• 88% of consumers have bought a product or service after watching online reviews.
• 65% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust brand logos.
• 80% of consumers trust reviews as much as they trust traditional advertising.
• 62% of people search for a product or service online before buying it in-store.

What these stats show you is that people are researching products and services online before they buy them. In other words, SEO is crucial if you want your products or services to be found.

In a nutshell, SEO helps businesses to grow by getting their products and services in front of the right audience at the right time. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an e-commerce store, a restaurant, a brand, or a product manager; if you want to see your organisation grow, you need to care about SEO.

SEO, Social Media And Agency Go Hand In Hand

Let’s look at how SEO, social media and agency fit together.

You may be familiar with the expression ‘the more you know, the more you understand’, and this is especially relevant when discussing the relationship between SEO, social media and agency. In other words, the more you know about SEO, the more you’ll understand about social media and vice versa. This is because SEO and social media are two sides of the same coin. In other words, if you understand SEO, you’ll understand social media. And vice versa.

So how do SEO and social media fit together? Glad you asked. Here are the top six ways SEO, social media and agency work hand in hand.

SEO Leads To Social Media

You don’t need a crystal ball to see where this is going. Google, the world’s biggest search engine, is responsible for over half of all internet searches. Naturally, almost all of this comes from people who want to find products and services online.

What’s interesting is that while 75% of millennials use Google to find products they’re looking for, 66% say they prefer to use social media to discover new things. So while SEO puts your product in front of the right audience at the right time, your social media efforts will help you to engage with this audience and encourage them to act.

SEO Improves Your Agency

Having a strong online presence through a well-optimised website is an excellent start to developing credibility as an agency. But why stop there?

Having a social media presence, whether it’s on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter, is also crucial if you want to build a credible brand. Your followers, subscribers, and fans (or ‘fans’ as Twitter likes to call them these days) will consider your tweets, status updates, and Instagram photos when deciding whether or not to work with you.

Optimising your website for SEO will undoubtedly help you to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. However, you should consider seeking external help if you’re not equipped to deal with the increasing amount of content that your website will inevitably have to host.

SEO Boosts Your Connections

Did you know that LinkedIn is a business-focused social media platform that allows you to connect with over 360 million professionals worldwide?

What’s more is that LinkedIn is one of the most heavily used social media platforms among Gen Z. According to HubSpot, over 75% of millennials and Gen Z use LinkedIn. This is partly because of the platform’s focus on industry and ability to connect with peers.

Having a strong presence on LinkedIn is a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. Furthermore, it can also help you to network and make connections with thought leaders, decision makers, and other authoritative individuals in your chosen field. This, in turn, can help you to gain credibility and support as an agency.

SEO Increases Engagement

Remember when we were talking about millennials and how they prefer to use social media to discover new things? Well, this preference extends to businesses too. According to HubSpot, consumers want to be able to engage with brands they support and trust. With this in mind, it’s important that you establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, or at least show that you’re doing your research.

By establishing yourself as an expert in your industry, you can gain enough trust from your audience to be able to engage with them. And what’s better is that you don’t necessarily need to have all the answers. Your audience will appreciate your honesty and transparency.

SEO Builds Your Brand

We’ve been conditioned to think that a brand is something that you buy. And while this is still generally true, a brand is so much more than this. A brand is an extension of your expertise, the values you stand for, and the things you promise to deliver. In simpler terms, a brand is what your customers ‘experience’ when interacting with your products or services.

Branding is all about establishing a visual identity that customers can associate with your company. In addition to this, customers should be able to feel confident that what they’re purchasing is something that will give them value. In other words, if you want to build a brand, start by seeking the advice of an experienced brand consultant.

In conclusion, if you want your products or services to be found, you need to care about SEO. Furthermore, you should seek out social media platforms that can help you to establish your expertise and grow your brand. Ultimately, seeking the advice of a brand consultant is the best way to ensure that your efforts in this area are both effective and efficient. Good luck out there.