Content marketing is revolutionizing the world of search engine optimization, but it can’t shift the paradigm alone. Content marketing needs to be well integrated into social media to become truly effective; the entire basis of content marketing is to create sharable, compelling, valuable and exciting content that consumers want to talk to each other about. Content marketing without social media integration is a lot like a bike without wheels: you can tell what it is, but it’s not going to get you anywhere.
Understanding The Value Of Social Media When Sharing Content
Your exposure on social media platforms affects your content marketing in a few: your initial search engine rankings, your perceived reputation and your ability to quickly distribute information. Search engine rankings now directly integrate social media accounts. As an example, Google will return a picture of the writer next to an article if it is properly synced with their Google+ account, and this writer picture encourages many individuals to click on the article.
Furthermore, consumers that are reading content are more likely to trust it and feel as though it’s valuable if they can see that the distributor has a solid social media presence, such as by seeing that the page has been “liked” on Facebook many times. Finally, social media accounts are also an excellent way to distribute information quickly.
Using Social Media For Analytic Data
Not only can social media platforms offer additional exposure, but they can also help by giving you valuable analytic data. With social media, you can track how popular your content is and whether it is reaching the demographic that you were targeting. While social media is only one part of the puzzle, it’s still a fairly sizable component. You can also use your social media content to reach out to your followers directly and engage them in discussion about the topic at hand.
Integrating Social Media Into Content Marketing
Above all else, content marketing needs to be easy to share on all major social media venues. Users should be able to click a button and share your content on any site that they desire; this is what increases exposure and can even cause content to go viral. Content that is posted should always be shared on the company’s social media platforms and the company should do its best to maintain large social media accounts. Other ways to integrate social media into content marketing include allowing comments from various social media platforms and linking to your social media accounts whenever applicable.
For more information regarding the role of social media in content marketing, contact us at EXTEND GROUP today.
