Missi FreimarkWhen people think of search engine optimization (SEO), they often think about ensuring that their website or their key content words will rank well. While this is important, one often overlooked way to optimize your company’s ranking on search engines is through your firm’s social media profiles.
As social media activity continues to grow, social media engagement is even more critical to a well-rounded marketing strategy. Which is why it’s important to make your social media profiles part of your overall keyword search strategy. It doesn’t need to take priority, but it does have its place—consider it a step 3.
Here’s a look at how to best optimize the most important social media sites for professional services firms:
Optimizing Your LinkedIn Company Page
LinkedIn remains one of the fastest growing social media sites. With over 380 million users, it’s an important place to have a presence. So if you only pick one profile to optimize, make it LinkedIn.
To optimize your LinkedIn profile for Google, you’ll want to know how Google searches for LinkedIn information. Specifically, Google pulls search results based on the company name and description. Therefore, it’s important to utilize the company description area with keyword-rich words that relate to your services.
Additionally, don’t forget that we’ve found that buyers use social media to check out your firm prior to engaging with you. This means that they will likely come across your firm’s LinkedIn company page if they are simply searching for your company name.
Optimizing Your Twitter Company Page
Twitter is another rising star in the world of social media for professional services firms and an important one, we think, for you to maintain an active presence on.
When it comes to search optimization though, Google pulls Twitter accounts differently than LinkedIn, so you’ll need a different strategy here. What we’ve found is that for Twitter your account activity matters.
Google uses the company name, number of followers, number of tweets, and one of your recent tweets to rank your profile. So if you think tweets don’t mean anything, think again! The number of tweets you send could have an impact on you getting found in search results (or not!).
In terms of keyword optimization (beyond making sure you’re tweeting), profiles with keywords in the name or username typically rank higher in Google and Twitter searches. So in addition to tweeting regularly, make sure you’ve done your best to make your name and username incorporate important keywords.
One other thing to note – Twitter search results show up more by the Twitter handle versus what a particular company does. For example, searching “stores on Twitter” brings up a variety of stores, not necessarily big name stores like Target, Nordstrom, etc.
Optimizing Other Social Pages
For professional services firms, focusing your keyword optimization strategies on LinkedIn and Twitter will most likely have the biggest bang for your buck and is where most of your efforts should go. However, you may want to consider optimizing other accounts such as Google+, Facebook, or Pinterest, particularly if your firm uses one of these social media sites to frequently engage with its clients.
As you’ve seen, both Google and the social media sites themselves tend to pull information differently for each type of social media profile. So make sure you understand how Google will look for your information for whatever social media site you choose to optimize your profile on. Then, make adjustments to your profile as necessary.
The bottom line is that anything you can do to help your firm stand out from the crowd is a good thing. Optimizing your profiles is one way to make it easier for prospective clients to find you, and once you know how the search engines will look for your company, it only takes a few tweaks to help you rank higher. However, it’s not a one and done thing. As services change or your company grows, make sure you treat keyword research as an ongoing effort.
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