Brands are well aware of the necessity of social media platforms as a way to boost brand awareness and engage with their consumer community, but how do Twitter and Facebook interactions boost SEO and web traffic? Well, for the same reasons you would trust a personal reference from a friend or colleague versus Google’s top results in a key word search. Social media influencers are essentially a third-party endorsements from a reputable professional on social media will often return higher quality consumers over paying an arm and a leg for decent SEO.
Let’s not get it twisted, SEO is still a vital aspect of garnering web traffic, but it’s not the only player in the game. A good influencer relations strategy extends a targeted approach to reach consumers and the media alike, increasing awareness and engagement of the brand among the target audience. A cohesive content management plan should utilize data from social platforms and web analytics for constant content optimization to increase SEO efforts.
Skift recently highlighted how SEO prowess can be boosted by blogger influence. The Expedia Viewfinder blog is a collection of well-known travel bloggers who distribute their worldly knowledge across social media platforms on behalf of Expedia. This handful of influencers also serves as Expedia’s brand ambassadors in various social media and advertising campaigns, on the Viewfinder blog itself, and through their own blogs.
Influencer relationships alone won’t sustain impressive web traffic without first implementing quality SEO practices, but these social media personalities are sometimes key in acquiring the ‘right’ kind of site visitors: ones who will buy the product or book the trip.