I’m going to answer a question from a client: “Why won’t my social media accounts rank for my name?” This answer also applies to “why won’t my social media accounts rank for my brand name?”
If your social media accounts do not show up on the first page when you search your name or your brand name, this blog will help you understand why, and what you can do about it.
Why Is It Important For Our Social Media Accounts To Show Up For Our Names And Our Brand Names?
If your social media account shows up in search results, you are protected from a reputation management standpoint. For example, if your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are ranking, that’s 30% of the first page dedicated to just social media accounts.
When people search your name, or people search your brand name, they are less likely to click anything negative because your social media accounts occupy a few of those top positions.
The 3 Things We Do To Get Your Social Media Accounts To Rank
1. Have your social media set up properly. That means getting your name and your brand name into the title, into the handle, and into the description so that Google knows what your social media account is about. I get asked what should my accounts rank for? They should rank for your name or your brand name, so use your names as much as possible.
2. Increasing engagement. If you have a million followers and nobody engages, there is a problem. You’ve probably paid for those followers at some point. They are unlikely real people, because real people engage with content, even if it is a small percentage.
Now, if you have a hundred followers and your post gets three comments and a like, that’s pretty normal. 4% or 10% engagement — that’s decent. But a million followers and five retweets or five likes? There’s something wrong with that. You’ve got to get real people following you and interacting with your content. That is absolutely crucial.
3. Generate real search traffic. This is the most important, but also the most difficult task. What I mean by real search traffic is people going to Google, typing your name or your brand name, seeing your social media accounts and clicking on them. Google tracks where the searcher is from, what their IP address is, what they search for, what they’ve searched for in the past and what they click on. Google knows exactly what you’re clicking, where you’re clicking it, when you’re clicking it, and they know how long you stay on most pages.
For example, if you see an increasing amount of people starting to click and visit your Facebook page, that’s going to tell Google that a lot of people like your Facebook page. If Google sees there’s a lot of search volume, but nobody clicks on your Facebook page, that’s also an indicator to Google. If a lot of people click, theoretically Google will want to move your Facebook page up in the search results. If a lot of people search but do not click, that would be a good reason to move it down in the search results.
Generating Real Search Volume
If your social media account is not already ranking on the first page, it’s hard to generate real search volume because nobody is going to go to page three, find your LinkedIn profile and then click on it. In this scenario, you have two options.
The first is that you can outsource gaining clicks. At DiamondLinks, we work with someone who has people who essentially search and click. For example, they may search “your name + LinkedIn” or “your name + Twitter”, find your account, and click on it. That tells Google that real people are finding your social media accounts and are interested in them.
The other way, which is a far superior method, is to generate real natural search volume. That’s a little tricky, but by far the best marketing method. At DiamondLinks we establish our clients as leaders in their industry through a process called Thought Leadership. Thought Leadership is simply being a known expert in your industry.
If you are a marketing agency, and somebody comes to you and requests a rockstar pay-per-click vendor, and you couldn’t pick yourself, who would you recommend? That is a Thought Leader in your industry.
For you to become the Thought Leader, you need to be that person that other people want to recommend. You have to establish your expertise. When you start to establish expertise, people will search for you because they’ve seen the videos you’ve put out, the articles that you’ve written and the webinars that you’ve been on. They’ve read, they’ve watched, they’ve listened to you, and now they’re going to try to search for your name. When they search for your name, they’re also going to search for your social media.
Thought Leadership is a way to generate real followers, real engagement, as well as real search and click traffic. It is by far the best way to elevate your social media accounts in the search results.
These are our tips for elevating your social media accounts in the search results.
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