Follows, Likes and Shares are social media signal which measurements the effectiveness of a piece of content or a marketing plan has on social media networks.
Whether you like it or not, social media users do consider these numbers when deciding to follow, like, or share your content.
These social signals (follow, like, and share) help to popularize a piece of content on a website or blog and definitely improve brand awareness.
However, the question of how much follows, likes,and shares directly affect SEO rankings remains unclear, until now.
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Today, a few SEO experts consider spending time and resources promoting content to improve social media power is a waste of time.
Google even emphasizes that social signal is not a direct SEO ranking factor.
Should you stop promoting content on social media and focus solely on creating SEO content?
Well, not so fast! When the average person spends about two hours per day on social media, promoting content on social media platforms is still an essential option to build your online business, brand, blog or website.
Contrary to popular SEO belief, many studies have found a positive correlation between the number of follows, likes, and shares with search engine rankings.
The higher a content ranked in search results, the more social engagements that content or web page has compared to those further down.
Then, who do you follow when it comes to social media and SEO? Google or SEO studies.
The answer is both.
Google simply states that social signals are not “direct factors” on ranking.
It never says that follow, like, and share have no relationship with ranking.
And then there’s one more thing, Bing! This search engine handles about 24% of the US search queries each year. It considers social follows, likes, and shares A DIRECT RANKING FACTOR in its algorithm.
If you want to rank and improve organic traffic for Bing, then you need to optimize your social follows likes shares.
After all, social media power does influence organic search traffic on Bing and Yahoo.
Social Engagements – A Vital Part of Any Content
Establishing a social media presence requires a big effort and hard work.
Simply producing and posting content on social media platforms will not make you a social media powerhouse or pushing your brand to the top.
Content without engagement will get lost in the ocean of Newsfeed. But, engaging content will rise to the top and reach millions.
Social media power is all about engagement with other people not just about posting content.
Social media engagement simply means the number of follows, likes, shares, and comments that your social media fans interact with your content.
More users interaction makes a piece of content more popular which in turn expand its reach and more people see the post.
If you are able to get more fans to follow, like, and share your message, this message will reach a wider audience on social media or even goes viral. This is the power of social engagement.
While likes and shares measure the popularity of a piece of content on social media networks,
Follows offer higher value as this indicates users desire to see more of your works.
Therefore, increasing the number of followers will improve your social media power.
Follower count is an important asset that adds value to your social media profile and business. This number determines your social media influence status, your success as a brand, your social reach, and your ability to command a lucrative endorsement from businesses.
Whether you like it or not, follower count does matter when it comes to measuring your social media success.
OK then, what is this have to do with SEO and ranking result?
The answer will surprise you.
If you abandon your social media effort because Google has told you that social media engagement is not a direct ranking factor, then I suggest you read what I am about to share with you.
Follow, like, and share may not be a direct ranking factor, but indirectly, it can intensify the ranking factors that Google does consider, that is BACKLINK.
Posts are shared for many reasons.
With more shares, your content visibility increase.
As more people interact with your content, many are likely using it and link to it as a reference or proof. These links are a tremendously important factor for SEO ranking.
If shares are an important factor for SEO, then why should you care about like and follow?
The answer is social engagement.
Users share content only if they have some interaction with it. The least engagement a user must have is a LIKE.
A like is an indication of users’ approval and acceptance of your content.
This call “Social Proofing.” No one will engage with a post that has zero like.
But, you cannot get a like unless you have followers.
The first people to interact with your content or post are your followers.
Followers are your social fans. If you have an active group of followers, then your likes and shares will take off and push your content to reach more users.
As more users interact with your content, more likes and follows, more shares and links, and this social engagement process will improve your content SEO ranking.
I have shown you the indirect effect of follows, likes, and shares on SEO.
But then, how does one generate this social engagement when all new posts start with zero follow, like, and share?
Social media gurus’ advice people improving their social media engagement by,
“… Completing the social media profile, then share this profile through email, blog, or on other social networks inviting friends, families, and colleagues to follow you.”
But, after this, then what?
Then, they tell you to produce and post more content.
While content sound like a great way to attract new followers, but if your friends, family, and colleagues do not actively engage with your content, then your engagement rate will be lower.
As discussed above, with a low number of likes and shares, your content reaches nobody.
So, what can you do?
Many social media influencers and I use social media exchange sites to improve our social media engagement.
Listen, I am not telling you to purchase thousands of followers like Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Sean Combs, Pepsi, Mercedes-Benz, and even President Obama. Each of these entities has been caught red-handed for having fake or inactive followers.
But, using social media exchange sites such as Linkcollider and FollowLike.net correctly can be a great tool to improve your social media engagement.
Only use social media exchange sites to boost the number of follows, likes, and share on a piece of content, not to replace the content.
An account with thousands of followers without content look very suspicious. This is how many people get caught for using fake followers.
Here’s how I use social media exchange:
- I create a compelling and attractive article to post on Facebook.
- I then submit the same article on Linkcollider and FollowLike.net to request for engagement: Likes and Shares.
- Likes and Shares help to push my content across the social media platform and reach a wider audience.
- As more people see and interact with my content, they follow me.
As you can see, I never use social media exchange to gain followers.
You don’t want fake followers because they add no value to your social media profile. They are not active users.
On the other hand, adding more likes and shares to your content will expand its reach and improve your SEO ranking as I have discussed above.
This is how I get more follows, likes, and share for my content.
As a writer, I use social media networks to make a living online.
The value of your social media account is not just about followers. It’s all about social engagement.
If you know how to engage with users on social media platforms, you can command millions of dollars online in the form of endorsements.
Whether you like it or not, follow like share are the social media power that every user goes after.
Do you have any tips on getting more follows, likes, and shares?
