How I Use Social Media to Earn Links

Why the Majority of People I Know Use Social Media

In my opinion, most of my friends and family get on Facebook, Instagram, or some other social network to waste time. What they do in those networks seems to have no value. They post pictures of what they had for breakfast. They share videos of their kids burping. They spend so much time doing what seems to be nothing.

But in the mind of the marketer, what a gold mine that is!

How to Cater to "Nothingness"

Consumers like to take in content or media that bring back memories, make them laugh, make them cry, or make them think. If you can penetrate one of those emotions, you've earned a fan; someone who could potentially come back and like, or better yet, share everything you post to everyone they know.

Let's Look at the Real Estate Industry as an Example

I've gotten to know the real estate marketplace pretty well in terms of what consumers enjoy interacting with via social networking. It wasn't easy to find sweet spots, and there's never a 100% success rate, but here are a few ideas I've used that have definitely boosted brand awareness, traffic, and search engine authority as well:

• Post video walkthroughs of homes on the market to YouTube. In turn, share links to those videos on your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages.
• Advertise your social presence by including links to your most active pages on business cards, email blasts, and banner ads. Make it a prominent message on your website that you can closely interact with customers and answer their questions straight from these social pages.
• Write a series of articles on a popular topic that relates to the audience of a particular social network. For example, write a series about tips on interior design with each article focusing on a particular room. Include bright, high quality photos throughout each article, and then post those photos with links to your articles on Pinterest (which is almost 90% women). Include hashtags like #interiordesign and #designtips.
• Post information about your local area that sparks conversation and is easily sharable; maybe a restaurant review with a photo of an great meal you had, your favorite hiking trail with a photo of you under a waterfall, or a great personal experience you had with your child's school. The important thing is to be personal and conversational.
• Be creative. Make a video series of what to look for when buying a home. In the videos, take the viewer around the interior and exterior of a home to show them certain areas to check before signing anything.

So many of our Utah SEO clients have seen the true value of social media by making the best out of what appears to be nothing. It's a testament that giving people what they want where and how they want it works. It's like giving candy to a baby.