By Bob Speyer, Web Success Team

All businesses are looking for that competitive edge. Companies are turning more and more to social media as another online marketing channel to target and reach customers. In their haste to develop profiles, make connections and build relationships, one significant ingredient is often overlooked — keyword use in social media.

Use the “Right” Ingredients

You can’t build an effective website or online campaign without the proper use of keywords. They help with your search engine ranking on Google and can drive considerable traffic to your website. First you want to get to know your target market for your products and services. Find words or phrases that best link to your business and what it offers. Usually it is better to use longer keyword phrases of two to four words that are specific to your business. It is critical to know how people are searching you. Ask friends and colleagues how they view your business and what terms they would use to search.

Another great tip for keywords is to make them local. If your business is geographically specific, you might want to use location in your keyword phrases. For example a health food store in Southern California might want to use a keyword like “Southern California organic health food store.”

Socialize Your Keywords

Once you have a set of performing keywords, you should utilize them in your social media network. Here are a few strategic placements of your keywords to boost traffic:

1. Linkedin: Pepper the keywords into your Job Title, Profile and Summary sections of Linkedin. Multiple use of the same keywords is actually an advantage; whereas on a website page it may not be advisable. Google will pick up the repeated keywords.

2. Facebook: Place your multiple keywords throughout your Fan Page, About Me, and Likes and Interests section; your Introduction; Vanity URL and in your Postings.

3. Twitter: Keywords should be placed in your Bio, your Twitter Handler (your name) and of course, your Postings.

4. Blogs: Every article you write should always have keywords and links back to your website; they should be in your tags and article titles.

5. Stumble and Digg: Other social media sharing sites should be populated with your keywords.

6. Website: Within your website, it is also great to use anchor links which link keywords in your content to another page on your website. For example we use the keyword phrase social media marketing on our corporate marketing webpage. However this phrase is anchor linked to our social media page as well. Another term is cross linking for more link juice and searchability on Google.

In Conclusion

After you have populated your social media profiles with strategically placed keywords, you should be monitoring your web statistics, noting carefully how many viewers visit your site and for how long. Also check what keywords surfers used in order to find your site. By checking your site’s statistics, you can re-evaluate your business’s stance and make sure that you use the right buzz words for your site. Because you have finished with the first round of keywords, does not mean you should stop looking for new and innovative ways to keyword and market your products or services.

Grow Your Business Online: These tips are meant to be used as a guideline to improve traffic to your site, increase your conversion rates, help turn visitors into buyers, and keep you ahead of the competition. Turning to a web marketer can ultimately save you time and money and increase your success online. The Web Success Team has many proven marketing strategies and techniques. The Team would be happy to discuss your web marketing needs with a complimentary consultation and web marketing assessment of your current site. Simply mention this article when contacting bob@websuccessteam.com or call 818-222-5643 for an appointment. Please visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for more information. To your web success!