When someone mentions your company in an online post, does it make a difference?
The short answer is “yes,†definitely. The long answer is, without some tender loving care and attention, it may get lost in a sea of information and quickly vanish without any positive effects.
Standing out and getting noticed online is challenging. Once you have been mentioned or reviewed online, it’s important to take a couple of extra steps to make sure you get the recognition you deserve.
Google’s algorithm built around the search-decide-buy cycle weighs heavily on engagement as a signifier to website value. That means the more engagements you can show from different people and businesses, the higher you will rank in search engine rankings. And when it comes to converting that traffic to sales, statistics prove that social proof is a significant decision factor in the online buying process. Reviews and referrals increase your bottom line.As you grow your business and online presence, building on these
engagements (mentions, reviews, and referral links) is an important part of your SEO strategy. An online influencer’s public social mention can be marketing gold. Even if a mention doesn’t come from a high ranking online presence, you can still leverage the power of this referral.Here are seven actions you can take when you receive a social mention to leverage that social currency and create more sales.
- Be gracious. The tone with which you receive a mention is very important. Always be sure to acknowledge those that have helped you to this point (customers, staff, the person who mentioned your company, and so forth). When you’ve received something, make sure you always give back first.
- Tag influencers in posts. A rising tide raises all ships. Take time to share your post and tag influencers and people who regularly comment or post about a similar topic or who you feel may be interested in what has been shared. Help them further their message with your shared story. Bolster your tagging efforts by tweeting small excerpts and key points as you tag different people to create engagement and variability with your messages.
Arash Asli is founder and CEO of Yocale.com, an online booking platform for small businesses.
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