Written for and with Susan Friedmann.
Five Ways to Leverage Real-Time Social Media Search
For years Internet search engines ignored Twitter and Facebook. But now Twitter and Facebook will be indexed as rapidly as they are updated. This makes social media an even more important tool for trade shows.
In order to gain good page rankings, follow these five strategies for getting and keeping the search engines’ fickle attention.
- Maintain a strong identity. Your Twittername should be instantly recognizable as your company. Use custom images for your Twitter profile page and your company Facebook page. Instantly recognizable branding matters as much if not more online as in slower-moving media.
- Use tags and keywords. Make sure each message includes the name or abbreviation of your trade show. Keep an eye on trending topics, and say something about them.
- Build a following. On the Internet, connections equal influence. The more others link to your site or retweet your messages, the more powerful you are, and the higher your page rank will grow. So keep using these media between trade shows.
- Post different content to Facebook and Twitter. Search engine algorithms downgrade identical messages. Moreover, Facebook gives you more space. Write a brief version for Twitter and a slightly longer one for Facebook.
- Offer fresh, fascinating content. You’ll gain followers by giving them something they want or need: information, amusement, a sense of connection and belonging.
