Have you ever wondered why you are spending hours daily on the Internet without really working?

Some people assume that you are wasting your time when looking at cute cat images on Facebook.

Here are profitable ways to use social media for SEO and beyond.

You might want to take them into account to feel better about the time you spend on social sites.

They might actually turn into profits down the road.

Common sense social media use cases for business

How can business people use social media profitably then?

Especially without just wasting time on third party platforms like Facebook?

First off you always need your home base or website.

A holistic online presence is needed but the site is the actual hub it all rests on.

Here are actual use cases that my turn out profitable down the road.

They did for me already.

Reputation building

It’s not just about reputation management by taking over Google results for your name.

It’s also about having a reputation as the go to person dealing with x from y.

I remember a few years ago when a prospect approached me twice, once directly and once through a referral.

An online colleague of mine suggested me as the SEO expert from Germany.

Outreach

Proper outreach is about connecting with leaders in your field without getting ignored.

And without having to meet them in person.

I was able to talk with Danny Sullivan — the founder of Search Engine Land, now at Google — among others. Why?

It’s because I am a blogger and social media user you can’t ignore anymore as easily.

Thus truly influential people are more likely to respond.

Someone who writes hundreds of “outreach” mails out of the blue might be less lucky.

One day I approached the lead editor of SEL for a freelance gig.

By then I was already and old friend and did not even have to apply.

Attracting links and visitors

It’s hard to “build links manually” these days. It stopped working.

Most natural links are attracted in some way.

Thus you have get noticed first so that people will share or link to your content later.

People visit your site then ideally. Ultimately satisfied visitors turn into supporters.

When you are an active social media user, people will link to you and visit your websites and profiles quite naturally.

No link spam needed.

Audience building

Ever tried to make people aware of something while nobody listened?

It’s like stepping on stage and performing when nobody is around.

Thus green activists like Greenpeace are very active social media users e.g.

You need an audience to address in case you want a message to spread.

Audience building does not happen over night.

People who read your content regularly on social media trust you after a while and only then become part of your audience.

You don’t even need to trap them using a newsletter or something.

Yet it might speed up the process.

That’s why many also use Substack as it combines both social media and mail.

Sharing

We are social creatures. Sharing is one of the activities that define us. as humans.

On the Web it’s even more apparent.

When you don’t share your expertise online nobody knows you’re an expert.

In the real world it is difficult to share as everything you give away — like sweets for instance — you can’t have yourself.

In the digital realm sharing is almost natural. Jesus would love it, each time you share you multiply.

Thus sharing information is basically giving without having to give up anything beside time.

You don’t lose anything by giving away digital items.

Yet you may gain huge audiences by giving away free resources etc.

Google has dominated many markets that way.

I share my insights into SEO on this very blog here for almost 20 years and it turned into numerous freelance gigs.

And I’m still a freelancer to this day.

My social media presence gets me business.

Especially LinkedIn has led to many business opportunities over the years.

Online presence

Making the whole Web your home is the only viable option by now.

Do you remember the term homepage? Now it’s almost obsolete.

Where exactly is your homepage nowadays?

Why is having only a homepage making you a loner hiding in the woods?

Even the term website slowly gives way to the more global term online presence.

It’s because nobody will notice your homepage when it’s not linked or shared. The whole Web is your home.

That’s also why most people prefer to live in cities or at least villages instead of remote uninhabited areas.

They want to socialize freely.

Connecting with peers

Most educated people in the western hemisphere work in offices using computers.

Staring at a screen all day long and talking only a few times during short breaks is not natural at all.

Thus they connect using the tools at hand, computers and smartphones.

Do you want to contact real people?

It’s not a good idea to go door to door as traveling salesman anymore.

Socializing with peers on the social Web will give you additional insights into your business.

Feedback

Many of my ideas came from or gave been refined due to interactions on social media.

This type of feedback is also called peer review in science.

That’s is one of the most practical reasons to use social media.

When 100 other people appreciate an idea you shared you know you can’t be wrong.

Even when your boss, spouse, children, class mates, coworkers assume you are insane at the same time.

It is much more difficult to find true peers in real life as they are often scattered throughout the world.

I socialize with people from the Americas, Asia, Australia and even Africa online. That would be impossible in real life on such a scale.

Love of humanity

Yes this one is very pathetic but we humans tend to depend on others in our larger family.

Some of the best business models are about helping people solve real world problems.

People who claim that we are natural born egoists err because we can only exist in a social arena. Nobody is an island.

Thus helping people lead better lives is a surefire way to earn money.

It hurts to read about wars in Asia or Africa just because there are humans who get killed even though you never met them in person.

Now the Internet allows you to reach potentially millions of people by uploading a video to YouTube for instance.

Why can’t you just ignore social media?

Almost everybody uses social media nowadays.

Can you afford to be the only company that doesn’t?

Most people use it just like watching movies or brushing their teeth.

Social media part of our modern culture.

To tap into most existing audiences you have to “engage in the conversation”.

 

Find the proper balance

Now be careful.

Just because there are so many ways to use social media for business does not mean you should spend all your time on Facebook, Instagram or Reddit.

Combine social media activity with actual social life with real people you meet in person.

Keep it balanced and do not forget that social media are tools provided by companies.

Social media are not your life, they are an enhancement of it.

Likewise they are not your business. They just serve your business.

Make your SEO approach reflect that.