​More than ever, social media sharing is playing an increasing role in determining how pages rank on Google.  Why?  Quite simply, the role of a search engine is to bring you to relevant, useful content.  One of the ways to measure relevance and usefulness is to see what people are sharing on social sites most frequently.

When you create content, take the time to link to it from multiple social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and the big one – Google+
*(Google seems to have a preference for content provided by authors with Google+ profiles)  No surprise there!

Reading other blogs in your niche is a great way to keep your mind fresh and give you new information and ideas (to produce more of that great content you’re writing regularly, see above).

Commenting on other blogs in your niche gives you an even better gift – links back to your blog.  Links pointing in to your blog (aka inbound links) increase your relevance to the search engine crawlers I mentioned earlier. What do you get? An increased ranking is what you get.  If you’ve selected sites to read that are closely related to your content, the links back have increased value to your own rankings. (I’ve always heard it was better to give than receive!)

With mainstream media outlets declining in readership and influence, and the ability for anyone to use the web to create their own publishing channel, social media can present a massive opportunity, as well a a threat.
Communication is more global than ever and still developing. It is faster and more direct. In the fight to be first, information can be less accurate and the impact, whether positive or negative, will be more acute to any organisation.

Find out how to build a brand using social media in 10 steps