SEO- I have a big fan base. How do I use them to positively effect my SEO?

[Mike]

I have a commerce website that sells a very cool product. It's not just my opinion, people really do love the hell out of it.

Lately I'v been having free give aways on my facebook fan page, I ask people, Like a certain page.. or Share a post etc.... and when X criteria is met.... someone will win some free products of mine.

Now, I'm trying to think of something I can have my fans do for me, "Being a large group of people" that will further effect my website SEO, to do better in the search engine...

I already ask them to "Like" my website Like button.... what else can I do.. there's got to be something I'm missing

[Jake]

There are those rewards programs or contest where users act as sort of affiliate marketing interns, creating links to your site with hopes of being the big winner, the backlash from amateur backlinkers spamming inappropriate places may not be the best for your image.

Really the most profitable participation may be to get them to opt-in to an "exclusive" email list on your site, so your not constrained by FB limitations, this assumes you can come up with a stream of products to promote as well as useful newsletter content perhaps once a week.

[Tommy]

Hi Mike,

As Jake mentioned, you should try to get them to sign up for your email updates so that you won't be limited to Facebook "likes." Having your a list of emails is definitely an asset.

Since they've already Liked your page, how about get them to tweet a certain promotional tweet or share/+1 you. As you may know, Social Mentions and Social Sharings are becoming more influencial in SEO as well. Google and Bing are definitely looking at social signals to determine ranking. Since you already did all you can on Facebook, why not move on to other social networks. Furthermore, Google+ will definitely have more weight than other social networks in Google's opinion.

[Dave]

You can do the following things,

· Get them to opt-in to an "exclusive" email list
· Get them to tweet a certain promotional tweet or share/+1
· Along with Facebook move on to other social networks

[kyle]

Contests are great, but you need to post regularly so people will visit your fan page. They should also come daily to interact with the content you post. Encourage them to share your posts or invite people to like the page.

[Hal Smith]

A good point by Jake, get them to signup for your newsletter, monthly or however, through which you can reach out to them.

Plus, being on social media, you can start working with infographics and promotional videos. They would get a lot more shares and you'll in return get a lot more traffic. You have done giveaways, which is awesome. Now you can hold some little competitions, like build your site a logo or design a homepage midway banner or you could have them write about what they like about your product and you could promise to have that on the main page and this could also be a monthly competition or so, so the one chosen best gets to be on the website. You could offer the similar with audio or video or picture of voted user to be on the site, or be included in the newsletter. What you'd be doing is promoting input and also sharing on social media and emails by your audience without having to do anything yourself.

Since you are certain you have a good fan base, why not start doing meetups etc. Reach out to them more publicly. You have no idea how much of a boost this off-the-net event could be for your web presence.

Hal Smith
URLdreamer Consultant