Chances are that you are on more than one social networking site, or at least know somebody that is. Your SEO expert will applaud this and encourage it if you are planning on forming a search engine optimisation plan for your website. If you're not already a part of the Facebook clan, the Twitterati or Google Plus gang, now is the time to get on board, because as 2012 progresses we predict that social media is only going to get more and more powerful when it comes to web marketing.

An experienced SEO expert will tell you that good quality backlinks are important and this continues to be true. Social networking sites are now helping with this by directing more and more traffic towards websites. Many people only use the Internet these days to check their latest social updates, so the likelihood of them seeing your content is vastly increased if you have a presence on one of (or all) these pages.

If you're well versed in social media, then you'll understand the term 'going viral'. This is when content is shared excessively over a number of social networking sites and/or bookmarking websites. As your content is shared, this naturally builds backlinks to your website as well as vastly increasing traffic. Your SEO expert will also tell you that if you plan to create content with the intent of having it go viral, you'll need to take the time to make it worthwhile. Not just any old stuff has the potential of being this widely popularised. If you're willing to put a lot into what you share, you're more likely to get a lot out of it.

Remember to sign up to Twitter as well, if you haven't already. You only have to watch a trending topic feed to see just how many people are currently tweeting worldwide. A large portion of these tweets contain links that get retweeted again and again. Think about the extra exposure this means for your website.

Perhaps most importantly, creating regular content to be shared across social media sites will also increase your brand's online presence and over time this will instill a solid reputation built on natural backlinks. Heard your SEO expert mention Google Plus yet? You will do. As part of a push to make the web stalwart's social site more popular, Google will be making G+ pages more business friendly, making them more accessible to SEO tweaks and tactics.