How to Generate Backlinks Through Social Media

Social media platforms connect you with bloggers and people in your industry who need valuable resources to share with their audience. And when you repurpose your blog content as social media posts, it can increase brand mentions and conversations that position you as an expert in your field. 

Take Ryan Law, for instance. As the VP of Content Marketing at Ahrefs, he shares new articles from the Ahrefs blog on his personal LinkedIn and Twitter pages. 

One of the research studies he posted, How Often do AI Assistants Hallucinate Links, got over 3K views on Twitter/X alone: 

Through this alone, many content marketers who are concerned about such studies will read it, and quote the study in their own blog posts. 

Case in point: Glenn Gabe, columnist at Search Engine Land, reposted the same study and got over 5K views: 

When he (and many others) write a blog post about how AI assistants hallucinate links, which resource do you think they’ll link to? Yup, Ryan’s. 

This is because it’s already being discussed, trusted, and amplified by other professionals within their network. That’s why the next five pages ranking on the search results for the topics cited in Ahrefs’ study in their content (Ahrefs research ranks #1): 

Overall, the article has almost 500 backlinks and 19K mentions on AI search engines: 

This isn’t to imply that the results are solely based on his social media posts. But I strongly believe they’re a major contributor to the article’s success. 

Besides, one of the ways to amplify your reach (and traffic) is to repurpose and share your content on social media. 

Now, how can you replicate his “strategy” (which has become a habit) to get  results for your website? 

7 Ways to Generate Backlinks on Social Media 

1. Repurpose your content on relevant social media platforms to increase visibility 

The first step is to repurpose your website content into multiple formats and share it on social media. 

For context, content repurposing (or recycling) is the practice of using the elements in your existing web content to expand its reach on other platforms. This can be images, short clips, quotes, or snippets from a long article. 

The goal is to adapt your core message into different content formats that perform best for each platform. For example, you can repurpose your content as: 

• Thread on Twitter/X. 
• LinkedIn carousel. 
• Instagram reels. 
• Infographics.  
• Short excerpts/quotes.  

I love this repurpose content breakdown from Foundation: 

For example, you can turn a blog post into a carousel for LinkedIn, a short video for Instagram reels, and  a short-form explainer on YouTube shorts. 

Let’s use the example I cited from the beginning as a case study. 

Ahrefs published a new research on ‘How Often Do AI Assistants Hallucinate Links?’ on their website. Then, Ryan shared one of the key findings in the article as a Twitter /X post: 

… He linked back to the article for users to learn more: 

He shared the same post on LinkedIn:  

The post gained a lot of interactions from LinkedIn users, especially industry leaders in marketing and SEO who might not have seen it if he hadn’t posted it: 

In total, the article has over 400 backlinks and 19K mentions on AI search engines: 

It works! 

Rand Fishkin, co-founder of market research company, SparkToro, also does the same with videos on LinkedIn: 

and Twitter (X). For example, in a blog post he repurposed into video on Twitter, he got over 17k views: 

However, all this isn’t to say you should repurpose mindlessly. While the strategy of repurposing and reposting content is effective, it’s best to streamline your efforts to practices that’ll drive the best results.  

Here are some tips to get started with: 

• Repurpose your best-performing content to get more engagement. You can check this on the “landing pages” report on Google Analytics: 

Just as Ross Simmonds, author of Create Once, Distribute Forever, said in this X post, “normalize not creating more content when you haven’t promoted the content you created last month.” 

• Focus on your major social media channels. That is, where your target audience spends most of their time. For instance, if you get most of your leads or traffic from X/Twitter and Instagram, focus your repurposing efforts on content formats that perform best on these platforms. 

You can also add utm tracking code to the links to know which format drives the most backlinks to your website.

• Make it relatable and eye-catching. You can use an interesting visual to capture user attention, or start with an interesting statistic like Ryan Law and Rand Fishkin does. 

Bottom line: what matters is that you consistently write and publish on these social media platforms. The more you do that, the more people you’ll reach (who will also engage with your content). 

2. Create high-quality, linkable content assets that naturally attract links 

Quality content is at the core of your link-building efforts. 

To generate backlinks, you need to publish content that’s worth linking to in the first place. High-quality, linkable content asset in this case is: 

• Valuable, 
• Educates your audience, 
• Gives them resources/tools that they can use, and
• Is entertaining (it can be). 

When your content ticks all these boxes, other people will naturally want to reference it. 

There are different ways to create linkable content assets for your website. Some of them are:  

• Original research or survey that hasn’t been published before. For example, Ahrefs’ recent studies on AI search include fresh industry stats and trends that make them a go-to reference. 

Examples of content to publish in this category are whitepapers, debunking myths, interviews with respected persons in the industry/sector, etc. 

• Long-form, comprehensive guides that provide value and show expertise. You can even convert it to an eBook and use it for lead generation on social media. 
• Infographics or visual assets that highlight the topic focus in a clear and engaging way. Sometimes, bloggers struggle to find images relevant to their content, and would be happy to link back if your content has one they can use. 
• Create detailed case studies showing real-world results from your product, campaign or strategies. Here, you want to show the problem, goal, steps taken to achieve the goal, and results.  
• Interactive tools like ROI calculators or keyword finders provide value, and other websites tend to link back to them as helpful resources. For instance, our free Bulk Keyword Research tool has over 600 backlinks:  

I summed it all up in this LinkedIn post: 

3. Collaborate with industry thought leaders and influencers to promote your content and build trust 

Next, collaborate with industry leaders and influencers on social media to reach a wider audience and build trust. 

Influencers often have a large, engaged audience that values their recommendations. And when they share your content on their page, it’s a form of validation that your website/brand is valuable.  

For instance, say you run an e-commerce store that sells sustainable fashion items. You can partner with eco-conscious influencers on Instagram or TikTok to create a joint post, review your products, or share behind-the-scenes content about your production process.

When these influencers highlight your brand or link back to your website, it increases your brand’s visibility and credibility.

Case in point, Natalie Markovits, Creative Growth manager at Wix, sent opal cameras to influencers to promote their new Figma to Wix Studio Plugin. Their goal was to get 50% engagement after the influencers shared videos trying the plugin. 

The results? Natalie mentioned that they got a high volume of influencer mentions at a fraction of the cost of the sponsored posts. They also gained industry recognition far beyond what they expected.  

There are many ways to collaborate with influencers to promote your content. You can:  

• Guest post on their website and earn a backlink in return. Here’s a collaboration article between SparkToro and Datos, a Semrush Company. They co-authored a research on how Americans use AI tools, and SparkToro linked back to them: 

They also got tons of backlink from the study (so it’s a win-win). 

• Invite them to share their insights on your podcast, webinar or interview. In return, they’re most likely to share a link with their audience. 

For example, Paxton Gray, CEO of the 97th Floor podcast, invited Rand Fishkin to share his insights on audience research for SEO. 

Rand shared a snippet of the interview on his page and attached a link to the podcast for his followers to learn more:  

• Alternatively, you can share a blog post or video from them that resonates with you. Most times, they’ll appreciate the support and reshare your post with their audience. 

You can also allow guest posts on your website. They’ll link to that guest post when they write related articles on the future (or when they repurpose that content on their social media pages). 

4. Engage in relevant niche communities to build relationships with other industry leaders 

Want to get your content seen by industry leaders fast? Go to the niche communities. 

That’s where your target audience and fellow professionals actively share insights, ask questions and discuss trending topics in your industry. 

These communities can be: 

• LinkedIn groups, 
• Slack communities,
• Facebook groups,  
• Twitter/X communities, etc. 

The good thing about contributing to these channels is that you can easily connect with hundreds of industry leaders. When you actively participate in discussions, answer questions, or share insights that add value, you naturally build trust within those circles and position yourself as a trusted expert. 

Over time, the authority compounds and other members begin to see you as a credible voice. 

So, when you share your own content (like a helpful guide, case study, or research report), they’re more likely to share it with their own audience or even reference it in their content. It also opens doors for collaboration in the long run. 

5. Incorporate User Generated Content in your social media strategy to show credibility and boost trust 

User-generated content (UGC) is the brand-specific content shared by your customers or peers, often in response to their experience with your product or service. It’s an authentic form of marketing, as they showcase real emotions and experiences that other users can relate to.

UGC works, even research proves it: 

• 93% of B2B (business-to-business) marketers affirm that UGC is much better than traditional branded content.   
• Another 82% of users say UGC influences their purchase decisions. 
• 67% of retailers intend to increase their investment in UGC. 

Your UGC can come from: 

• Your social media followers.
• Brand advocates. 
• Customers.  
• Influencers.  

When your customers share their positive experience with your product/service, it can incite others to want to do the same. 

Case in point, Ahrefs launched an MCP that allows users to integrate ChatGPT into their platform. Chris Long, CEO of Nectiv, shared why he loves the feature on Twitter: 

He also added a link to the documentation: 

This post attracted many positive reactions from the SEO/marketing community: 

In total, the post had over 80K views on Twitter: 

Here’s another review from another user: 

Overall, the documentation has over 19K citations on AI search engines and 31 backlinks:

Bottom line: the more content your users (or influencers) create for your brand, the better. So, always encourage them to share how they use your product/service and what they enjoy about it. And when they do, reshare these posts and find ways to repurpose them to increase its value. 

6. Adopt an employee advocacy strategy to amplify brand awareness and organic reach 

Employee advocacy is a marketing strategy where employees voluntarily promote and share content about their company through their personal social media profiles. This can be the company updates, product launches, or content that highlights the company culture. 

The key idea behind this is that peers trust peers. 

Content shared by peers tends to get more exposure, engagement, and carry more trust compared to that shared on the brand channels themselves. 

A good example in this case is Tim Soluo, the CMO at Ahrefs. He constantly shares new updates from the company directly on his social media page, and other industry leaders engage more with his posts than they do with posts from the company’s social media platforms. 

For example, this blog update post gained over 21K views on Twitter: 

It also got engagement from the SEO community on Twitter: 

To do this: 

• Be clear on what you want to achieve. This can be to build brand awareness, positioning, or both. It’s easier to get the results you need when you have a solid plan in place. Also, it helps you choose the employees who have the audience you want to target: 

Zehra Zaidi, senior marketing communications manager at CEB, sheds more light on why it works in this white paper on employee advocacy: 

“It’s really important to develop a solid content strategy before asking your employees to advocate for your brand. You need to identify curators who can create content that is both snackable and aligned to what sales reps want to talk about with prospective customers.”

• Again, create linkable, shareable content assets. Your employees would be eager to post when they have access to a variety of content that’s easy to share on social media. 
• Train your employees. You can offer training programs on social media best practices and tools to enlighten them on the things they need to do to succeed.  
• Prioritize employees with an active social media platform. As your strategy grows, you can include the others. 

Sarah Goodall, founder of Tribal Impact, sums it all up in this article: 

“Start thinking differently about your content and consider what would be interesting for your employees/colleagues to share. The goal is still to reach and engage decision-makers, but you need to think about doing that from a different angle. 

For example, even if you offer a high-tech product, what is the content your finance team might want to share with their networks? I advise my customers to gather all topic experts from different areas of the company once per quarter to review and discuss the results of their social listening study. 

This helps you narrow in on what’s trending and topical and how it aligns with each department’s view and the questions customers are asking. When you get the right people in the room to influence a topic or content creation, you set yourself up to create relevant content that your customers will want to consume.”

7. Be consistent with your social sharing to increase your social footprint 

Lastly, be consistent. You can’t build authority by publishing one or two posts. You need to post consistently, at least 3X a week to increase your social footprint, and by extension, your chances of being seen by your target audience. 

To make it easy, plan your posting frequency with a content calendar. 

You can plan and schedule posts in advance so you don’t scramble for ideas each day. You can use tools like Buffer or HootSuite to automate your posts and schedule them across different social media platforms. 

Also, you don’t have to post every day. Consistency is all about maintaining a sustainable rhythm, not constant work. On days when you’re too tired or out of ideas to post, write meaningful comments on other people’s posts. This keeps you top of mind and at the same time, increases your reach. 

Conclusion

You may ask, but Adam, social media links are no follow and do not pass any link juice to my website. Why bother about building backlinks via social media? 

Yes, social media links are “no follow” and do not pass SEO juice to your website directly. But posting on social media platforms can: 

• Increase your brand mentions, 
• Increase your digital footprint, and 
• Connect your business with the target audience (and bloggers) who can cite your content in theirs.   

But first, you need to build trust and position yourself as an expert in your field. 

In summary, you should:  

• Optimize your social media profiles. 
• Create and share high-quality, link-worthy content.  
• Engage in industry-relevant forums and communities to build trust.  
• Prompt customers to share feedback with your brand on their social media platforms. 
• Engage actively with other industry experts on these platforms. 

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