June 2009

Yet Another Social Media Article (With a Twist!)

I'll bet you're tired of hearing about the wonders of social media, aren't you?  It definitely has the potential to become an overly tired subject (if it isn't already)...but the reason for the hype is that it actually works!  You already know that there are dozens of reasons that businesses should explore social media, with benefits ranging from marketing and sales to customer service and recruiting.

But there are also reasons to embrace social media that tie in with search engine optimization (SEO).  There are both direct and indirect benefits to leveraging social media for SEO purposes.  The main direct benefits are:

  • Content.   Profiles of your company (as well as you personally) are more content that you can optimize, in addition to your website.  This content can take up more real estate in the search engine results pages, leaving fewer spaces for your competitors and making you look like the industry leader.  Relatedly, social media profiles can help in online reputation management.  If someone searches for your company name and everything they see is content you control, any negative information (gripes from disgruntled former employees or customers, for example) can be pushed to the second page of search results, which fewer people will see.

  • Votes.  The beauty of social media is its interactivity.  People will add comments, repost your content, give it a "thumbs up," retweet it, "digg" it, bookmark it, rate it, review it, etc.  The search engines are increasingly including these "votes" in their ranking algorithms, because it relies on the "wisdom of the crowds."  Votes from the public are generally accurate and hard to fake.

  • Links.  As you probably know, websites that have a high quantity of quality links pointing to them will rank higher in the search engines.  Social media can be a great way to build links pointing back to your corporate website.  And oftentimes you can even control the words in the link text (known as "anchor text").  Search engines do pay attention to this, so a link that says "Click here " is less valuable than a link that says something like "Click for more information about keyword."  (Warning: not all links are created equally.)

There are also indirect benefits, such as the increased online awareness of your brand leading to more searches for your company and more visitors...which can boost your site's organic rankings, as the search engines may be increasingly considering search volumes and traffic levels in their ranking algorithms.  Also, the tags and categorizations that other people add give the search engines trustworthy context so they know what your site is really about.  And the links from social media sites to internal pages on your site help those pages to get indexed by the search engines faster and deeper. 

So that's WHY you should consider leveraging social media for SEO purposes - now the magic question is HOW?  I addressed that in my presentation at the Online Marketing Summit two weeks ago.  I got into the nitty-gritty "how to" tactics for blogs, social networking sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.), microblogging sites (Twitter), video- and photo-sharing sites (Flickr, YouTube), social bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon), content sites (Squidoo, Wikipedia, etc.), and social media press releases.  I even put together priority lists for those short on time who want faster results (which I believe describes everyone I know!). 
You're welcome to learn more by either:

  • Viewing the slideshow (sans audio) at SlideShare, and/or
  • Reading my newest blog series on the topic.  Note that there are only three posts as of this newsletter's publishing date, but hang onto that URL because I'll be adding 2-3 more posts per week.

Happy social media leveraging!

About Us

Prominent Placement, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service search engine marketing (SEM) firm, delivering ROI that traditional marketing channels can't touch, with a level of service that raises the bar. Since 2001, Prominent Placement has managed the entire SEM process for clients across the U.S., empowering businesses to focus on what they do best. Prominent Placement's customized solutions are backed by hard numbers, giving decision makers the confidence they need to make smarter decisions.

For more information, visit our website or call 888.SEM.MKTR (888.736.6587).

Become a Fan on Facebook
Connect with Stacy on LinkedIn or Plaxo
Read Stacy's blog Search Advisory