We all know that some things seem to be made for each other – peaches and cream is a prime example – SMM & SEO is another.
When the social media websites like Facebook and Twitter began take off there were many of us who failed to fully realise that the marketing of products and services via social networking sites should also fit seamlessly into a company’s SEO strategy. There is also much evidence of collaboration between the major search engines, such as Google, and the popular social networking websites. However, from an internet marketing point of view it is important for businesses wishing to succeed online to take full advantage of all the opportunities offered by both traditional SEO and Social Media Marketing.
Here at WSI IMS we deliver well-planned internet marketing strategies which are tailored to the specific requirements of our individual clients. Because of our commitment and attention to detail our clients will usually make excellent progress in the search engine results pages for their chosen keywords or keyword phrases. This typically results in a sustained increase in visitor numbers and, most importantly, increased sales!
In our experience those clients who use both SEO and the social media channels, especially blogging, achieve more success than those clients who opt for either SEO or Social Media alone. In our view, your internet marketing strategy must be a ‘joined-up’ strategy and it is folly to exclude any marketing route from the mix.
Below you will find a few pointers as to how to take full advantage of this ‘two pronged attack’:
• Facebook is an excellent research tool and will help you gather much useful information about your target audience. The more information you have and the more varied the source of this information about your target audience, the easier it will be for you to provide them with the most appropriate content on a blog, in articles, press releases etc. Communicating with your target market the way they like, using the appropriate language (formal vs informal) is a key success factor in any content marketing campaign.
• Twitter is useful for drawing attention to updates that you make to your website content. Avoid using Twitter to just promote posts to your blog. Instead, use Twitter to engage with your customers and prospects by asking questions of other ‘tweeters’ and make sure you ‘re-tweet’ the contributions of others which you think can add value to your own followers. Try not to get involved in any confrontations even if you totally disagree with something that has been ‘tweeted’ about you, your products or your services.
• Search Engines now regularly show results which are gathered from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others. It makes sense therefore for you to ensure that every post you make to any of your social media channels has a definite purpose. It is folly to post on the social networking sites in a random or a haphazard manner when someone might be using Google to research your company. Do you really want that ‘tongue-in- cheek’ post you did to show up on page one of a search against your company name?
• The mobile search revolution is rapidly changing the search landscape as we know it. Both SEO and social media marketing will need to factor in the tremendous growth in the use of Smartphones and other mobile devices in the weeks and months ahead. An integrated internet marketing campaign using SEO & SMM can help ensure that you keep yourself fully up to date in this rapidly changing world. Having active campaigns in both SEO & SMM will give you the flexibility to adjust your main internet marketing focus depending upon what has most sway in the search engines ‘algorithm’ at the time.
• Online Credibility – Using both SEO & SMM will not just bring in more targeted traffic to your website it will also create more awareness of your brand, your products and your services. Your online brand has never been more important than it is today and it is important that you are aware of exactly what is being said about you online.
Do you agree? Please leave a comment or visit WSI IMS – WSI Digital Marketing Services for UK Business.