Social Media Marketing

shortcircuit · 08-16-2010, 10:28 AM

Social Media Marketing Doesn’t Replace SEO - Looking at the latest search marketing conference agendas, articles, and online news in the SEM space, it certainly appears that social media marketing and networking are the wave of the future.

To a certain extent, they are.

Social media, and social networking in particular, create a back-and-forth conversation with your target audience, so you can virally market your website through the “buzz” that can be created. When something interesting, cool, or unique is being talked about in “all the right places,” it can certainly provide a boost in website traffic.

We search marketers tend to hang out in numerous online and offline communities where it’s easy to promote our own products and services, yet I can’t help wondering if our view of Web marketing is skewed because of this.

Are potential B2B clients and even B2C customers spending time at Digg? Do they attend SEM conferences in order to hire a company, or are they just trying to learn to do it themselves? And what about other industries? Is there a Sphinn equivalent for developers of product lifecycle management software? Are there groups of people online comparing the various brands of auto parts? Are there really people seeking out articles on these topics?

Perhaps.

And if so, we’d be remiss not to promote our clients’ websites in those spaces. But is this search marketing? Or is it simply online marketing? Arguably, it becomes search marketing when it increases link popularity, but surely that should be the secondary goal of this type of marketing campaign. True link popularity comes from having something worth linking to, not something you’ve asked your insulated group of cronies to link to.

Certainly, the boost in direct traffic that a site can gain when it is being discussed in all the right places online is not to be taken lightly – and that alone is reason enough to try to be found in all the right places. Yet how much of that traffic actually converts into anything good, and how much does it help your organic search rankings?

More important – how does it increase your bottom line? - For instance, I’ve written a few articles that received upward of 1,000 visitors a day from StumbleUpon alone. The spike in traffic was nice, and the slight increase in newsletter subscribers was certainly welcome, but for the most part, those StumbleUpon visitors spent just a few minutes on our site, and only a small percentage signed up for our free newsletter. None of them were interested in using our services. They read the article and then stumbled their way to the next site of potential interest.

Isn’t participation in social media really just preaching to the choir? - You reach your peers, not the people who will buy your product or service. Sure, it’s a nice ego stroke to have others in your industry tell you how cool you are, and there’s something to be said for building credibility within your own community. I’m certainly not knocking that, and have built my own credibility via various online communities in which I’ve participated over the past decade.

But how does it sell your products and services? - Do you gain customers and sales from your social media marketing and/or your participation in social networks? Does it increase your rankings for the keyword phrases your actual target audience is typing into the search engines? If your business model depends on traffic for traffic’s sake, or on how many ad impressions your site generates, then there’s an obvious value. But if you sell a product or a service – then not so much.

My fear with all the hype about social media marketing is that people new to search marketing will believe it’s what SEO demands and what SEO is all about.

It isn’t. Not by a long shot.

Social media marketing is a great addition to any traditional SEO work that you do, but it’s not a substitute. It’s more akin to hiring a PR firm once you’ve launched your already-SEO’d website. On-page SEO is definitely not as sexy as social media marketing, but it is still the most important investment in your website that you can make. Period.

So, go to all your social media conferences, and Digg your way to increased traffic. But first learn exactly who your target audience is, what they’re searching for in the search engines, and how your website highrankings.com/seo-reasons"]can solve their problems. Then make sure your website does exactly that. All the social media buzz and traffic won’t amount to anything if your target audience isn’t already part of the online conversation.

Be sure to have your own house in order before you give social media marketing a try.

And don’t be surprised if it doesn’t actually provide you with the ROI you hoped it would. In most cases it will depend on who your target audience is, where they hang out, the types of services or products you offer, and whether your website truly provides people with what they’re looking for.

????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/webmaster-tutorials/672482-social-media-marketing.html
Getting back to SEO basics ... that is, creating a crawler-friendly website that is built around the keyword phrases people use at the search engines to find what you offer ... is the first and most important thing you can do for your website and your business. Yeah, it’s not as fun and exciting as social media marketing, but skip this step at your own peril!
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=672482

* courtesy of [ Jill Whalen ]

davealan · 08-18-2010, 09:01 AM

Iam also an SEO guy. Now a days everyone asking for Social Media Marketing. Apart from normal SEO how mauch we will gain from socail media marketing?. Its a big ? to me. By doing social media marketing new people will check our website. I feel instead of this we can write good articles and post it in different places. If the article is interesting then people will come automatically and we will get one backlink also.Any way thanks for valuable information.

jackqs · 08-20-2010, 10:55 PM

social media marketing is the hottest trend, almost everyone is doing it these days

stevemack · 08-24-2010, 10:51 PM

SMM an important area where now a days every one is looking into this to reach their customers. Cost effective and more reachable makes every thing online.

Fuzzylogic · 09-07-2010, 05:42 PM

You just can't overvalue the service.

In the end, the basic commandments apply:

Content is king.

Provide a useful service, and they'll come.

umbrellatechnologies · 09-08-2010, 02:52 PM

SMM is mainly for branding purpose. It also directs traffic to your website.

But people think that SMM is going to bring heavy traffic which I don't feel.

gurusofit · 09-10-2010, 07:48 PM

social media marketing is a very useful platform but i dont know if my website is optimized in 3-big search engine Google, Yahoo, Bing then i dont need a social media marketing stage

enjoylife · 09-10-2010, 08:12 PM

Well, I think social media marketing is also important, but I do not think it is as important as the search engine optimization.

08-16-2010, 10:28 AM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
shortcircuit Account Suspended Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 13	Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing Doesn’t Replace SEO - Looking at the latest search marketing conference agendas, articles, and online news in the SEM space, it certainly appears that social media marketing and networking are the wave of the future. To a certain extent, they are. Social media, and social networking in particular, create a back-and-forth conversation with your target audience, so you can virally market your website through the “buzz” that can be created. When something interesting, cool, or unique is being talked about in “all the right places,” it can certainly provide a boost in website traffic. We search marketers tend to hang out in numerous online and offline communities where it’s easy to promote our own products and services, yet I can’t help wondering if our view of Web marketing is skewed because of this. Are potential B2B clients and even B2C customers spending time at Digg? Do they attend SEM conferences in order to hire a company, or are they just trying to learn to do it themselves? And what about other industries? Is there a Sphinn equivalent for developers of product lifecycle management software? Are there groups of people online comparing the various brands of auto parts? Are there really people seeking out articles on these topics? Perhaps. And if so, we’d be remiss not to promote our clients’ websites in those spaces. But is this search marketing? Or is it simply online marketing? Arguably, it becomes search marketing when it increases link popularity, but surely that should be the secondary goal of this type of marketing campaign. True link popularity comes from having something worth linking to, not something you’ve asked your insulated group of cronies to link to. Certainly, the boost in direct traffic that a site can gain when it is being discussed in all the right places online is not to be taken lightly – and that alone is reason enough to try to be found in all the right places. Yet how much of that traffic actually converts into anything good, and how much does it help your organic search rankings? More important – how does it increase your bottom line? - For instance, I’ve written a few articles that received upward of 1,000 visitors a day from StumbleUpon alone. The spike in traffic was nice, and the slight increase in newsletter subscribers was certainly welcome, but for the most part, those StumbleUpon visitors spent just a few minutes on our site, and only a small percentage signed up for our free newsletter. None of them were interested in using our services. They read the article and then stumbled their way to the next site of potential interest. Isn’t participation in social media really just preaching to the choir? - You reach your peers, not the people who will buy your product or service. Sure, it’s a nice ego stroke to have others in your industry tell you how cool you are, and there’s something to be said for building credibility within your own community. I’m certainly not knocking that, and have built my own credibility via various online communities in which I’ve participated over the past decade. But how does it sell your products and services? - Do you gain customers and sales from your social media marketing and/or your participation in social networks? Does it increase your rankings for the keyword phrases your actual target audience is typing into the search engines? If your business model depends on traffic for traffic’s sake, or on how many ad impressions your site generates, then there’s an obvious value. But if you sell a product or a service – then not so much. My fear with all the hype about social media marketing is that people new to search marketing will believe it’s what SEO demands and what SEO is all about. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. Social media marketing is a great addition to any traditional SEO work that you do, but it’s not a substitute. It’s more akin to hiring a PR firm once you’ve launched your already-SEO’d website. On-page SEO is definitely not as sexy as social media marketing, but it is still the most important investment in your website that you can make. Period. So, go to all your social media conferences, and Digg your way to increased traffic. But first learn exactly who your target audience is, what they’re searching for in the search engines, and how your website highrankings.com/seo-reasons"]can solve their problems. Then make sure your website does exactly that. All the social media buzz and traffic won’t amount to anything if your target audience isn’t already part of the online conversation. Be sure to have your own house in order before you give social media marketing a try. And don’t be surprised if it doesn’t actually provide you with the ROI you hoped it would. In most cases it will depend on who your target audience is, where they hang out, the types of services or products you offer, and whether your website truly provides people with what they’re looking for. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/webmaster-tutorials/672482-social-media-marketing.html Getting back to SEO basics ... that is, creating a crawler-friendly website that is built around the keyword phrases people use at the search engines to find what you offer ... is the first and most important thing you can do for your website and your business. Yeah, it’s not as fun and exciting as social media marketing, but skip this step at your own peril! ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=672482 * courtesy of [ Jill Whalen ] Last edited by mis_chiff; 11-02-2010 at 09:27 AM.

08-18-2010, 09:01 AM	#2 (permalink)
davealan New Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2	How far it is ok? Iam also an SEO guy. Now a days everyone asking for Social Media Marketing. Apart from normal SEO how mauch we will gain from socail media marketing?. Its a big ? to me. By doing social media marketing new people will check our website. I feel instead of this we can write good articles and post it in different places. If the article is interesting then people will come automatically and we will get one backlink also.Any way thanks for valuable information. __________________ Here's where you can contact them: computer repairs data recovery

08-24-2010, 10:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
stevemack New Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: US Posts: 17	A key area, where SMM an important area where now a days every one is looking into this to reach their customers. Cost effective and more reachable makes every thing online. __________________ Drivers Ed \| Virginia Driving School \| DMV Practice Test

09-07-2010, 05:42 PM	#5 (permalink)
Fuzzylogic NamePros Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 115 Follow @Apposl	You just can't overvalue the service. In the end, the basic commandments apply: Content is king. Provide a useful service, and they'll come. __________________ Virtual Assistant @ Apposl.com. Please help design or offer feedback on my Apposl Virtual Assistant logo contest!

09-08-2010, 02:52 PM	#6 (permalink)
umbrellatechnologies NamePros Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Akola, India Posts: 31 Follow @nikhilrajhans	SMM is mainly for branding purpose. It also directs traffic to your website. But people think that SMM is going to bring heavy traffic which I don't feel. __________________ Nick Umbrella Technologies \| Offshore Web Development partner

08-20-2010, 10:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
jackqs NamePros Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 31	social media marketing is the hottest trend, almost everyone is doing it these days

09-10-2010, 07:48 PM	#7 (permalink)
gurusofit New Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 15	social media marketing is a very useful platform but i dont know if my website is optimized in 3-big search engine Google, Yahoo, Bing then i dont need a social media marketing stage __________________ Web Hosting in Pakistan\|Property For Sale\|Car for Sale

09-10-2010, 08:12 PM	#8 (permalink)
enjoylife New Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 3	Well, I think social media marketing is also important, but I do not think it is as important as the search engine optimization. __________________ Cheapest Louis Vuitton shoes, Fashion Christian Louboutin shoes, Designer prada shoes

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Social Media Marketing

How far it is ok?

A key area, where