(Surprise) Social Media Actually Delivers Real Value

With the dramatic rise in use of social media, entrepreneurs were decidedly placing themselves in one of two camps: those who saw NO potential value in social media and those who jumped on the bandwagon without a clue to where the train was heading. Game Over. Now, after a lot of experimentation and evaluation by experts and novices alike, it seems there are some real opportunities in social media for businesses of all sizes. Our digital agency strategic partner, LocalDirective, discusses some of these ways you might benefit.

FIRST: Social Media Definitely Helps With SEO

Most entrepreneurs have heard the terms Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing (SMM), and some have used these methods to target untapped market segments. What exactly are these two marketing strategies, and how do they hinge on each other?

SEO Is About Visibility

When people talk about SEO, it really means executing tactics seen favorably by search engines so as to increase the visibility of a site, page or profile in targeted Search Engine queries. There are many factors that impact where a particular page will display in the Search Results (SERPs), but a few of the factors include:

Age of content (freshness) on the pages of the site.
How relevant the content is to the search query.
Quantity and quality of other sites that link to your site.

Social Media Can Be Critical to a Well Rounded SEO Strategy

While SMM may not drive rankings on its own, it can certainly play a vital role in an effective SEO Strategy. Not just Facebook or Twitter, Social Media also includes:

Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Social Bookmarking (e.g., Delicious, Digg, etc.)
Geotargeted Sites (e.g., Foursquare, Google Places)
Social Review Sites (e.g., Yelp!, Google Reviews, Yahoo! Reviews)
Niche Social Media Sites (e.g., MySpace, Digital Radio, Etc.)

Social Media Marketing Helps SEO Because It Drives Visibility

SMM, focused around a central hub (link to article blog as your hub of social networking), can drive key components of your SEO Strategy.

Fresh Content: Search Engines love to see fresh content on a website. Blogs allow you to easily add valuable content to your website (more than sales content).

High Quality Links: Part of the algorithm Search Engines use to rank a site is the number and the quality of other sites that link back to you. Generally speaking, social networking sites are pretty powerful links back to your site. When you can get other users of the social network to also link back to you (e.g., social bookmarking), you’re developing a tremendous base of powerful links back to your site.

Reaching New Markets: While this may not be a specific goal of your SEO campaign, it is vitally important to most businesses. Through social networks, you will reach people who may not actually be out searching for your product, but who may be very influenced by your brand message when you are not overtly selling. This helps build a long term foundation of awareness that will likely deliver greater long term sales.

SECOND: Social Media Now Offers Interesting For-Free Opportunities

Now that Social Media has become an integrated aspect of many of your prospects’ lives and is being used by over three quarters of marketers, it is definitely becoming mainstream. So expect the innovation in marketing and advertising opportunities to accelerate. Already we are seeing offerings from location-based service offerings to the tried-and-true paid search beginning to proliferate.

For instance, SEMPO’s recent State Of The Search Marketing Report 2011 (http://econsultancy.com/us/reports/sempo-state-of-search) indicates paid marketing in Social Media is expected to burgeon this year, with spending predicted to reach $19.3B, a 16.3% increase over 2010. However, paid Social Media campaigns are still relatively new, and the ROI, as compared to traditional search engine marketing, is still under evaluation.

LocalDirective will continue to provide insight into many of these offerings in the coming months. While your industry, your target market and your competitive milieu may determine which social media is best for you, what is certain is that social media will most certainly be part of the future of your business.

Meanwhile, now is the time to get out of whatever camp you were in, dust off or develop your Social Media Marketing strategy, and begin identifying the unique SMM opportunities that will deliver real value to your prospective customers and to your business. They are out there. Take advantage of this month’s coupon and save $100 on a custom branded Facebook, Twitter & YouTube Channel package that provides a look and feel that exactly matches your website.

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