Thursday, March 21, 2013
Social Media Marketing is
becoming increasingly important for search engine optimization, as search
engines are increasingly utilizing the recommendations of users of social
networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to rank pages in the search
engine result pages. Social media marketing / optimization holds the key to business success. Gone
are the days of traditional marketing strategies for brand awareness through
lengthy brand building discussions and the like. The most simplified solution
lies in the vast resource of the World Wide Web. However, the application of
the right techniques to create positive responses requires professional
thinking and well planned solutions to tap the right target base among
millions.
The implication is that when a webpage is shared or "liked" by a user on a social network, it counts as a "vote" for that webpage's quality. Thus, search engines can use such votes accordingly to properly rank websites in search engine results pages. Furthermore, since it is more difficult to tip the scales or influence the search engines in this way, search engines are putting more stock into social search. This, coupled with increasingly personalized search based on interests and location, has significantly increased the importance of a social media presence in search engine optimization. Due to personalized search results, location-based social media presences on websites such as Yelp, Google Places, Foursquare, and Yahoo! Local have grown increasingly important.Rob Reed, founder of location-based marketing platform Moment Feed has stated that, moving into 2013, local optimization on social platforms is now a "strategic imperative" rather than a "luxury".
Social media marketing / optimization is in many ways connected to the technique of viral marketing or viral seeding where word of mouth is created through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. An effective SMM / SMO campaign can harness the power of viral marketing; for example, 80% of activity on Pinterest is generated through "repinning." Furthermore, by following social trends and utilizing alternative social networks, websites can retain existing followers while also attracting new ones. This allows businesses to build an online following and presence, all linking back to the company's website for increased traffic. For example, with an effective social bookmarking campaign, not only can website traffic be increased, but a site's rankings can also be increased. In a similar way, the engagement with blogs creates a similar result by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and special blog search engines.
While social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, it differs in several ways. Primarily, SMM / SMO focuses on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful social media marketing /optimization.
