Online Marketing – An Internet world of constant change.
Be Heard, Be Seen, Be Found Online with Net Branding Ltd (New Zealand | Auckland)
Online Marketing | Social Media and SEO – a world of constant change.
The online marketing, social media and SEO environment is under constant change and as a result, your online social media and web marketing strategy cannot remain static. It is important to re-evaluate your business goals, social media campaigns and results AND revise your strategy at least once a year. However, based on past experience and at the current rate of evolution, a yearly revision may not be optimum and a quarterly review should likely become the norm.
So let’s as the following questions.
In the current online marketing environment, have you taken cognizance of the following?
Have you diversified? We’ve seen Facebook move from a school networking medium into a strategic business tool for communicating with your chosen market. Not that long ago, we were able to confirm – with a degree of certainty that all of your Facebook Business fans saw your Facebook updates in their news feed. This is no longer the case as Facebook focuses on increasing their advertising dollar. As Facebook changes we should be aware not to become too dependent on one social networking tool as we need to acknowledge we are marketing ourselves in an arena of which we have very little control and there is a business risk associated with that.
Do not write off Google from a SEO perspective. Yes, Google+ is important. Whilst it has not had the huge user uptake, If there’s one social network businesses should pay specific attention to, it is Google+. A social network already playing a more important role in Google’s organic ranking algorithm. This online trend is likely to continue.
There are however, some indications coming out of the Google camp that Facebook and Twitter have no impact on SEO rankings. I’ve covered these reasons in earlier Net Branding posts and have highlighted the social networks crawling and accessibility issues. So it stands to reason that if Google is looking for social signals, it has easy access to Google + information where it is able to access the Google+ site and collect as much information as what it needs.
Google+ is also the best way to get access to Google Authorship, which will, in my opinion play a larger role in SEO . Why you may ask? Google Authorship helps the search engine identify your content, attribute it to the correct author and build a portfolio for each author that may include what many are calling “Author Rank”. This is algorithmic scoring based on author expertise and publishing history.
Be Heard, Be Seen, Be Found Online with the Integration of social media, SEO, and content creation. Social media, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and content marketing do not happen in isolation. In today’s world, social media marketing certainly impacts on how valuable content is seen and shared across the Internet, extending it’s social reach to a new level.
Content creation and associated marketing have direct implications on your SEO performance especially in light of Google’s recent algorithm updates. Again it is important that you consider the three established pillars of online marketing (as verbalised within the Net Branding Ltd catch phrase.) These three pillars work, as a system to increase visibility, build your brand and ultimately reach clients and improve sales.
The ultimate winner for online content – Images! There isn’t a question of doubt that images perform better for engagement within the social networks of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest plus other social networks. In addition, Facebook (based on a recent study by Vision Critical) is the network most likely to drive customers towards a purchase. Video content is a must have for content and is a definite asset in your shareable content armoury. It allows you to visually promote your business and tell stories. Not every platform will be right for you, but spending the time to find the visual angle to your business’ story and experimenting with different content formats within the different social networks and your real time feedback is a key element that can help revitalize your social media marketing strategy at those quarterly reviews. The key is to create compelling content that resonates with your unique community, and then create interactions around that content to build your audience.
Social media the ultimate brand builder. Social media channels should be managed according to a brand-oriented approach. Building your brand and, ensuring the consistency of the brand on any platform, impacts your SEO and improves sales over the long term, connecting with your ROI for online marketing. Brand recognition should be a key objective for any social media campaign.
- Are the visuals of your social media accounts consistent with the rest of your visual branding? Is your account name or any other copy branded? Are you regularly filtering your status updates to ensure they’re on-message and consistent with the overall brand that you’re building? Focusing on building your brand through your social interactions should be a key focus this year.
If the past is anything to judge by, we can confirm that social media and SEO will continue to evolve. Social media cannot be executed in isolation of any of your other online branding elements and realizing that you need to be flexible and continue to evolve will assist you in achieving a higher return on investment.
