Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

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Social Media… what is the number 1 barrier?

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

What is the #1 barrier to a successful Social Media Marketing Business Strategy?

According to a survey conducted by MarketingSherpa, lack of knowledge is the number one barrier to social media adoption. This means many organizations that try to play in the social media realm are at the risk of creating an atmosphere that can backfire on their marketing strategy if they are not knowledgeable.

You might or might not understand that starting a conversation online is important – but listening to what users are saying is not something that should be overlooked.  The first thing to know is that Social media is not one of those ‘set it and forget it’ strategies. You need to monitor, listen to, and participate in what users are saying about your brand, product or service.  There is a self defense aspect to Social Media if you start things or not.

The challenge for most organizations is finding the time to respond to threads, comments, and tweets. The more social networks you are on, the more resources are required for tracking the activity in those channels. A lot of organizations fear opening a channel of conversation also calls for opening a can of worms for users to post their frustrations, complaints, and bad experiences. Sometimes, but that is going on if you are participating or not.

What most organizations fail to realize is if they do not start the conversation on a positive note in the first place, where they do have control over what is being said, that is not going to stop anyone from creating that Facebook Group, or YouTube Channel, or blog that focuses on the negative experience with your brand.

For example, there are many Social Media pages, like in Facebook, that are dedicated to users who hate Microsoft. There are over 50,000 websites, 5500 blogs, 200 Facebook groups, 500 videos online, and dozens of tweets on Twitter hourly that have some reference to ‘Microsoft Sucks’. In the case of Microsoft, they have a large enough installed base of more or less satisfied clients who are tolerant to the nuances of Microsoft products so Microsoft can survive such banter. Even so, Microsoft watches this dialogue carefully and conducts counter measures.
 
Most small to medium sized businesses do not have to worry at such a large scale about brand protection, but remember even 1 website, 1 video, 1 Facebook page or 1 tweet can be enough to do some serious brand damage for a small business. By proactively participating in and monitoring Social Media channels even small businesses can protect their reputation and build brand loyalty.

The key is finding the right Social Media mix – tro get started, find out where your customers hang out online.  Social Media might be the question that is being discussed at meetings in your organization, but it is not always the answer. You need to look at what the objective of the campaign is, what you consider a success, and then determine if Social Media is a mechanism that is going to help fulfill that plan.

Social Media should not be a replacement for a marketing strategy you are implementing, but should be part of the mix of activities you are executing.

  • Your Internet Marketing System including a website
  • Pay Per Click
  • Email Marketing
  • Banner Ads
  • Social Media
  • Search Engine Optimization

Forward thinking, contemporary companies have already started and feel that Social Media is an important aspect to their business strategy. So whether it is a large portion or small percentage of your overall campaign, success comes with testing, measuring and analyzing results.

Conclusion -
So where do businesses start? Should they create a page on LinkedIn or MySpace? Should they start a blog or start a Twitter campaign? To answer these questions, it is important to understand that different social networks attract different types of people – so you need to match the users of your product and service to the network your target audience is most likely to engage in.

For example, if you are selling consumer goods, Facebook might be the better area to start promoting opposed to LinkedIn, which is a more B2B environment.  We can consult and help put the pieces of the Social Media puzzle together and recommend a plan that is right for your business. Social Media can be fun, drive a lot of targeted traffic, increase visibility, and generate more business, but without the knowledge and experience of executing the campaign, your social strategy is going to turn, well… very unsocial.

Get the advice and consult with experts.

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Social Media… don’t believe the myths

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Don’t Believe These 5 Social Media Myths 

There is a lot of information floating online that rants about everything from how great social media is to how much of a waste of time it is. Below is a list of common misconceptions around this topic that I often encounter when educating businesses about social media.

1. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are for Kids -
Fear: Businesses have a difficult time grasping the concept that the same network their children use to gossip to their friends about the party they went to over the weekend is the same channel that is going to connect businesses with their customers.

Fact: Yes, it is true that there are a lot of teenagers and college students that are on social networking sites. However the fastest growing demographics on Facebook are those 35 years and older (Facebook). On Twitter, 45 to 54 year olds make up the highest indexing age group (eMetrics) and Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6% of MySpace visitors (comScore). So, social media is not just for kids, but a way for organizations to reach out and connect with the right people to grow their business.

2. Building Online Relationships is a Waste of Time -
Fear: There is no point of networking with people you are never going to meet. It is simply a waste of time as it will not drive me any more business.

Fact: This is far from true – social media has opened the doors where it is possible to network with your customers, clients, prospects at ease. Not all of them are going to turn into customers, but that does not mean you cannot collect valuable feedback on your product or service. In addition, building your online fan base is another way for you to promote your products and services and help keep people informed about what is happening in your organization. There is no such thing as time being wasted when it comes to networking with your target audience.

3. You Can Not Measure Social Media -
Fear: It is not possible to measure an ROI on social media.

Fact: The very fact that social media is Internet based means it can be measured. When it comes to measuring social, there are typically different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) businesses look at when determining ROI. For example, the goal of your website may be to measure the number of completed downloads, the number of items added to the shopping cart, or the number of newsletter sign-ups you receive. However, on your social media campaign, you might look at the number of fans that increased over time, the number of comments posted on your channel, the number of discussion threads on your forum, or the number of ratings your video received. All these Key Performance Indicators can be measured and analyzed to determine if the campaign was indeed successful.

There are several tools available that allow you to measure the traffic you receive from social sites and analytic software such as Google Analytics can be used to determine which social sites brought the most conversions for your product / service.  So yes, considering all this, social media can be measured.

4. Social Media is Free –
Fear: I can create my own YouTube channel, or LinkedIn page, or Twitter account. There is no cost for me to set up my network on those portals, so why am I being told it is going to cost me money to implement a social media campaign?

Fact: A lot of the technology is free, but simply creating an account on Facebook or registering your product name on Twitter is not a social media campaign. You need to ask yourself:
• How do I increase the number of fans I have on my Facebook page?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my YouTube channel?
• How do I get people to retweet my message to their followers on Twitter?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my blog?

You still need the campaign, the creative, and the drive to get your social media plan working for you.

5. This is Something I Can Probably Do In-House –
Fear: We have employees that use social networking sites on a regular basis, and they are familiar with the technology, so why not use them to grow our business online?

Fact: In most cases, employees are using social media for personal reasons, and use it to connect with their friends, share photos, and find out what’s happening and where. But when it comes to leveraging and monetizing social media for business purposes, it is a completely different ball game. This is where creativity, campaign ideas, and of course experience is key.  Organizations need to turn to the experts in this field to help them put that plan in place. There is no pre-defined process for social media. Depending on your target audience and your product or service, the networks you participate in, the message you decide to deliver and the way you deliver it are crucial to the success of the overall campaign.

Contact experts with years of social media business strategy experience. 

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Social Media… what is the buzz all about?

Monday, March 29th, 2010

The buzz about Social Media is because it is where a lot of people ‘hang out’, it is growing, and it really works as a business promotional tool. About 50% US Internet users visited social networking sites several times a month in 2009 and this number is increasing. 

Businesses today need to look at all the alternatives to get in front of their customers. This is true for national and local businesses. Print Yellow Pages, newspapers, magazines, radio, etc are all in decline relative to viewership.  So a business must be online, but simply having a website is not enough anymore. Going social must be part of the mix to reach the broadest audience and to be more easily found via search engines.

Consider the promotion of your brand. Have you ever searched for a company name, brand name or product in a search engine before you made a purchase or decided to do business with that organization? Your online brand is extremely important to monitor and manage. Very often social media links show up with website listings in search engines.

Having one negative listing in the top 10 results of a search engine could be enough to cause prospects to steer away, leave your existing customers in a state of panic, and damage your brand to the point where business starts to go south.

Let’s take a look at United Airlines, a major United States airline that faced a public relations nightmare after an angry passenger created a music video about his guitar being broken during a trip using the airline. The passenger, Dave Carroll, a Canadian musician spent a year trying to get compensation from United Airlines, and when he received no response, he proceeded to take his own actions by creating a song about how United Airlines broke his guitar. The music video became an instant hit, and has millions of views registered on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Not only did this video go viral in nature, but even doing a search in Google for United Airlines showed the video on page one of the search engine results page. So with recent numbers like 5,752,254 views, 22,614 comments, 36,357 ratings, 27,567 users adding this video to their favorites, and 2,240,000 monthly searches in Google for the term United Airlines, you be the judge if this simple 4-minute, 36-second video clip did any damage to the United Airlines brand.

And you need to reserve your brand. Much like purchasing a branded domain name, it is important that companies also register their branded names on social channels. Each social site has their own rules on registering trademark or branded names, but there are a number of companies that have become victims of users squatting on their branded channel because the companies were not quick enough to act.

For example, Microsoft does not own http://www.youtube.com/Microsoft, a channel with considerable number of views.  And you would think that McDonalds owns http://www.youtube.com/McDonalds, but they are another victim of a company that had their channel name taken.   Apathy and sloth can result in painful consequences within the online business world.

The next article I will post is about the myths surrounding Social Media

In the meantime, if you are seeking a professional approach to social media, contact experts who have been in the social media marketing arena since its beginning.

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Social Media Tips… a history lesson and what’s next?

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Social Media can help build your brand, promote your product and services, collect feedback from your customers, increase your website traffic. and generate leads for your business.  Social Media can do all sorts of magnificent things for your company if you use this medium as part of your online marketing strategy. Whether you are a small business that services a local area or an international one that works on a global scale, Social Media is a proven business resource.  

Social Media is not a new concept. Social media has been around for some time – but it is only now that organizations are starting to routinely leverage this medium. Let’s take it back and see how the Internet has changed over the last several years and how it eventually gave birth to social media.

How It All Began -  Remember the days when we ‘surfed’ the web? In today’s world, we do not surf; we search.  There are about 250 million searches per day conducted just in Google. With smart phones like the iPhone & Blackberry, game consoles like Xbox 360, and mobile Internet sticks you can purchase from your Internet Service Provider, we can now surf online virtually any time and anywhere.

Remember when America Online (AOL) launched in the United States and with every incoming email you heard the famous ‘You’ve Got Mail’ audio? Now imagine in today’s world hearing that same ‘You’ve Got Mail’ each time you receive an email – how annoying would that be?

The Internet has changed and it is still changing today faster than ever.  Businesses need to keep up with the current trends if they want to survive online. During and after the dot com boom in the late 90s, most businesses jumped online and created websites, but websites back then are much different than they are now.

In the early years, web users would be limited to only reading information from a website. Websites were one dimensional and visitors needed to go back frequently to see if anything had changed. But as the Internet started to grow, it opened the door to other types of websites, like forums and newsgroups, which allowed users to post questions, share comments, conduct ratings, and become part of a conversation online. Soon we started hearing about Web 2.0 and sites like Wikipedia that exploded based on user generated content.

Websites evolved from being mere pages developed within the organization and became portals of public users generating content for them. Next thing you know, we have all sorts of Web 2.0 things emerging – like blogs, widgets, and social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube coming into the picture.

Businesses no longer had to wait for visitors to come to their website; they could now push information directly to their customers, and in turn customers had the opportunity to contribute and share that information with their network of friends online. Social media opened the door for information to be passed quickly and naturally – leaving the opportunity for viral growth for marketers.

But as exciting as it sounds to have raving fans promoting your business, what happens when a group of angry or frustrated customers decided to share their experience online? Let’s take a further look at some of the reasons why it is important to plunge into the social media realm.

The Importance of Going Social -  There is about 150 million USA regular users of Social Networking websites and the number is growing.    About 50% of regular SocNet users login multiple times each day using their PC or mobile devices.  Online businesses today need to look at other alternatives to get in front of their customers as simply having a website may not be enough anymore.

The next post will discuss the buzz around Social Media. It is important that businesses understand the new normal Internet or get help from professionals in Internet Marketing  who do understand.

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Social Networks… did you know?

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Did you know this about Social Networks (SocNets)?

USA web users currently spend on average just over 6 hours per month in SocNets?

In the top 10 countries, web users spent about 5.5 hours in SocNets in February.

About half of all SocNet traffic is within the USA

The unique SocNet audience in the USA grew about 30% year to year, from 115 million in February 2009 to 150 million in February 2010.

Facebook is the most popular SocNet site with about 50% of global SocNet traffic. MySpace is in second at about 15% of traffic.

Facebook passed Google last week as the most trafficked website. Facebook is more popular than email for communications.

Almost 50% of all global marketers currently use SocNets for business purposes with another 20% planning to jump in this year.   Almost 60% of USA marketers currently use SocNets.

About 50% of users (especially those under 25) log into Social sites like Facebook and Twitter during the night or as the first thing they do in the morning.  Almost 20% of all user age groups log into SocNets before turning on the TV or radio.

60% of users under 25 years old do not go longer than a day before using a SocNet and 50% for users over 25 do not let more than a day go by without going to a SocNet.  About 40% of <25 and 25% of >25 year olds check SocNets several times a day.

Mobile devices are popular SocNet connectivity methods because users check into SocNets so frequently whenever they have a spare moment wherever they are.

Is your business adapting to the SocNet environment and trend with valuable Social Media Marketing tactics? Not sure how? Get some help from experts.  Contact Us.

Join our webinar this Wednesday, March 24:

Topic: Monetizing Facebook for Businesses: 5 Deadly Mistakes Businesses Can’t Afford To Make
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/957409281

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Learn How to Advertise on Facebook

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

INVITATION

Subject: Keep March 24 open – Learn how to advertise on Facebook

Using Social Media for business purposes is part of the ‘new normal’ in marketing practices.  Join me on March 24 for a free special webinar entitled:
“Monetizing Facebook for Businesses: 5 Deadly Mistakes Businesses Can’t Afford To Make”.

Facebook is one of the fastest growing social networks available today. With over 350 million users worldwide, Facebook has even surpassed email as the most frequently used tool online.

At this webinar, WSI will teach you how you can leverage Facebook to enhance your brand, manage your reputation, drive more traffic to your website, generate more leads, acquire new customers and retain your existing customers.  Registration details are below. Space is limited so signup in advance to reserve a spot.

N.A. Market:
Topic: Monetizing Facebook for Businesses: 5 Deadly Mistakes Businesses Can’t Afford To Make
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/957409281

Note: To complete the registration process, you will need to enter my name, Gary Smith, as the WSI Consultant who invited you to the webinar. 

UK/Europe Market:
Topic: Monetizing Facebook for Businesses: 5 Deadly Mistakes Businesses Can’t Afford To Make
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 – 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM GMT
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/333810568 

Enjoy!

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Digital Marketing – what’s up in 2010?

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Surveys are a good way to determine trends. The eMarketer organization helps Digital Marketing advertisers, agencies, and publishers keep up with what’s up via publishing digital intelligence reports from various respected sources.

Here is a March 12, 2010 article about the 2010 trend of Return On Investment (ROI) being the top marketing parameter in 2010.

What I got out of the article is that advertisers are simultaneously enthusiastic about, but tired of  the hype about Social Media Marketing. It doesn’t say why some fatigue is setting in with advertisers so I am left to speculate.

  • Resistance to change?
  • More work – one more marketing channel to deal with?
  • Confusion about the fragmented nature of Social Media and how to pick the ‘right’ things to do?
  • Conflicted over how to split their marketing budgets?
  • Worries about one more thing to be accountable for?
  • Fear? – Companies are not in control of information within Social Media, the customer is in control.

Whatever is causing some advertisers to consider Social Media a “necessary evil”, the bottom line is that Social Media has risen to the top of the list of must do marketing activities!

emarketer_trends_031210

Need help with your Digital Media decisions and implementation? We are a Digital Media adoption agency.  Contact me for information

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Small Biz Doubles Social Media Adoption

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Small businesses are warming to Social Media Marketing - it is now a mainstream, broadly accepted marketing venue. 

Here is a link to real world experiences of the small business world with Social Media provided by eMarketer.

And ‘Marketing Budgets Spiral Towards Social’ - Nearly one fifth of marketing budgets will go to social in 5 years!

socialmedia_strategy_kit

Getting confirmation that Social Media is effective for business purposes is one thing; knowing how to do it effectively is another. You can piece together how-to info from this blog or other online sources. Or you can seek advice from friends and associates.

Or… you can obtain a comprehensive Social Media Strategy guide from  professionals.  We offer a Social Media Strategy Kit for $99.95 that offers 60+ pages that will jump start your Social Media Marketing voyage.  The full purchase price will be refunded if you engage WSI for a website or Internet marketing project. Contact me to order your kit.

What will you learn from your Social Media Strategy Kit?

Though the majority of companies are aware of the benefits associated with social media, many have not established a social media strategy. Why? It could be due to limited resources or simply because they do not know where to begin. To help your company get started with social media, WSI has created this Social Media Strategy Kit which contains best practices, checklists, templates, tools and resources so your company can:

  1. Educate yourself and your staff on social media
  2. Ensure social media policies and guidelines are established
  3. Ensure your brand is protected and consistent
  4. Engage your customers and stake-holders
  5. Create a social presence and community
  6. Generate leads via your networks
  7. Utilize social media in your PR endeavours
  8. Measure your social activities
  9. Monitor your online brand reputation
  10. Establish a digital crisis management strategy for social damage control

It’s vital that your company stay up-to-speed with today’s evolving digital media technologies. This way, you can monitor what customers are saying about your brand online, but more importantly, leverage these new media tools to create and foster positive conversations around your brand.

Don’t miss this limited time offer for a comprehensive Social Media Marketing Kit for only $99.95 (fully refundable if you engage WSI in a website or Internet marketing campaign).  Contact me to obtain your kit. WSI is a social media adoption agency.

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What’s the future of Social Media for your Biz?… that’s up to you

Friday, February 12th, 2010

I have devoted many of my blog posts to the topic of the business use of Social Media as have many, many other online publications. For example, eMarketer is a source for unbiased research and trend analysis on digital marketing & media.

In a recent eMarketer article entitled, What is the Future of Social Media?, the author said, “In the few short years that social media has been a marketing vehicle, it has already had an enormous effect on the way companies do business.”

I agree with the above statement if one word was added – …an enormous effect on the way smart companies do business.  Some companies have adapted and are enjoying enormous benefits from Social Media Marketing. But many companies are not able or willing to keep pace with the rapid rate of change that the digital revolution has created.  Some don’t get it while others get it but are having trouble adapting to it.

The basic principles are easy to understand, Learn how here. The devil is in the details.

eMarketer has published a series of articles about Social Media.

If you are not one of the ‘smart businesses’ that has adopted Social Media Marketing, what are you waiting for? If you need help or lack the time to deal with the details, contact us, we are a Social Media Adoption Agency.

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Is online Social Networking ‘fake networking’?

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

I was recently asked if in-person networking was better than online social networking (in SocNets).  And, isn’t SocNet networking ‘fake networking’? And a follow-up question was: “Is it better to network with people you know or with new contacts?”

Business networking simply means connecting with people to share information with the goal of establishing mutual trust & respect resulting in sharing leads or endorsements.

Networking success doesn’t so much depend on where you network and with who (in-person or online with friends or strangers). Success depends more on how good you are at it. One type of networking isn’t real and the other fake, but online networking takes different skill sets than in-person networking and with both methods you need to work at it harder with strangers than with friends.

When networking doesn’t produce the desired results it’s usually from:
1) the parties don’t take the time and effort to establish & maintain a feeling of mutual trust & respect and/or
2) both parties are more interested in getting leads than providing leads.
Those things can happen in-person or online.

If you have ever gone to a Chamber networking event you probably observed different behaviors.  Some folks stay mostly in a cluster of old acquaintances chatting among themselves – mostly getting caught up with the latest news. And some folks are actively circulating in an attempt to make new contacts. Both types are networking – make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.

Within both types (cling to friends or circulators) you probably also noticed different motivations.  Some folks are there for mostly the social aspects. Some are there to ‘hunt’ for sales opportunities or alliances.  And some are attending to search for a provider of something they need – buyers. All attendees have a mix of motivations (socializing, selling, buying). But the buying aspect is usually a minority percentage. So in-person networking is mostly made up of friendly chat and salesmanship.

Online networking is similar.  Posts are a mix of useful information and friendly banter along with a lot of attempts at selling aimed at a minority of buyers. One difference with online networking is that it is easier to superficially connect with new people via mass invites – a type of ‘numbers game’ approach of quantity rather than quality of connections.

With either in-person or online networking, in the end success comes down to are you willing to give and take or just take?  You must be able to build a mutually beneficial, trusting  relationship with people who are interested in getting and giving leads or endorsements.  

Luck plays a roll, but mostly it takes some time and work.  Sincere effort determines networking success or failure, not where you practice it or if it is with buddies or new connections.

Guidance is available for online networking methods and best practices – contact me for more information. And here is a Social Media Best Pracitces Article

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Is Business Social Networking a bunch of hooey?

Monday, February 1st, 2010

If you are a member of business oriented online Social Networking groups, and you should be, you might become convinced that business social networking is a bunch of hooey. 

Hooey: noun – silly or worthless talk, writing, ideas, etc.; nonsense; bunk: as in… That’s a lot of hooey and you know it!

Understand that SocNets are a subset of Social Media including websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace.  SocNets are different in purpose from Blogs or content sharing websites like YouTube, Flickr, and Squidoo or from bookmarking sites, etc. SocNet group participation is for connecting with people with similar interests and building relationships, not for direct sales activities.

For example, LinkedIn is one of the prime business social networking websites. It is organized around an endless number of Groups that are each devoted to a specific category or area of business interest.  Each Group has a discussion section and news area to post topics of interest to the group.

But in many Groups, 80% of the discussion and news postings are thinly disguised advertisements. These quasi-ad posts will have an interesting headline, but the body of the post contains a couple of self-serving statements followed by a link to the author’s business website. Click on the link and you are taken to a sales oriented landing page.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  That is a bunch of hooey from the viewer’s perspective.  People scanning SocNet posts are interested in discussions, useful news, or exchanging job information. In B2B SocNets, viewers may be in the market for something, but if yes are mostly at the ‘becoming aware or doing research ‘ top or middle areas in the sales funnel, but seldom in the ‘ready to buy’ bottom of the funnel.

It’s like going to a Chamber event to ‘network’. My experience is that most participants attending networking events are there to socialize with friends or to try to immediately sell something to ‘prospects’. They certainly are not there to buy something. So the room is filled with friendly chat or sellers and few if any buyers.

The typical networking ‘seller’ meets, in their mind, a ‘prospect’ and quickly regurgitates an elevator speech hopeful that they will snag a sale.  The other person only hears blah, blah, blah while waiting their turn to unload their elevator speech. Of course the ‘buy from me now before you get to know me’ approach seldom works.

SocNets are often used in a similar manner with poor results. Check out the comments count for quasi-ad SocNet posts and they are usually zero. Sure, some folks might click on the web page link in the post, but I suspect the frequency is about the same as responses to hated SPAM email messages.

One suggestion for live networking events is to introduce yourself and quickly ask the other party what they do rather than launching into a spiel about how wonderful and fascinating YOU are. Make the discussion about them by asking questions to show you are paying attention. 9 times out of 10 when they are done, they will ask you what you do and pay better attention. And don’t do a general sales spiel – use what you learned about them to suggest specific areas where you might be able to add value for them.  Above all, be patient, its like dating and you just met!

There is also a right and wrong way to use biz SocNets.  Unfortunately many people use them as an extension of their conventional mass marketing methods hoping to catch a quick sale.  It is better to start by asking for information or help on some topic.  Then look for responses that offer a chance to build relationships by reciprocating with info of value to the responder and group at large.

Or add value by looking for posts that are asking for info or advice in an area of your expertise.  Provide answers without immediate expectations for business results – build your expert status by creating credibility in the relationship.

SocNets should be used to collaborate, find solutions, and connect & communicate with people with similar or complimentary interests.  Get to know each other, add value, and earn each other’s trust. Business results will follow and that’s no hooey.

Contact me for coaching – we’ve been there and done that.

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Digital Marketing Tip – SEO white hat, black hat… the white hat wins in the end

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

 As I mentioned in the last post, Search Marketing remains the gold standard as the long term highest bang for the buck Internet Marketing method, especially Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But SEO for valuable keywords is highly competitive; ya gotta know what you’re doin and ya gotta play by the rules.

The terms white hat and black hat applied to SEO refers to people using tactics that either do or do not conform to search engines’ intended methods for achieving high search engine ranking.  You know; good guy / bad guy stuff. White hats produce results that last a long time, whereas black hats use ‘get rich quick’ methods and risk having their sites banned temporarily or permanently once the search engines discover what they are doing.

The below scatter graph shows the search engine optimization techniques historically being used by good guy / bad guy SEO practitioners and the relative value of each technique.

seo_white_black_hat

With the emergence of Social Media, the search engines found a new, better way to measure website relevance and popularity – the two superordinate values prized by search engines. 

This scatter graph shows the “high value” road that white hat SEOs should implement.  In summary, focus on getting your content found, then make it easy to share so that it gets spoken about and goes viral. That is the pathway to dominating search engine rankings.
seo_white_black_hat-new

Use the above scatter graph to stay on the white hat side of the search engines’ tules and to guide your SEO priorities. If you need help with SEO – the elephant of Internet Marketing – I’m available.
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