Search Engine Marketing: Search Gets Social

How to bring social media into your SEM strategy

October 2007 By Kate DeBevois

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TM: Do aggressive social media marketing efforts provide a good value for ROI?

JK: Yes, provided the site strategy supports social media, and marketing efforts are underway to let customers know about it. However, ROI may not be measured in traditional manners; rather than immediate purchase, it may be valuable to look at brand equity and the long-term customer relationship.

TM: How can marketers optimize different formats of content produced for long-term, sustainable traffic and link popularity? When optimizing non-text items, what keyword tags are the most effective?

JK: In many ways, the tenets of natural search apply, no matter what the format is. Keywords or phrases used in tags, titles, file names, alt tags, descriptions, RSS and other forms of content will drive results. And keyword choices still need to be based on words people use, not our marketing terminology.

TM: How can marketers build their own social media networks and also incorporate optimization tactics with as many relevant online media formats as possible?

JK: If social media meets the goals of both the company and its customers, it may make sense to create a social media network. In regard to optimization tactics, thinking of social media networks as a component of your SEM strategy is a good way to get started (applying keyword optimization methods to bookmarking and linkability, for example).

Where social media optimization expands beyond the tenets of SEM is in its relationship to viral marketing. The challenge is finding the right balance between including user-generated social media content or functionality, such as chat, YouTube videos and RSS, and incorporating third-party sources, such as adding a “Digg” button to your site, inviting mashups or participating in peer-to-peer networks. [Glen Hartman contributed to this answer; he is the managing director of digital practice at Harte-Hanks Inc.]

TM: Is it better to focus on one or two social media formats, or to create a more broad network for online marketing?

JK: Finding the right mix will likely involve some trial and error, but the goal must always be to engage customers on their terms. Before building a social network for the company, a marketer should first get immersed in the social engagement world as a user/customer. Spend time on Twitter and Jaiku, trade photos on Flickr, monitor the blogosphere, get to know Technorati and del.icio.us. Work from the outside in to architect a user experience that will be of value to customers.

TM: What kind of content is the most effective for attracting quality traffic and building link popularity? How can marketers develop content that helps users accomplish goals as well as create a positive online experience?

JK: Relevance continues to drive good user experience, which comes from content in all formats. HTML content should be scannable and digestible. Video formats should be relevant, entertaining or both. Podcasts should be relevant and worth the download. Blogs should be monitored to ensure high quality.

Usability testing can help determine if you are off to the right start, but evaluation through Web analytics helps measure engagement and reputation monitoring can ensure that people find your content valuable (i.e., monitoring blogs about your company and reviewing tags and other social search indicators).

TM: How can marketers use social media for SEM to boost online brand presence and natural search results?

JK: One of the potentially easier things to do is to put blogs on a site and use technology such as RSS to promote new content. However, it is often a challenge to make these decisions, especially on a corporate site. Sometimes a parallel strategy can be created—creating a social network that lives in conjunction with other sites. However, both approaches should include tactics to maximize linkability, tagging and bookmarking opportunities. Regardless of what tactics marketers choose, it still comes down to the right digital strategy and communicating with the target audience in a relevant way.