SOCIAL, CONTENT, OR SEO?
Recently I’ve been reading a lot about content marketing, especially with regard to long range website success. There is no doubt that if your company is going to be a player, your website requires good content. But as I told my wife not long ago, visitors are looking for solutions, quick solutions. If they see a lengthy article or post they may jump because they just don’t have the time to wade through and find the nugget hidden in your article. Content is great, but it better be accessible.
That’s where social media comes in. How often have you read a post on Facebook or Twitter and said to yourself, “I really don’t need to know what you had for lunch yesterday and I certainly don’t need to see a picture of it. But consider two things, first of all you are there reading it, which means, it’s accessible. Second, the content may be worthless, but you are finding some reason to be there. So social media works mostly with niche focused content, sometimes that niche could be a single person. So how does this impact SEO?
It’s tempting to say, to be successful, you need all three: exciting plentiful content, on-page SEO based on extensive keyword research, and a large, active social media footprint. I vote yes to all three, but I would add engaging calls to action. My own experience with AdWords has showed me that engaging calls to action get traffic and conversions. And those calls can start from Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or an email campaign. Moreover if the links can be reinforced once the visitor reaches the website or landing page, you are going to make sales.
You may be asking about the other elements like inbound links and PR. Well those are important too. So where do you start? A lot depends on your company’s goals and the state of your existing site. That’s why I recommend starting with an evaluation from New Energy Communications or another web marketing company. The best results come when all the elements work together to solve the visitor’s need. And whether that happens on the first visit or the tenth, hopefully you are in it for the long run.
