| l media is often publicized as the next great leap for | | | | people generate PR for you, doesn't it? |
| marketers, and in many ways it is. However, there are | | | | 2. Effective social media marketing inspires people to |
| indirect marketing uses of social media that are often | | | | link to you. |
| overlooked. For hundreds of thousands of web | | | | An effective social media presence is not just about |
| businesses, a favorable ranking in search engines is | | | | inspiring conversation, but about inspiring links. When |
| the most powerful marketing method available. | | | | you give people reasons to connect with yourself, your |
| Of course, SEO is its own marketing form, and one | | | | company, or your brand, they are inspired to write |
| that's given a large amount of attention already from | | | | about you, and eventually link to you. A simple call for |
| marketers. But for all the focus that has been put on | | | | people to blog about you could end up with hundreds, |
| social media as an independent marketing platform, | | | | sometimes even thousands, of organic backlinks to |
| one area has been ignored: social media as an SEO | | | | your business website. |
| marketing platform. | | | | 3. Social media profiles hold high SEO value. |
| Every link that is posted on Twitter is another powerful | | | | Google Profiles, a new addition to Google's huge |
| backlink to your website. Every discussion on | | | | information network, allow anyone to receive a |
| Facebook is another asset for your search results. | | | | backlink from a highly rated website. With a few |
| While social media marketing is often relentlessly | | | | strategic SEO-based social media profiles, you can get |
| focused on the long-term, it is also a great way to | | | | inbound links to your website from a wide range of |
| generate short-term links to your website, powerful | | | | high-value websites. Remember, it is all about |
| SEO juice, and other search marketing tools. | | | | trade-offs -- is it worth your time to generate hundreds |
| If you are planning a social media campaign, craft it so | | | | of low quality links or generate the few powerful ones |
| that SEO is a side effect. When built correctly, a social | | | | through social media? Social media carries dual value |
| media campaign can be more than just an | | | | -- as a direct marketing platform and for SEO -- while |
| independent marketing exercise -- it can be a resource | | | | links alone are only worth their search value. |
| for SEO and long-term branding. | | | | 4. Smart marketers use social media as a reputation |
| 1. Social media generates backlinks on its own. | | | | management tool. |
| If you have ever run a promotion through social media | | | | Ever been hurt by a wave of bad press? It is painful |
| platforms, it should already be clear to you how many | | | | to search for your company name on Google, only to |
| backlinks you can instantly and naturally generate. With | | | | have a couple of negative articles pop up in the top |
| an incentive-based competition -- for example, a | | | | listings. The good news is that social media profiles |
| Twitter campaign involving a direct link to your website | | | | typically rank highly in search listings. With just a few |
| -- you can crowdsource not just natural promotion, but | | | | social media profiles, you can control your search |
| backlink generation. Sound good to sit back and let | | | | results and easily remove unfavorable listings. |