How Social Media and SEO Work Together to Build Links by Scott Offord

Guest post contributor: Scott Offord- SEO manager at Orion Web

Let me start off first by saying that I’m always looking for ways to learn more about social media, search engine optimization(SEO), and web analytics. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable in this area, but I would never call myself an “expert” because the field is ever changing and there are so many other talented individuals who I can truthfully say know more than myself. That is why I am always looking for other quality guest posts from other knowledgeable professionals in the internet marketing field to contribute to my blog to contribute their expertise to make us all that much better at what we do, and help those small business owners that can find this information valuable.

I recently asked Scott Offord, SEO manager at Orion Web and well known SEO expert in the Milwaukee and Waukesha area to contribute a post to my blog on the topic of  how social media and SEO can work together to build links. I had the privilege of meeting Scott at a Waukesha internet marketing meetup. They put a great presentation on the topic of,  ”Building credibility and website visibility through writing and distributing articles online.” It was very informational meeting and I encourage those looking to learn more about internet marketing to join this meetup. Needless to say, I thought Scott would be the perfect person to ask for my guest post on how social media and SEO can work to build links to your website.

Here is how it went:

Me:

Hi Scott,

Thanks for messaging me on Twitter about a possible guest post. I am really working to build my blog, and would love if you can contribute a guest post. Since I know you’re heavy on knowledge about SEO, would you like to contribute a post on the topic of how SEO and social media can work together to build links? If that isn’t of interest, I’d love to hear your thoughts on a topic.

Scott:

“That topic works. Give me an arguement about what you think the ‘true’ purpose of social media is all about in the business realm.”

Me:

“I believe it puts a face to the business. Traditional marketing shouts messages to customers with billboards, print ads, etc. Social media offers the opportunity of a real connection and has effectively changed the world of customer service by  providing opportunities for instant communication and relationship building. I think the combination of the two is the best way to reach customers.”

Scott:

As you’ve probably heard Rachel say before, “… [social media] helps to put a face to the business.” Yes, traditional marketing often shouts at prospects and customers from their billboards, magazine ads, and TV commercials: “65% Off Sale, Buy me! We’ve got a deal just for you… Sale ends Friday! Act now!” But, with social media, an opportunity for real connection exists (And in more than one way. Read on and you’ll see what I mean.)

The use of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Foursquare is in the process of changing the world of marketing as we know it.  Social media is having a effect on the approach businesses take in branding and marketing today. As many have seen, it has been providing interesting new opportunities for companies to take customer service to a new level. Social media can address people’s negative experiences, and can be used as a vehicle for instant communication and relationship building… all which can be done with just a little planning, and a few clicks of a mouse button.

Rachel is correct that social media can be effective for improving customer relations, however; from working as an Internet marketing professional and through experience with my own pet projects, I’ve witnessed another way that using social media helps businesses.

When I first started working as a web developer many years ago, one of the best ways to drive traffic to a website was for the webmaster to stuff the code with a bunch of keywords, submit the website to various online directories, and then to wait patiently for it to get indexed by search engines like AltaVista, AOL, or AskJeeves.

Over the last few years, search engines have become the primary tool that people use to explore the web, find helpful information on websites, and connect to companies with whom they otherwise would never have considered doing business.

In recently years, Internet marketing professionals have started using social media as a way to gain popularity for websites by making search engines aware of new content, encouraging search engines to boost a website’s rankings (even if just temporarily), and to build a large quantity of links from profiles on social-sharing websites like YouTube, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Flickr, and Digg.

As stated earlier, with social media, an opportunity for real connection exists.  This vehicle, once believed only to be good for building and maintaining relationships with a company’s customer base online, has also become a viable method of building links to websites that, in turn, help continually drive traffic to business websites.  And to an Internet marketer, that’s real connection!  Many people fail to realize that search engines have started to use social media activity as a signal in determining how important it might be, at any given time, to adjust the number of search results that contain news articles on a certain timely topic, for example, or whether or not to show a larger number of social-centered website listings on the first page of search results.

Of course there are other signals and factors that go into organic search engine rankings, but that’s a discussion for another blog post. Perhaps Rachel or I will cover them in a future article. I hope this blog post shed some light on the usefulness of social media in the context of building both relationships and links, and the power it has to bring in new prospects and keep existing customers coming back time and time again.

Scott Offord is a search engine optimization professional at Orion Group ( http://orionweb.net ) whose desire is to help web designers and developers in the Milwaukee area to fulfill their clients’ Internet marketing requirements.