Social Media: Search it, Say it, Sell it
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Written By Noah Mallin | January 27, 2009 | Share This
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When many people think about social media marketing, they often think of ads or fan pages on sites like Facebook or YouTube rather than the actual content and ways people use the platform. Let’s say you’ve been diligently updating your company’s Wikipedia page from home and you are running a paid search campaign to make sure that potential customers who are searching for your product will see your site. You’ve even got SEO down so you can own the real estate on relevant search reply pages. Could it be that you are still missing an opportunity to connect with interested customers?
There are more and more people who are finding out about products online by asking about them. Only they are asking their peers first and then going to a search engine (if at all).
Obligatory Twitter reference in 3, 2, 1…
Take Twitter. It’s not unusual to see Twitter users asking for advice on all kinds of things from Wordpress plug-ins to car dealers to plastic surgeons. What used to be spread out amongst thousands of message boards is starting to congeal around the Twitter platform and smart marketers can use Twitter Search to find out what people are saying and when. They can also respond to inquiries when appropriate by directing users to their products or services. Twitter’s link sharing properties also give you an opportunity to introduce interested customers to your site.
It’s not inconceivable to think that over time more people will turn to this kind of peer suggestion than to a site like Wikipedia which doesn’t afford much interaction and can feel less trustworthy. Even if the response ends up being a link to a Wikipedia entry, that information carries different weight coming from a trusted peer.
In addition those aforementioned message boards do still exist, and are another good place to get a sense of what people are saying and how you can join in.
What’s even cooler about all this is that it pays dividends when it comes to your search marketing strategy. Find out how people talk about your product and your market segment and you can find out what kind of language they use on search engines. This can lead directly to smarter keyword development for both SEO and paid search.
Thoughts? Comments? Leave ‘em in the comments field or hit me up on Twitter at @nmallin.
Topics: Advertising: Online, ECommerce, SEM: Keyword Generation, SEM: Paid Search, SEO, Search: How-To, Search: Innovations, Social Media, Twitter, Wikipedia |