SEO & Social Media: What is the Relationship?

By Rich Devine | Aug 30, 2010 2:59:13 AM

There are so many ways to answer this question. I've been trying to answer this question for at least a year, in terms of how we position our agency services and capabilities -- and I think I have the answer.

But first, lets discuss why it's so difficult to consistently and concisely define SEO/Social kinship and fit it neatly into a box. There are many reasons -- a few of of them include:

1. Subjective Definitions of Social Media:

While we most folks generally agree on what SEO is, why it's important, how it's generally done, and what the benefit can be -- no two people have the same definition for Social Media. For some, it's about blogs. For others it's about social networks like Facebook, and perfoming community management. Yet for others, it's about having conversations using Twitter. Some look at Social as a means for outreach, public relations, and awareness. And others view it plainly and simply as another visitor acquisition channel. Then there are those that view Social as a means to understand sentiment and tonality related to a brand or product. Is it limited to just digital? Or does it include any kind of social effort and behavior that exists online or offline?

Because there is no generally accepted definition of Social Media, how we understand the relationship between Social and Search is just as fragmented. Likewise the way we execute strategy based on Social/SEO synergy is inconsistent.

2. Lack of Standard Process

Because there is no widely accepted definition for Social Media -- how the medium is applied by marketers varies widely. This is where we can get in trouble. From an agency perspective, this is maddening because I want to hone our method, and define our capabilties and offerings. But the more we try to add structure and process to the execution of social media -- the more risk we face in missing new and innovative ways to harness the potential of social media.

For SEO & Social -- the same challenge exists. Any standardized process to realize synergy between the two may limit potential from that synergy.

3. Rate of Change:

Trying too hard to standardize process is risky because of the rapid onslaught of new tools, technologies, fads, and practices. The rate of change we see requires a reset in our understanding of what Social is -- monthly or even weekly. I won't even try to recite all of the variables that go towards 'change', but just think about how Twitter has impacted how we view social just during the last 6-12 months. Think about the emergence of local-social phenomenons like Foursquare and now Facebook Places. Think about the impact of Mobile and Mobile Apps. Think about all of the ancillary tools, widgets, and nic-nacs that strike social resonance and inspire sharing.

For SEO specifically, consider the impact of unviversal search. A SERP is no long just a SERP. Both real-time and seasoned social content continues to be more and more prominent -- both in its display within search results as well as its contributing impact on site authority and rank potential.

3. Organizational Boundaries:

However you define Social, there is considerable overlap between SEO & Social. But all too often, those that are responsible for SEO aren't always the ones assigned to manage Social Media efforts. Naturally, whatever potential synergies may exist between both disciplines aren't realized as well as they could be if managed by separate teams or resources.

So with so much ambiquity and fragmentation, how do we make sense of the connection between SEO and Social? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I have the answer. But before I tell you, you need to pay me. For such an invaluable answer, why would we give it away for free?

Don't worry, all you have to do is Pay with a Tweet (one of my favorite little social nic-nacs). Here's the deal: we want more traffic for ZAAZ Blogs. And there's a couple of ways we can get it: through increased SEO visibility, and through viral Social Media distribution of our blog.

So here's how this works: my ground-breaking answer and the remainder of this riveting blog post can be accessed after you tweet a nice little tweet. Your tweet tells your followers all about this clever blog post written by yours truly, and how it changed your life. Your tweet inspires further sharing of my post and blog to others, and their interest in accessing my 'answer' incents further tweeting and social sharing.

But it doesn't stop there! Many of those that take interest in my post and our blog will lead to a viral cascade of links (blogs/sites/tweets/etc.) Google then sees these links and adds authority to our blog, increasing our search engine rank potential.

Believe me people -- the answer is worth it. Seriously. But even if you don't care about the answer, do me a solid, and just tweet this damn blog post, okay? Just click the link below. (Oh, and follow me too!)

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Facebook Open Graph Coming to a Phone Near You

By Anders Rosenquist | Jul 14, 2010 2:36:26 PM

Facebook is pushing the mocial envelope these days. At the MobileBeat 2010 conference in SF earlier this week, Facebook announced that it will be extending its Open Graph platform to mobile, moving away from an individual mobile app strategy and moving into a let's-allow-facebook-to-be-connected-into-everything strategy.

What does this mean?  App makers will now be able to connect into the Facebook platform and incorporate data into their own apps, leveraging information such as friend recommendations.  It's easy to imagine a scenarios that combine information from your friends with location-based services - say Foursquare but with your whole Facebook community and history.

For marketers this means greater opportunities to serve offers at the right time and place, but with the added benefit of having the backing of your friends. A hotel chain's app that leverages a user's Facebook community could connect friend-recommended POI's and restaurants with discounts to stay in at a nearby hotel property.  Or a retailer could show you your friend's reviews of the product you are looking at while on the showroom floor.  Pretty cool.

Facebook also stated that they have 150 million mobile users of Facebook and are growing.  A nice plus that they just implemented too is the ability to sign up for a new Facebook account completely on your mobile device.  Good call, and good move toward further breaking mobile's tether to the desktop.

More info check out:  http://social.venturebeat.com/2010/07/13/facebook-mobile-platform/