I’m debating on a Who Owns the Social Space event at a social media week in London next week – so I thought it would be a good idea to outline why I think an SEO background is better!
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Back in 2009 I attempted to write a balanced view on where social media fits between PR and SEO – this time I’m being ever so slightly biased and using my search background to argue the case for SEO:
- SEOs have long recognised the importance of social media and have built great relationships and connections on social media networks. This gives them a key advantage when trying to leverage a social media push to a strong network of contacts.
- The heavy use of social media by SEOs also means that they have a great understanding of the type of content and ideas which generate online attention.
- By maximising the reach of a social media promotion campaign, SEOs are more likely to pick up high quality coverage as well as extra volume. Also, third-party endorsements in the way of popular social media stories can often be more powerful for getting picked up by authoritative sources than going direct to the contact.
- SEOs are more analytical by nature: we like to have measurable results which we can show our clients. How much traffic did a social media campaign generate? What was the quality of traffic? How many conversions did it generate? How many links were generated? It’s not just branding! :D
- SEOs have a greater understanding of a wider range of social media channels. Not everything can be promoted via Twitter and Facebook; sometimes you need to use more targeted social bookmarking sites or even niche social media sites.
- SEOs know how to write linkbait – it’s not just about volume of traffic and coverage for SEOs, we also look to ensure that content and ideas have that hook to ensure that it encourages links.
- SEOs look at long-term search value from social media campaigns – by ensuring that social media campaigns can deliver targeted search traffic and conversions long after a promotional campaign push.
Of course there are a lot of good counter-arguments for PR too, but for the purpose of the debate I’m just going to focus on the pros for SEO. In practice you’ll often find that the best social media strategies come via SEO and PR consulting, which supports an in-house team with social media experience – although that’s probably an argument for another day!
Would be good to hear if you have any more arguments to back up the SEO argument for social media marketing – and we obviously encourage any defense of this from the PR side as well. Would be great to see some of you at the social media week event on Monday in London too!
“SEOs have long recognised the importance of social media” – well, most have. I wasn’t among them. :P
I both agree and disagree, having worked in SEO for 3 years before i dived into Social media it does give you a grounding in networks and understanding technical link building etc, BUT.. when you are in an SEO company as a SMM you aren’t in the best of company to succeed in your campaigns, and what i mean like that SEO is about links… SMM is about conversations and networks. Also when it comes to pitching SMM, you would be much better going into a meeting with a PR dept and pitching the marketing director rather than the IT director, which happens when you enter a meeting with an SEO.
PS: i love all my SEO friends and don’t mean this to sound ungrateful or nasty, i just think that SMM is far more PR than it is SEO.
I’ve got to agree with Claire here for the same reasons and in addition I’ve got to say that for many SEOs, the mindset shift required for successful social media participation hasn’t yet occured. I know many well respected SEOs that will tell me privately that they only use social media for the links/citations. I think that’s because there is still a prevailing mindset that SEO is purely a rank objective. Rank is a by-product of how and where communication is steered online (yes and the technical element too)and if you don’t really care about that, then you’re not qualified to deliver that message, i.e. be in charge of the social media budget. By “you” in that sentence, I mean rank-obsessed/link obsessed SEOs.
I’m agree with claire!!!
Thanks Nichola, i have struggled with this for a long time and was bogged down in the rank/link obsessed world of SEO for years. Being backed by a marketing team I can now concentrate on actual networking – getting Digg frontpages because of Branding not just links, spend time on Twitter because i like it and i want to connect and teach others to do the same, and develop real in depth campaigns that work for the client.
SMM has too long been the weird illegitimate twin of SEO that doesn’t quite fit, never really gets to show its worth in the SEO office and is always a bit of a joke.
PR + SMM = Real campaigns and Real (advertising) budgets
Hey Stotty, glad to see you and Claire are still using the ropes to get the message across.
I have to agree that SEOs understand how to lever social networks, conversations and interaction for links, but we also know how to (and have to) work a network to drive converting traffic, not just to get those beautiful links.
Many SEOs have moved beyond beyond the need to measure success by search position for an ego search term, or the number of links acquired from authority websites (but we still love them) and are looking to the ROI metrics. I’m pleased to say that we treat social as a partner of SEO, and work as a team to drive converting traffic and learn from both channels to form a cohesive brand. We even see PR as a valuable tool in our optimisation and social strategies. I guess I’m very lucky to be working in a progressive and harmonious agency!
I agree with the point in the article as well as Claire’s point that it is the balance between SEO work and PR work that can lead to a truly powerful social media presence. However, I think that the two can coexist in one person. Speaking from a small business perspective, it is unrealistic that a new business would have a dedicated SEO specialist (and likely not even a PR person for that matter). But approaching a social media undertaking with a balanced mindset and soliciting the advice of those that know SEO and how to leverage it effectively to build a brand and web presence can be incredibly helpful for a fledgling business, especially if such an undertaking happens early in the growth process. Social media is a great tool, but it is not the “one size fits all” solution that it is often seen to be.
Thanks for the great content and the healthy discussion.
My focus is SEO but with one beady eye on the others however I don`t believe in one over the other, they are all entirely different disciplines with a lot of crossover, SEO goes hand in hand with SMM which in turn goes hand in hand with PR, they all add to the mix.
Personally i feel it is a mix of both. Google has gone on record saying sm dose have a influence, but only when links (mmmm links) come from key influencers. The only way to get links from key influencers is to engage. In my opinion sm is a tool for crm and pr but including link at the right time can ad benefit. Taking PR’s approach of engagement is the right one but if done with SEO benefit in my.
Got to admit I’m impressed by the defense from PR’s on this. If I’m honest (which I was in this post) I think that PR and SEO are a great mix of skills for social media – without one or the other you’re likely to be missing out on the full benefit somewhere.
This post has already generated a large number of retweets too, mostly from SEO’s of course! :D
I think SM is all about a good PR with strong online skills (SEO being more than a must). In other words is all about the NewPr-communication people well adapted to the new technologies. You cant really spread your message without a good understanding off your target online behaviour or all the oppotunities you have to get the most out off it. In the same time, technical oriented persons, as most of SEO’s are, are challenged when it comes to adapt the message to the chanel and integrate it in the communication strategy. So SM is not about SEO or PR, but a perfect mix of understanding both of the disciplines and seeing the big picture. My 2 cents
Here is a blog post that talks about a few internet marketing flops http://blog.9thsphere.com/blog/2010-biggest-website-marketing-flops by some very major companies. Companies like Walmart, South West Airlines and even Skittles – that decided to take on the Social Media platform. I think in each of those examples; though the companies did have a strong PR background and years of experience – perhaps diving into the new social media and search engine world was not clearly orchestrated. The lack of experience in either of the departments can hurt the business overall. So I am on the same boat as a few others – it indeed is a mix of both however a thorough understanding of search engines and how they work will help you to better leverage your social media strategies as well.
I don’t believe it’s SEO versus PR, as much as it’s:
(1) A willingness and dedication to measuring.
(2) The understanding and appreciation for the fact that quality trumps quantity.
(3) Abandoning the old spin model and embracing authenticity.
Traditional PR and Marketing types are often limited by their old media mind set. On the hand, SEOs are probably better positioned to take what they already have and extend it to SM.
That said, I don’t believe it’s cut & dry. In all likelihood to be most effective a blend of skills is required. And that dynamic is what makes the Internet so exciting, eh?
Hi,
Interesting post. Social media is an integral portion of a successful SEO campaign in the current landscape. Social media marketing helps mainly with creating the global link popularity that is essential to high rankings.
I totally agree with all the points which you have mentioned in your post. I am also working as an SEO and I firmly believe that a person with an SEO background would able to get most out social networking more effectively and easily