SEO FIRE

What is Social Media? Often referred to as the 5th “P” in marketing Social Media is about “Participation” 

Social media unlike traditional media such as newspapers, television, books, and radio is fundamentally different. Social media is not finite meaning there are no limits. Audience participation in social media, adding comments or editing the stories is the social differentiator. Then the content itself in social media by virtue of it’s electronic format can also take the form of text, graphics, audio or video.  These media can be combined and made available via feeds that can be downloaded by users with feed readers or pulled into other distribution sites featuring mash-ups of content from various sources.  

The term Social Media  has several different connotations, however in the context of internet marketing, Social Media refers to a group or network of web properties primarily driven by the users. For example, blogs, forums,  and video sharing sites. Social Media Optimization (SMO) is the process of trying to get one’s content more widely distributed across multiple Social Media networks.

There are two sides to Social Media, the first side is made up of on-page tactics that a webmaster can do to improve their website for social media. This is known as SMO as stated above. Such optimization includes adding links to services such as Technorati, Digg, and Del.icio.us so that their pages can be easily ’saved and submitted’ to and for these services.

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the off-page tactics of Social Media. This includes writing content that is remarkable, and news-worthy. Marketing this content is done by promoting links on the services mentioned as well as more traditional SEO tactics or creating video that may become viral when posted on Youtube or other video sites. Social Media is about being social so this off-page work includes getting involved in other blogs, forums and online communities.

A client recently asked us for an overview and recommendations for a Web 2.0 strategy. I thought I would provide an outline of that report for all who might be interested. In short Web 2.0 is what could be referred to as the 5th “P” in marketing (Participation). So any strategy for implementing Web 2.0 could be considered as building a portfolio of “Participation” mediums. 

Blog – regular postings on keyword relevant topics creates a scenario where users are invited to comment using topical language. This in turn generates more keyword relevant content which drives SEO. Best usage is to drive conversations with topical questions and opinionated commentary rather than reported sales speak and event wrap ups. etc…

Forum – This drives community and networked participation generating the most keyword relevant content for driving SEO efforts. Using predefined subject threads can broaden the scope of content generated.

Viral Video– This is a less controlled medium which requires creative innovation to be successful. The video player must be branded with the company URL and closing screens can also be used to supply contact information though this can turn off the audience as being too salesy.

 Setup Considerations:

To be effective as dynamic SEO generating vehicles the Blog and Forum MUST be run locally on the www.yourdomain.com. General public Blog and Forum services do not support the SEO tactics we are hoping to engage.  

Software Recommendations: 

Blog– WordPress, http://wordpress.org/  No Cost. Open Source. It has built in RSS capability and is easy to use for distributed editor/contributor management.

Forum – PHPBB, http://www.phpbb.com/ No Cost. Open Source. This is the highest rated forum tool available. Supports SEO with the proper setup.

Video- YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras, camcorders, and cell phones in the .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats. 

Most computers come with some sort of video editing application already installed, such as Apple iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker. Using these programs, you can easily edit your videos, add soundtracks, change the file type, compress the file size, etc.

There are also more advanced editing programs available for purchase or download online. My personal favorite is CyberLink PowerDirector 6

Implementation Considerations:

Blog and Forum software can be easily acquired and set up in a matter of days precluding any missing server requirements which our ISP would need to provide.

The style and voice of the blog in particular needs to be decided and adhered to. As I said previously we are striving to generate viewer responses to posts. So avoid PR and other uninteresting subject matter i.e. “This product is the greatest…Just released the latest…” Instead focus on being original, generating controversy or opinion i.e. “Is a distributed ODBMS really better? …Who does Oracle think they are?.. Top 10 Tips on Dating an RDBMS Developer… 

Both the blog and forum will require some moderator/administrator time to manage rude and spam postings. The tools outlined above have features that prevent most kinds of spam but you still need to watch what is being said on a daily basis.

Video production will require some trial and error up front. You want to strive for a simple repeatable process. Pre-production planning is 90% of this effort. A system for generating ideas, storyboarding the outline, acquiring talent, filming, and editing will be required.

Stylistically I would recommend you develop a highbred home movie newscast where you brand the opening and closing scenes with a standard shell that will encapsulate any content you create.