Marketing Technology Blog

Want to know the best part of utilizing social media as part of your public relations campaigns? There are no rules.

PR people are constantly being reminded of rules. We have to follow the AP Stylebook, news releases have to be written a certain way and executed at certain times.

Social media is an opportunity for your company to break the mold and create unique content that actually matters to your public. The key word is content. Content is the silver bullet. If you can create interesting and fresh content, then you will be one step closer to meeting your goals and objectives.

Courtesy of Dreamstime

You already know what I’m talking about. Have you ever decided to search for a company’s website or Facebook page only to find that it doesn’t exist? Or that is hasn’t been updated since March 2008? Those companies fall off your radar, and lose your trust and respect.

Creating new and interesting content not only draws people to your sites, but it also entices them to return. The key to finding the right content is simple: find out what your visitors want, and keep doing it. It does not matter what platform. Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Foursquare, or a blog…develop content for your targeted user and keep it coming.

Social media strategy is powerful, but also fun for PR people because we are able to try different things and evaluate the results almost in real time. From there we can modify our campaign to meet the demands of our public. In order to be successful online you cannot be afraid try something new. If your customers want photos of your business then give them photos. If they want to see news from in and around your industry, then give it to them.

Public relations is not changing. It has changed. It is up to you as a PR professional to understand the power and possibilities of social media, and then develop a strategy to utilize all of the tools at hand. These tools are new and it is just as important to learn from your successes, as you would with your failures.

Here’s a typical example of the ranking stats for competitive keywords for one of our clients:

Each line represents a keyword, and the Y-Axis is their ranking as recorded by Authority Labs. Less than 2 months in, and we’re about to get them on page 1. Within 6 months, we’ll really have some great rank for them. With over 20 clients, we absolutely know what it requires to get a site ranked well. One of our major clients is now ranking #1 for 3 of the highest competitive terms in their industry, as well as a handful of other terms that they are on page 1 for and improving.

On-site SEO isn’t a secret. Here’s what we do:

• Make sure analytics is properly installed and that we’re getting good statistics on what the baseline is that we’re working from. We validate the keywords that are driving traffic are actually relevant to the business we’re wanting to do on the site. We also try to incorporate measuring conversions… sometimes the traffic you’re getting isn’t necessarily driving money to your business. It’s important to differentiate the two.
• Do keyword research utilizing Adwords, SEMRush and SpyFu to gain insight into keywords we’re currently ranking for, what we’re not ranking for, and what the competition is ranking for. This will provide terms for us to target. We target terms that we already have ranking for that we know we can push into higher ranking… hopefully #1 ranking.
• Make sure the site’s hierarchy is tuned in to the actual keyword strategy and authority we want it to attain. (example: product categories that we want to rank well are linked to through site navigation or singled out in great links within the home page content). After Google’s most recent algorithm changes, we pushed our clients to ‘flatten’ out there sites so they are broad rather than deep. That means more secondary pages, but keeping third level pages and beyond to a bare minimum.
• Make sure the site has a robots file, sitemaps, and is registered with webmasters from each major search engines so we can monitor how the search engine is finding and indexing the content, as well as pointing out any problems.
• Make sure the site has pages or the blog has posts that speak directly to the keywords or terms that are synonymous (if you do a search on a keyword, look to the bottom of the search engine results page to find the synonymous terms). This means utilizing the keyword at the beginning of page titles, at the beginning of meta descriptions, in headings, in the beginning of content, and within the content of the page (within strong or bold tags).
• Some clients have great authority (meaning that Google ranked them high based on their domain’s history relative to the search terms they were competing for). Others don’t have authority so we have to drive strategies that increase their authority. This is accomplished by ensuring they are linked to from other key domains that rank well for specific keywords or industry segments. This takes a ton of work, it’s where we rely heavily on Slingshot SEO.
• Last… we make sure they continue to get conversions. This sometimes requires optimization techniques, designing calls-to-action, and customizing landing pages. However, we know that rank and traffic don’t mean anything if we’re not actually driving dollars to the business’ bottom line.

Actively pursuing guest blogs, publishing press releases, actively commenting or participating in social sites relevant to the keyword is necessary. This is where search and social media begin to overlap. Promoting your content is becoming key… not just for driving traffic but also for driving links back to your site.

Of course, all of this sounds simple… but it’s not. Having the right tools, understanding how to implement analytics and monitor conversion rates, and being able to decipher all the pieces of data – analytics, webmaster, rankings, keywords, etc. is a difficult juggling act. Our clients pay us to do just that… and we educate them in the process as well.

Some internal guys and even other SEO consultants debate our tactics… but it’s hard to argue when you’re #1.

When I work with some SEO professionals, they’re push the highest search volumes or most competitive words. When I work with traditional media, they’re always pushing eye balls and reach. When I work with social media guys, they’re always measuring fans and followers. When I work with designers, they want to design for the smallest resolutions.

I don’t listen to them.

Marketing isn’t about identifying the lowest common denominator to maximize the potential for reach or distribution. As a marketer, sometimes the campaign may be to identify a single resource or influencer to make the right mention. It’s based on their authority, the timeliness of the campaign, and the target audience we wish to reach. Sometimes that’s not the denominator at all – it’s a wacky, well-placed and focused target for a specific purpose.

I break rules.

My sites break a lot of rules. Someone pointed out that, although I push my clients to design sites with high contrasting fonts on a light background, our new media agency site is designed with a dark background and light fonts… much more difficult to read. Other friends have pointed out that it also doesn’t fit on a small resolution laptop.

I know.

The truth is, I don’t want to attract visitors with netbooks or older laptops. I want to get attention from people with huge resolutions. I don’t want to attract companies who won’t upgrade from Internet Explorer 6. I don’t even want people to read my site. I want them to browse it and wonder whether or not I can help them… and have them click through on a web form.

If you disagree, you’re not my prospect.

I have high bounce rates. That’s good. I don’t want low bounce rates. I want to attract a lot of search engine users, but I want those people to get an immediate impression and leave or connect. I don’t go into great detail about what we do for companies… that’s because we’re interested in virtually every large company. The purpose of my site is to disqualify most leads and motivate the rest to get a hold of us.

It works.

This blog, of course, is different. We’re going through another redesign this month to improve the reach and distribution of the site, as well as attract more visitors. Our goal and the revenues associated with it benefit when we reach more visitors. We’re still going to incorporate some design features that are optimized for more sophisticated users, but we don’t want to limit our audience.

Does your site say “Keep Out”? That’s okay!

Online marketing isn’t always about reaching as many people as you can, sometimes it’s about discouraging the wrong audience. It’s why I’ve been an opponent of utilizing systems like Digg for corporate sites. Many times they simply bury the site and cause technical issues without adding a single relevant visitor.

There are specific things you can do to attract and detract audiences from your corporate site or blog. Don’t be afraid to break the rules.