Paid, Earned, Owned & Shared is No Longer Enough
Paid, Earned, Owned & Shared is No Longer Enough by @annabelleblue bit.ly/xMkeT6 via @intrapromote
— Intrapromote (@intrapromote) January 5, 2012
A few years ago, typing the name of a favorite product into a search engine would often result in seeing the homepage for said product in the number one spot.
Simple enough.
Today, however, searching that same product often results in the user being inundated with choices, many of them links to social media channels of that product. Many times, the home page will still be in the top spot, but the searcher may now opt to visit a social media site ranked above the fold, such as a Facebook page, for the best, most accessible information. Currently, two of the top five search results for our company are social media channels.
Paid | Earned | Owned | Shared + Searched
More and more businesses are starting to understand that it is no longer enough to just go through the motions of Paid | Earned | Owned | Shared in the digital marketplace. The integration of search engine optimization with social media is not all that new, in that search engines have been using social signals to influence their rankings for the last few years. Yet it has only been since the last half of 2011 that most digitally-savvy marketers and social strategists have truly blended their social media efforts with those in the SEO space.
One reason social signals, such as a multitude of “likes” or a tweet being re-tweeted hundreds of times, are so important to search engines is credibility. Recommendations from peers and social groups tell search engines that your content is cared about and provides them with tangible value, similar to the way that high authority inbound links can increase your rankings in Google. Think of it not so much as an algorithm, but a new twist on word-of-mouth marketing. The more active the interaction in the social channels, the more potential for search results to be impacted.
Useful social content, such as videos, blog posts, or podcasts, that isn’t found via search is a lost opportunity.
For a long time, marketers and salespeople were focused only on what social media data could provide them in terms of insight – demographics, spending habits, and ad performance, for example.
But that approach leaves out a major component of the overall digital experience.
Here at Intrapromote, we utilize the Paid | Earned | Owned | Shared model for social media optimization, but with the additional benefits of “Searched.” Blending search into the equation means providing a holistic approach to both search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns and social media optimization (SMO) campaigns.
Businesses that utilize an integrated search methodology in their social strategy see higher conversions, better engagement rates and benefits that trickle down into their other areas of focus, such as new customer acquisition. Useful social content, such as videos, blog posts, or podcasts, that isn’t found via search is a lost opportunity.
At the end of the day, regardless of what the goal is, both SEO and SMO should be working together to not only deliver marketing results, but to deliver search results, as well.
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Annalise Kaylor
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