Content Marketing Via Social Media…SEO Effects
The past year (2012) has seen the return of the BRANDS to page one of Google search. One of the reasons for that has certainly been the rise of social signals in the Google algorithm. It is hard to out pace the social signals surrounding actual brands. These companies spend millions in real-world media and PR and therefore we know the names of these companies. Essentially those brands are on page one because they pruchased real Human interest and that can’t be “hacked” only purchased or earned.
For this reason the Social Media/Content Marketing approach to SEO has the power to level the playing field once more. However, this time there are no real tricks or “hacks”. Real Humans have to get interested in what you have to offer the online community. It is once more about the value you have to offer and not just what you have to sell. BUT DOES THIS WORK AS SEO?
Client “Flatlines”
Here is the graph from a client’s position for a particular keyword. For 2 years we did the typical SEO backlink approach. The volume for the keyword is around 5000 searches per month and we had gotten the client to the 5th position in the Summer 2012. Then they leveled off and our work ceased to have any affect.
In October we stopped fighting the Social Media revolution and decided to test the approach on this client. You can see from the graph below that our client had “flatlined” and then dipped slightly once we started the content marketing. When our content campaign kicked into higher gear, they jumped 3 positions in a steady climb.
The Real Numbers
The value of going from 5th position to 2nd position is huge. Not only was it a tripling in traffic on that search, but the credibility from being that high translates to greater sales. There is now doubt that content marketing through social media requires more hands on labor, compared to typical SEO, but the pay-off is obvious.