Social Media and Search

Wow.  What a popular session this one turned out to be (and my first panel with women).  Good thing I cut in line so I didn’t have to sit on the floor; the room was overflowing!

“Everyone treats social media as a unicorn, but maybe it’s just a horse.”  This was not an opening statement, but something small that was on a slide and it stuck with me.  So I decided to use that as my trend for this post.

Why is Facebook being used?  In a survey, brand awareness was the top answer and way down on the list was SEO, and (according to the panel) that is what needs to change.  These tools are powerful but if you’re not looking at search marketing within each one, then you’re not fully using them to your advantage.

Brand reputation goes two ways when using social media and, without a strategy in place, it can go in the second direction without intention. That is where user-generated content MIXED with brand messaging comes in.

Consumers trust Web search and social content converts users.  We want to hear what people like us are saying before making a decision. One way to help is developing social rooms for comments and reviews.  And like my first post on day one at the conference, allow yourself to lose your perception of control.

So, is social media a majestic creature?  Or can we, as communication marketers, build these networks to create and determine our own ROI?

About Arment Dietrich

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