Brian McKay's Earning Customers by Blogging

Rand Fishkin, of SEOmoz, recently wrote about the power of search versus the power of social media on his blog. Here were some of the highlights:

Social media has emerged as a "next big thing," but in fact, it's been around since the dawn of the Internet. Forums are social media. EBay is social media. Craigslist and Epinions and Friendster (remember those guys?) are social media, too. There's definitely a lot to like, but I worry that businesses and marketers are going crazy over social right now simply because it's hot. This is almost always a bad idea - go after a new channel because there's value, a path to revenue and a solid set of tactics that fit with your overall strategy, not just because it's in the press all the time. (full post)

Please read the bold line again... This is a conversation I am having nearly everyday with SEO's and Internet marketers. Community, engagement, and interaction without a scalable model to drive traffic is haphazard marketing. It is putting the cart well before the horse.

SEO Techniques are necessary to drive organic search traffic to your Web 2.0 sites. All too often marketers get enamored with "shiny object syndrome" (I've been guilty more than once), and forget how critical traffic generation is to the success of their strategy.

If you are considering how you are going to apply SEO Techniques to your community or social networking site, give us a call at Compendium Blogware for a free consultation on how to apply a turnkey approach to driving organic traffic.

Comments for Social Media is Powerful. Not as Powerful as Search

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 by Kyle Lacy:: I feel like you are making a reference to social networking and social media sites not driving traffic to a website? You can drive huge traffic to a website using facebook, linkedin, and twitter. I don't think we should focus on how social media is a shiny object... when you have 250 million people on social networking sites it is not a shiny object anymore. I think it is dangerous when you get rid of all traditional marketing in place of a social media or blogging strategy. It is just a piece of the pie, a small tool to use in your marketing arsenal.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 by BJ McKay:: Thank you for the comment Kyle. Is the argument your posing that social media IS more powerful than search? That was the gist of Rand's post, and my reference to it. A social media play for a company, without an new traffic generation piece is a flawed strategy. I wouldn't recommend putting all of your marketing eggs in one basket either, we're on the same page. However, where a company invests on the Internet should be rooted in the two pillars of email and search. Retention and acquisition.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 by Douglas Karr:: The 250 million people on social networking is a false number. That's total number of accounts started - not actual engaged individuals. If you look at Facebook, the fastest growing network, you'll find that their engagement is actually declining, not increasing. Google has 235 million searches PER DAY. That's a big number that I want to play with! 250 million also pales in comparison to the number of searches. Lastly, looking at eyeballs is old school marketing at its worst. Do people join social networks to research their next purchasing decision? No, the intent of business is not directly related to social networking. However, someone who puts a relevant search into a search engine is DIRECTLY relevant based on their search and your results.
Thursday, February 19, 2009 by Janet Giacoma:: great information. social marketing is hot and does drive traffic to a site but they do not stay long enough to read so your initial point is right on.
Friday, February 20, 2009 by BJ McKay:: Thank you for the great feedback Janet. 90% of the action is in email and search. A social media strategy must have a consistent traffic generator.