At Webfirm we are often frustrated when we hear other Search Marketing companies talk about social media campaigns ontop of their standard SEO efforts.  Well it’s time to set the record straight – social media and search engine optimisation are bound together permanently.  Anyone that thinks otherwise is living in 2007.

The truth in 2009 and beyond is social media marketing should be part of any serious SEO campaign, something Webfirm is taking very seriously moving forward . Here are three ways that social media impacts the attraction of customers to your Webfirm built web presence:

1) Getting quality, relevant inbound links

A successful and well thought out social media marketing campaign can result in thousands of new inbound links to your site. It’s no secret that inbound links are one of the most important things that influence the ranking of your site.  Putting these two items together it’s easy to see how social media links can be a great way to improve your rankings – fast.

The best thing about this is that the majority of the links that come from a social media marketing campaign are natural, otherwise known as organic, links; they’re not reciprocated, bought, or solicited.  Since search engines such as Google and Yahoo ranks sites based on authority, and organic inbound links carry far more authority than other link types, it immediately becomes clear that social media is worth it’s weight in gold to site owners seeking to build traffic….and who is not looking for more customers in 2009?

2) Ranking pages on social media websites

So you have a new Webfirm site that you’re having trouble ranking? One of the options  is trying to rank a page on a social media site instead as in general these sites rank extremely well on the search engines.

One of the key strategies we recommend when launching a brand new site when we know it’s going to be awhile before it ranks,  if for our clients to consider uploading some videos to YouTube or creating a Facebook or Twitter profile and building a few good links to it. Note we are NOT saying it’s better to have these pages rank than your own site, but it’s definitely better than not having anything ranked at all !

3) Using social media websites for reputation management

As mentioned above lots of social media sites, especially the more popular ones, rank very well within the search engines. This can be both a positive and negative thing when it comes to managing your reputation.

On one hand, it is very easy to control the first page of results by leveraging these sites. Get people talking about your business or website positively on Facebook, MySpace, Digg or YouTube, and you might end up with those almost as “good references,” listings that show up on the first page of search engine results for your business.

On the other hand, if you’re not careful, it can be very easy for someone to tarnish your brand with social media.   This alone is one good reason why getting the jump on your own social media strategy can help should anyone , for whatever reason, choose to post negative comments about your business or website online.

In conclusion – whether you are a daily Twitterer and Facebook regular, or whether you prefer to leave social networking to others – sticking your head in the virtual sand is a no-no for your business.  You’ve invested the time and money in building your web presence so why waste it by not getting your website invited to the social event of the century.  Bottom line is if you have a website, then let is socialise.  Who knows – it may even make friends by itself?

Andrew Beecher
Executive Officer
www.webfirm.com