Many companies are beginning to recognise how useful a marketing tool social media networks are.  Social media can be used as a stand-alone marketing technique.  Social media is particularly effective when the object is to draw traffic to a content-based site, and is even more useful when used in conjunction with a good search engine optimisation strategy. Social media marketing, however, can have a power beyond boosting a page’s ranking when used to maintain the reputation of your site.

Most v focuses on drawing traffic through targeted keywords which match general search terms. This is great when you want to draw new viewers to your site. But what happens with searches that are based on your business name? The first ten on the search engine results page might come up as the result of a search on your specific site, or because you have cornered your particular market. When either of these happens, you need to ensure you look good.

Every business gets a bad review now and then. When bad reviews happen, you need to make sure you have positive press out in cyberspace that can balance, or better yet, outrank the negative feedback. Social media sites are great for this because they often rank well in a search engine listing. Sometimes this can be a negative thing, for instance when the bad press is coming from within a social media site itself, but participation in these sites means that you are able to reply to negative content quite swiftly.

Participation in social media can help you control the first ten of the SERP as long as you participate genuinely. Social media users are very aware of marketing techniques and tend to ignore blatant attempts at advertising a site. Leave comments and participate in discussions to attract the attention of other participants, who will return the favour.

At its best, social media marketing can lead to your site garnering inadvertent positive reviews through internet chatter. Links through these sites can also boost your own site, helping you to gain PageRank for your own site.

Negative content within a social media site is best spotted quickly so that a reply can be made before the content appears in the search engines. This means that although the negative content will still usually appear within the results, your reply will be there for viewers to read as well. Your quick reaction will hopefully show you in a reasonable light and put the viewers on your side, and providing a reaction through a social media site at all shows that you are invested in the web community.

As more companies become aware of the full possibilities for social media marketing, social media networking will become a basic part of SEO strategy. Studies on digital marketing predict that social media spending will reach over one billion pounds in the next five years, climbing from almost £500 million in 2009. If you’re unsure of how to best use social media marketing in your search engine optimisation strategy, it’s a good idea to seek expert advice from consultants such as SEO Consult.

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