It should come as no surpize that social media is playing a larger role in search results these days, and will most likely continue to become more important. In this post I’ll be discussing social media and how I’ll be incorporating it into my internet marketing.
I think the most important thing to start doing, is develop a profile on the major social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google +1. This is something that I haven’t done much myself, and to be honest I haven’t had time to do it, and haven’t really seen the need to, until now that is. I don’t like Twitter myself, I see as a stupid tool, and although I used it for about 6 months a few years ago, I just couldn’t see the point in wasting my time with it, as the returns I got back from it were virtually non-existent.
So why am I saying to get involved with social sites like Twitter then? Well Google and Bing have said that they do pay attention to Tweets as SEO ranking signals, and the more authority a user has at Twitter the more weight placed on their recommendations. Also the number of times something gets retweeted is a factor. So if nothing else, from a search ranking point of view, I think Twitter can be helpful.
As for Facebook, I think it has more benefit than just a signal to search engines, as once you build a presence on Facebook things can be shared in a viral nature, which can be a nice traffic source for your sites.
When it comes to Google +1, it is still early days, however it doesn’t take a genius to work out that considering Google owns this, they will most likely be paying attention to what happens, and use the data as a search ranking factor. I assume the more followers you have in Google +1, the more authority Google will place on your account, and probably pay attention to links you recommend.
Matt Cutts, one of Google’s head engineers for search says: “When someone recommends something, that’s a pretty good indicator of quality,” and also “We are strongly looking at using this in our rankings.” The thing that I can’t work, and was also brought up by someone commenting below too, is how Google can access the info from Facebook and Twitter, as I’m pretty sure Twitter is no follow, and Facebook blocks Google. Perhaps Google reads the social vote plugin info, or maybe someone can comment below and shed some light on this for us all.
Social Interaction
It makes sense that if these social sites are becoming more of a search signal to Google, then the more networking you do at these sites, the more friends you will acquire and they will start recommending your stuff, which will only further increase your traffic and search signals coming off these sites.
So with that said, once you have a profile on the social sites, start to interact with other people, and share their content, so you can build contacts.
The one issue that I face however, when it comes to all this social media stuff, is the time it takes to continually be interacting and adding content. However this again just goes to show why managing less sites, and focusing on quality is key, after all Google made some big changes this year, known as Panda, which was all about quality. One thing I will have to do is hire a worker to manage my social profiles, otherwise it will not be practical for me.
Affiliate Marketing & Social Media
I know a lot of my readers are into affiliate marketing, so I want to address a few common questions that I know people will have.
Depending on what style of affiliate site you focus on, you may have different questions in regard to social media. In particular, what I mean is if you only focus on small thin sites, and prefer to build lots of sites like this in various niches, then you’ll probably wondering how you can have a social profile at Facebook etc…around these types of sites. The best answer I can give is, you’ll struggle, and may want to adjust your strategy and build fewer sites, with high quality content, so you can focus on becoming an authority in your niche.
This way you can build authority on the social sites and interlink everything. Not only that, but if your sites are authorities and visitors who use them actually like them and find them useful, then they will be more inclined to share them from their profile at the social sites through the social button on your sites. You don’t have to big giant sites, just make sure they are quality.
I haven’t done this myself, as I haven’t needed to, and to be honest my affiliate sites do great, but I’m thinking ahead now as there could come a day when it might be hard to get top rankings if you don’t have any social media authority or aren’t attracting links from other people’s profiles at these sites. So with that said, I think it’s a good idea to think of your online business as more than just your websites, and rather a network of your sites and social profiles.
I have arranged a free coaching webinar with a social media experts for early January for us all, and this guy is a gun at all this stuff, as his entire business model is around social media, so we can all grill him for everything he knows. I’ll be sending out the webinar details the first week of January if all goes well!
If you liked this post, I would really appreciate it if you can help me spread the word by sharing it on Facebook, Google +1 and Twitter, using the links below, and as always I love hearing from you, so comment away!
Related articles
From an SEO point of view, it’s my understanding that these social media sites are not only no follow but just as invisible as having a link on google itself (or we would all have PR10 backlinks).
Twitter uses the # tag to stop any direct backlinks and Facebook is no good either when it comes to the direct backlink.
So, I know we are all being taught not to ignore social media and how it effects our website ranking, even Matt Cutts said that. But I still don’t get “how” google will use this. Obviously in a different way.
Showing favoritism from google+ is unethical as well as illegal because they are a publicly traded company, etc. I know there is some truth in there (not a lawyer).
Of course I dabble in it, but still don’t see the point from an affiliate site point of view. More for big business and individuals trying to gain a follow-ship.
– Andrew
Roy Sencio Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 3:07 am
Hi Andrew..
A few months ago I had those same questions in my head.. Google just relies on several signals or signs that help them determine quality.. social is one of them. Put simply, if people are sharing it (and as a result more people are visiting it) it must be good.
While social links like Twitter may not pass on the value a direct link does, it does send one very important thing that influences rank.. “traffic”.. and their behavior and level of engagement on the page being shared.
Also this is a great way to get more visitors from different places on your page/site, and in turn helps your rank in all those different places.
Rankings vary from city to city, state to state, country to country.. and Google or the gurus can say all they want about relevance, algorithms and stuff but from my own experience if you get more visits from people from a certain area, and engagement is good.. your site’s rankings will improve in those areas for the keywords you are targeting.
alternative ADHD Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 8:02 am
I agree with you Andrew. Social networking with Facebook, Twitter etc is not really cost effective time wise unless one has mega followers. I Twitter automatically through a Posterous blog. Anyone clicking is a plus, but I don’t count on it, but being automatic it’s no effort.
Facebook freeks me out. They knew (I got out of it) things about me I didn’t tell them and they had no business knowing, like what languages I know (apart from the obvious English and my location).
We can’t keep up with every angle of the SEO business, so I feel a man’s gotta do what a man can do and not get stressed about it. BTW that could be a woman’s gotta etc. The idea of not getting stressed out about thing we can’t control means we can enjoy a healthy four figure income instead of dying for a five/six figure income.
Just my 2 bits =8>)
Charles
Hi Matt,
You have given some really good ideas on how social media will be involved in search engine rankings. Do you recommend having a Facebook Fanpage or a normal FaceBook Account as a brand name? If do, is it possible for me to outsource this social media aspect at odesk as well? Thanks.
Edmund
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Hey Edmund
You can outsource this stuff yes, and Odesk is a good place for this stuff
MAtt
Akos Fintor Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Hey Edmund,
I agree Odesk is pretty good and you can outsource pretty much anything “e”, however I have one golden rule regarding Odesk.
Hire fast, fire faster.
thanks for the share
Akos
Dev marketing tools Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Odesk is good whether if you want to outsource your social media or not, but it’s always best to do your homework first before you hire someone.
I stop posting hourly jobs on Odesk, because some contractors like to bleed people’s wallet dry.
I think that fix project work best, trust me. Learned from experience!
Regards,
Dev
Valerie Cuell Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Edmund
You really need to set up a Facebook page for your brand. It is against Facebook’s T & C’s to use a personal profile for business, (although some people do it.), so they could close your account.
You can have as many pages as you wish but only one personal profile.
Also many people on FB won’t accept ‘friend requests’ from brands but they will ‘like’ pages if they enjoy what the page posts.
Anyway the great thing about a page is that you can add as many tabs as you like and use it for an opt-in form and building your list.
You do need to set up a personal profile to create pages though.
Social media is all about building relationships and engaging with people and producing great content.
While Google may be giving weight to those that “Lke” things on Facebook, I doubt this is really all that much a good indication of quality since people who know (direct friends list) are much more likely to do it.
Retweets are a bit higher sign of quality, cause your putting your own reputation on the line by passing it along and potentially retweeting things from people you barely know.
Great point about using social media for internet marketing. We like to focus primarily on Facebook and Twitter because that’s where our primary markets are for B2C marketing.
You are the 2nd affiliate marketer to mention quantity “thin sites” as being difficult to manage.
I would agree with this, although I have never been in this situation.
Ultimately, authority is key, and I would like to mention this article to my friend whom is creating too many sites, without a singular focus.
And yes, outsourcing your social media may be hard, but time management is key.
Perhaps 1 hour per day to social-media upkeep, and having a command-center somewhere (I personally use MarketMeSuite which is free to manage my 5 twitter accounts and facebook pages).
Hi There Matt,
Just a short comment this time.
There are many to people commenting on the need to attend to your social media presence to ignore… So don’t ignore it ! The more places your site or name is mentioned the better. It’s like a vote of confidence in your site, so that can only do good.
I guess it’s a bit like backlinks some are pr7 some are pr0 but they all have some value in helping to get your keyword and site on the first page.
Regards Jeff.
I’ve actually watched video on youtube.com where Matt Cutts said that Google is now paying more and more attention to how is your website or blog connected to social media.
I think that analysis of social media influence of your blog will eventually replace link analysis… faking link popularity is easy especially with tools available today like Xrumer, Scrapebox and so on… But faking social influence on sites like facebook is more difficult.
Hi Matt,
Interesting article and another indication that social media presence is increasing its authority. Can you suggest any good premium or free wordpress plugin for integrating social buttons?
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 8:56 am
I use the one called – twitter facebook social share
Regards
Matt
Stacey Copas Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
I find that Sociable is good (photo blocked the word in previous comment)
John Hoff Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Hi Akbar, the one I use and like is the GetSocial plugin.
Works really well.
I never go to Facebook to find any information. There is nothing there! Information wise that is. I go to twitter to find NOW stuff e.g. if my website host is down.
Search engines will always rule the roost until the internet is replaced (by the data sphere?).
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:55 am
Thanks for sharing Daren
Matt
Build an authority site is a must and building an email list a must and having a presence on facebook is a must. That will keep you busy enough.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Very true Bruce
Matt
Hey Matt,
Google gets “indicators” from the social bookmarking sites, and the social news sites like Digg by looking at the links coming from there.
Facebook however, is it’s own social world and as such is best used as a traffic generator that can send traffic to your website by having good content and links on the page/tabs. Facebook is like it’s own “Google World” island.
Tim
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Cheers Tim
Matt
Ruth Martin Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 11:30 pm
Hi everyone –
I would just like to share what my experiences have been so far with the social sites I have been using.
I have set up FB pages for all my main websites, and every time I post a new page/post, I share the link on the associating FB page. I have not seen a lot of traffic from that, But I am guessing that it can’t hurt, and it only takes a minute to do, once the page is set up.
I have also started submitting more of my new pages/posts into Digg & StumbleUpon. The amazing thing is – I am now seeing regular traffic coming from these two sites every month. More than from any other sites, and I have been using Twitter as well.
A quick and easy free site/tool that I am also using is Ping.fm. Every new post I publish on my websites, I can submit to my Ping.fm account, and there I have it set up to connect with over 15 social sites. This automatically ‘pings’ the link to all these sites. There is a lot of options on there to connect with over 20 social sites.
And fiverr.com is an excellent place to outsource as well – there you CAN get quality service IF you do a bit of searching and see what a seller’s rating is, and how many happy customers they have had already. You can get ‘Likes’ and ‘Followers’ there as well for your FB pages, Digg, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and Blogger. You can also get Google +1’s for your websites.
Just sharing what I have been doing, and it seems to be working quite well! I am happy to hear that Social Media is getting more important, since I have been using them a lot more lately, already.
Thanks for the article, Matt, it helps me know that I am on the right track!
Ruth
Matt Carter Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 7:33 am
Great comment, thanks Ruth
Hello Matt,
Thank you for sharing this article. I enjoyed reading about your ideas on how social media will be ranked on search engines.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:55 am
Thanks Norman
Regards
Matt
I’ve seen the positive effects of social media. In particular, YouTube.
I have an Amazon store where I made a video tutorial. The video has over 100K views (real ones) in just a few months and loads of thumbs up and comments.
I know for sure that this video has helped my site rank highly.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Great stuff Peter
Matt
So in short:
“Social seem to be the buzz these days and its probably a good idea to spend some time doing it but i don’t really know how or why it just seems to be the thing to do”
Honestly, I expect more from you than fluff like this. Maybe you are tired from your launch…
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:54 am
Not sure what is up with you Dan, but I didn’t even write that and you have quoted it??? Mate I just share my thoughts on my blog and try to help people out, if you don’t like it, then you don’t have to read it.
Dan Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:04 am
Well that is how I interpreted the article. And you are right more fluff like this and I probably wont read any more articles. Just saying you normally come with sharper stuff. Just some feedback. Take it or don’t. Have a good day.
Pete Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 11:24 am
C’mon Dan, the top people in any market are the people who serve and lead that market. Marketers who engage within their market via social media are doing two key things; they are making themselves the clear authority in their niche, and more crucially they are BUILDING A BRAND.
The whole backlinking system is broken, and Google know it. Who does legitimate backlinking? Answer, nobody. A backlink is supposed to be a editorial vote, but 90% of the backlinks out there are self-given by SEOs manipulating the algorithm (me included ofcourse).
Google’s chairman has publically stated that the Internet is a “cesspool” and that Google see giving presedence to BRANDS as the key to cleaning it up. How else are they going to find the strongest brands other than look at social factors? In short, if you don’t engage within your niche you’re going have big problems in the future, as it will be easy for someone who has built a brand to come along and take your spot.
Is backlinking still important as of today? Yes absolutely. I’m backlinking my socks off, as should be everyone else. However, the smart money seems to be on the fact that ranking factors are changing and changing fast.
From a marketing perspective alone, leading your market via social media is powerful. Who are you more likely to do business with? Mr Anonymous, or a person who has a following within the niche you’re interested in and an engaging and prolific online presence? There’s a reason we’re here discussing this on Matt’s blog, let’s put it that way.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Brilliant stuff Pete!!!
Matt
Nick Heuer Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:02 am
What’s up with this guy? Dan, if you can’t see the importance of social media and social interaction then maybe IM isn’t your thing.
Great post Matt.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:27 am
I think you are just a ‘glass half empty’ person to be honest. I didn’t say I don’t know how to do it or I can’t be bothered, i said how I will be doing it, and i said it is time consuming which makes it difficult, but I explained that I think its important and will be doing it.
I wish you well in your ventures.
Matt
Although we have a few products, Affiliate Marketing is not our primary source of business.
With that said, we tracked a lot of customers landing on our site, then following our social media plugin then calling us for a service which the call to action we want.
This pattern seems to have increased even more so once we passed 200 “Likes.” This leads me to believe that people cant help follow but follow the herd. Its almost instinctive for most… with the exception of internet marketers. Ha!
Another Great Read Matt
Google has already set the landscape by coining the term SoLoMo. You need to be wherever your clients are looking for you.
But you also need to maximise the SEO potential of those social media platforms that have the biggest domain authority. A well optimised Facebook page can work wonders in less competitive niches.
jo
Gee, thank you for your article. You have good ideas on how social media can help to achieve top rankings.
Thanks Matt I always like your post. I am like you, I don’t like twitter either but I use it because of the exposure. I also agree with you about the time it takes to continually be interacting and adding content in the social websites, it’s a lot and recommend outsourcing it.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:24 am
Cheers Don
Matt
This is cool info and very useful tips, Matt.
I haven’t believed Social Media is effective to market and make sales, but if that’s what Google likes to rank website, we just gotta do it!
And if we gotta do it, we gotta know HOW to do it.
Thank you, Matt.
Always learning from you 🙂
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Hey Ramon
Nice to hear from you
Matt
I originally had the same view on Twitter as you have Matt, until recently when one of my Tweets got picked up by the Huffington Post and I know have a backlink from a PR8 domain. That got my attention. One of my goals for 2012 is to invest the time needed to get active and relevant with the big 3 social platforms.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:28 am
That’s awesome Doug!
Great comment, thanks
Matt
I am not an expert in social media, but it seems to me that it is incredibly easy to spam. I really don’t know what value G can get out of these.
It’s a different subject, but I am also wondering if G continues to reads comments made on a blog page. If I were them, I’d probably ignore these as they are often very spammy too.
May be G has a way to estimate the real traffic coming from social media (eg: using Google analytics or webmaster tools). There is a simple rule of thumb in SEO: the more traffic a link brings, the more value it has.
I’d probably search in this direction.
Suprizingly, I have not yet seen any WSO on SEO and social media. So I assume the solution is not easy.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:59 am
Hi Edgar
Nice to hear from you
Regards
Matt
Some very good thoughts regards social media. I’ve been on the same rails as you Matt, but with 800 million and counting, it’s hard to ignore FB. Question becomes what might be the best and most productive methods to synergistically use these platforms to drive not just traffic but bottom lines. I believe it’s going to need to be a clever balance. Seems like too many people are getting loads of “social” traffic but there is still some question of real profitability.
Great discussion however. Your blog is a daily check!!
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Thanks Michael
Matt
Hi Matt
Been a long time follower of your work.
Whilst i believe “traditional SEO” and backlink is here for some time to come I do agree with what you say here.
If your building adsense sites to flip or make some income cool carry on they work and will do so for a long while. as long as your target increasingly smaller niches.
For 2012 I believe build authorative, informative sites with a tribe following and being involved is where the big money will be.
Using twitter to get traffix to facebook your site, its blog and forum will be sound models.
Engaging users and giving them a reason to return and reduce bounce rates are going to be major idicator in google for quality sites.
It makes sense that if you have a lot of returning users that hang around on each visit that they are finding value in your site.
Thats got to be a good thing.
In the mean time building adsense and amazon affiliate sites will be good business.
have a great christmas and outstandingly profitable 2012. I want a 485 italia ofr my christmas present in 2012 🙂
regards
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Great comment Steve!!
Cheers
Matt
This is so true that search engines are paying more attention to social signals and if you think about it, it only makes sense they will do more in the future.
Personally I love to build lots of microfiche sites but I can see how that model may not be the best going forward or, at the very least, I will need to build them all in the same general market so I can have 1 twitter account and 1 Facebook account for all of them.
Like you, I used to think Twitter was a waste but I’ve been spending a lot of time on there lately and I’m starting to see how it can actually be beneficial.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Thanks Lee
Matt
Thanks, Matt, for the opportunity to express a bit about this. I know in a few years from now we’ll all look back on this unfortunate social networking trend in the net where we all were supposed to get everyone to “like” us. And talk about what we ate for breakfast and have thousands of FB friends that we couldn’t possibly keep up with. And tweet regularly in the hopes something will click and go viral.
Forced social interaction is something I just instinctively find a turn off but that’s the game and if you want to play to reap the rewards, well, then, you’re just gonna have to do things that make you feel childish and even stupid. Fortunately, trends swing like pendulums and once the trend is over the top (as social networking is), the pendulum swings back. Thank god.
What disturbs me about this is that to some degree we are being forced to have to use these sites. Google appears to be our lord and master and we are to abide by its rules or you are exiled to some far off land never to heard from again. We, like little sheep continually have an ongoing conversation pertaining to our behavior toward this demi-god, as though our very lives depend on his favor. Had I known when I first started this that I would have to bow down to a lord and master to be able to survive doing this, I wouldn’t have become involved whatsoever, however due to the idea that you can reach hundreds of thousands of people this way, leaving open the possibility of becoming well off, and that the learning curve is so immense in learning how to do it, I, like apparently so many of the rest of us will be part of the herd until such time as they have expounded upon us one rule too many, or I have become wealthy enough that I just don’t need Google anymore. I would prefer the latter. Paul
Tenko Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 10:12 am
Paul, that was really a kind of out of the box opinion. Me personally still haven’t invested the required time to get more social.
Regarding the social buttons: Another great marketer – Andrew Hansen teaches that the share buttons can only distract visitors from the goal of clicking the affiliate link. So, if I had to put share buttons on my sites, I’d prefer using as tiny and small icons as I can make. I think Matt’s blog share buttons are good example of it.
Thanks Matt. Good info with good discussion amongst everyone.
Hi Matt…
When I read the email that lead me here, my first thought was that ‘I couldn’t agree more’…
Though, I am already converted!
So much so that I’ve spent the last 3 months or thereabouts, working looong hours to create a tool that helps users (including me) to bridge the gap between Facebook and generating opt-ins and traffic to websites… not to mention enjoy the benefits prescribed by Mr. Google Almighty.
My point in saying this (aside from a little cheeky self promo) is that I was only able to commit to the above mentioned, very taxing project, because I was certain of the kind of things talked about in this article.
It just makes sense that with social media playing such a huge role in the lives of so many, it can’t be ignored. After accepting that, it’s just about the degree to which you exploit it I think.
When it comes to affiliate marketing, running lots of sites and maintaining a social media presence, on Facebook for example… I think that the best approach, if folks insist on having lots of sites, would be to focus them into a niche context and only have additional sites to cover broader facets of their niche. This way, a single Facebook profile, by way of a Fan Page Mini Site for example, could be used to generate a socially based conversation on that particular niche.
Thanks for the great article and I’ll look forward to January!
Great way to start the new year. Maybe you can cover your recommended WP plugins for social media?
Ron Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Hey Robert i use a great little free WP plugin called Sharebar has everything you need and is easy to setup
M. I think it’s great that you’re going to hire somebody to be you on Facebook! jw
Hi Matt
Great post, I like the part about the mini sites being a lot of work which is very true when you speak of social marketing for them.
I would also have to agree about building bigger sites, I have tested this and it works much better for long term growth and income.
I would also like to share a new site with you all called Justretweet which helps you to automate your tweets and build followers all on autopilot.
I have been using it for a few weeks now as I know one of the owners of the site and have seen some really good results.
Matt I will leave it up to you if you want to add a link to JustRetweet for your readers.
I believe as Matt does this is the future and you really need to be using the three main sites being Twitter, Facebook and Google+
Ron
http://www.affiliatexfiles.com
Hey Matt,
I think social media will become more important in rankings, but in terms of becoming EXTREMELY important, I just don’t see it. Why? Because it’s too easy to “game” or “rig” which means Google will have a hard time separating true/real recommendations from “spam” likes (for lack of a better term to describe it).
People are already doing this sort of thing. For example:
1.) Paying someone else to like, tweet, share their content.
2.) Using plugins and such that “force” people to like or share content to get a free report or to see the rest of the post.
Personally, I don’t like these types of practices. To me, someone should like your content because they ACTUALLY like your content, not because you force them to like your content by making them share it in order to access other parts of your site.
And I’m pretty sure Google wants sites that are recommended because they are great sites, not because shady marketers are using gray or black hat tactics to increase their social media exposure.
What is your take on these kinds of practices, Matt? Will you be using plugins and such that force people to like content to get free reports or to open up other areas of your site?
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
I think this is an interesting concept Derek, and I have sort of been pushing down that path with these posts, but asking people to share them, but what you say is a little more than that, and I think worth a go for sure…the only thing that pops to mind is Google thinking you are somewhat buying links, but then again this is free stuff, so I can’t see an issue, great comment by the way!
Matt
I think Facebook can be pretty powerful, but I think it depends on your warm market as well. I promote fitness related products and its so difficult to motivate people to get in shape and eat healthy. I can only talk about it so many times and then I’m sure people get annoyed. If they aren’t interested, they are not going to share it.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Thanks Jonathan!
Hi Matt
Thanks again for some great info! My pet hate is social networks but I am aware of the importance of the link juice they can create. Outsource is the easiest. People on Odesk will do it for $1 and hour.
Linda
Hey Matt,
Well I’m basically trying to push my site up in rankings, you know, for reviews and stuff and being here on your site with an Alexa ranking of #9,122 I think you pretty much know what you’re doing!
(I say this because of the little discussion you had earlier)
I do treasure your tips here and look forward for that coaching webinar for January, take care and keep it up! 😉
Sergio
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Thanks Sergio
Matt
Hi Matt
Great post Matt as usual. You came up with some great points as to why marketers should consider social media. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are not going away any time soon so why not take advantage of the benifits that they offer. I see many marketers making the mistake of continewly pitching products on Facebook and Twitter . Doing so will only get them ignored. But they do it anyway to try to get a sale. I think this aproach to social media for business is counter productive.
Just like you wrote above social media is great for getting your brand out there and also having a way for people to get to know and interact with you and your business.
By the way NPC is a great program that you recommended, thats for the bonuses.
Dave
P.S.
Let us know your Twitter handle and
Face book address so we can follow your tweets and freind you on Face book.
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Thanks Dave, you rock!
Matt
Google seems to be gearing up to monitor social media and I agree it will become more and more important. The new analytics already has graphs for social engagement.
Hey Matt,
You are spot on. Social influence is the right path to go for 2012 and beyond. Read on – http://www.seomoz.org/blog/16-insights-into-googles-rating-guidelines. Thanks for your update as always.
Matt,
This is great information. In fact, i am already using the social media on my sites and i can testify the impact. It awesome.
I think Google+ is a huge tool, the thing with g+ you can’t manipulate because god, oh sorry google owns it and they see it all 🙂 Twitter and facebook def count as backlinks, they probably add authority to your site more then anything as you are looked upon as more balanced domain with a social media presence.
Just what is the Plan?
Hey Matt,
I have to agree with Paul Warner above. We are being forced into using social media sites, which I myself think are fairly lame. I hate how everything we do has to be “plugged in”.
Why can’t we just build good sites with good quality content and be rewarded for it. I really don’t have any desire to build online relationships with thousands of people who care nothing about what I’m trying to accomplish. They just want my tweet, Like or +1.
Well, that’s my two cents, don’t forget to visit the new site I’m building and push my buttons.
Goggle is giving more importance to social media connections (as long as ranking is concerned), so as to ensure the quality of the web properties, considering the engagement of social media people as a quality indicator.
The other day I setup my wordpress blog and forum to post to both facebook and twitter. I used http://twitterfeed.com and let the RSS for both the blog and forum do the work. It’s simple and only have to set it up once and leave it alone.
BTW, if you haven’t gotten Matt’s SEO Academy yet, I highly recommend it. I like that it keeps getting updated with new stuff.
Timely post Matt. Like you, but 20 or so years older, I had also ignored social media thinking facebook was for kids fraternising and tweets were something sparrows did. Plus as you point out being active on SM can be very time consuming, however, there are ways to minimize that. Twitterfeed will automatically tweet your posts and they feed onto your FB page which is a bonus for anyone with 50-100 thin affiliate sites. Sean Platt’s “Social Media in 15 Minutes A Day” (http://ghostwriterdad.com/self-publishing-free) is well worth reading whether you are new to SM or an experienced user. Personally I just use Twitter as a reference library. By following authority sites and other vendors/affiliates in each niche I’m working in, when I’m planning content for a health site I will check those people to see what they’ve been tweeting recently and what is popular according to retweets. Also checking the trends can sometimes be helpful.
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.- Japanese Proverb
Hi Matt,
As always, really informative post. Thank you for always updating us, your readers, what is new and what is hot! 🙂
I am lazy when it comes to Social Media Marketing, but now that i know their importance, i will make an effort to do this.
Cheers!
Matt Carter Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
Thanks Zarah,
Matt
Hey Matt,
Although I hate being jerked around by Google, I tweeted this post and made a nice comment on my Facebook wall about it as well.
You really do come out with the most timely comments and as with every other thing you post about, I will include social media in my ever changing plan.
One true advantage that social sharing has is that at least there are some intelligent people out there as well with similar interests, like your followers, they’re smart enough to continue following you.
Thanks again Matt.
Hi Matt,
More and more people are mentioning how social marketing is going to be the way to go soon. I also think this but it is not something I am looking forward to.
I already have quite a few sites up and running and, as you mentioned already, it is now becoming a real pain to keep up with all the new social profiles I have to create to interlink with that particular niche.
I’m not a fan of socializing on these things as it is so this whole social media marketing is not something I am looking forward too.
Now, if it was ok to make one profile for all your niches then that would suit me fine as I would only have one account to keep on top of.
Of course, for targeted traffic this won’t work.
Anyway, great post.
Andy
Hi Matt
You wrote: “The thing that I can’t work, and was also brought up by someone commenting below too, is how Google can access the info from Facebook and Twitter, as I’m pretty sure Twitter is no follow, and Facebook blocks Google. ”
Tweets are in the public domain and all mentions of a site page in any tweet will surely be picked up by Google. http://www.search.twitter.com. So Google can see how many people are sharing your link and thus boost your rankings from that. Am I missing something?
From what I can see, Facebook pages are public domain and are given a page rank (unlike personal profiles which are public). (e.g. http://www.facebook.com/cocacola?sk=wall PR=8, and http://www.facebook.com/Pringles?sk=wall PR=7). Is Google determining PR just from links to the page? I’m sure they are snooping at the post numbers, like numbers and probably posts themselves to determine PR.
Surely a link on a FB Page wall like this will feed the social mention factor that Matt Cutts speaks about?
Does anyone else know more about this who can comment?
Hi Matt, I too find these social sites a bit tedious, and I must say that with all the hype there is out there about them, that I am surprised at these comments to find so many others who think the same as I do.
I suppose that I will have to try and get my head around them.
I use facebook as a marketing tool and also to keep my customers updated with special offers and news. Also use LinkedIn a little. Cannot stand Twitter…..did build custom backgrounds and try it for a while but so much useless stuff on there……I use social bookmarking and am working to build up authority on some of the better sites.
Outsourcing has been mentioned several times and a site I use is Fiverr.com but like all others you have to do your due diligence and research the gig/person you are going to be using. I will usually start a dialogue with the person I am interested in and find out what their background is and how knowledgeable they are regarding the subject matter.
Hey Matt,
I know what you mean about spending to much time on Social Media sites. About a year ago I was spending far to much time on FB and found myself not getting any work done. I built up my “friends” to about 2500 and was interacting with them all and to be honest I was starting to enjoy it but wasn’t very productive, so about 6 Months or so ago I stopped going on there as much. I limit myself now to a couple of hours or so each week. I can do a little networking and accepting new friend requests.
I too find the whole social media thing repulsive, and I was happy to see others here who are approaching it hesitantly.
So, a friend recommends something, “likes” it, whatever. First of all, a lot of these people aren’t really friends in the traditional sense, they have been “friended.” Do i really care about their taste in vacuum cleaners, or furniture, or appliances, or restaurants (IF they’re even in the same geo location), or whatever? Am I going to take someone’s “like” of something and not go out and actually research it myself? Don’t think so. I don’t even share the views and tastes of a lot of my real friends in many areas. These are people I know and care about, but I wouldn’t buy something on their say-so.
This whole technology driven “like,” “friend,” “+1,” etc. seems like an entirely artificial environment, with created premises that supposedly everyone agrees on.
That said, I too will try and wrap m head around the whole social mess. Hurts just thinking about it.
Hi Matt
Great insight into social media and the discussion around it. Facebook seems to be something you can’t ignore and looking at Fan pages for various things myself.
Thanks
Jon
Social Media for affiliate marketing or your regular business is the way to go….referred to as INBOUND MARKETING. Outbound is not for affiliates and was good for realtors, etc. but not trackable…INBOUND has people coming to you and is Viral.
When you outsource come to a internet company that has a talented staff that has dedicated individuals that do nothing but FB and social media to get your traffic.
You will be surprised at how Inbound Marketing has changed the game in 2011 and next year will see a big move in that direction.
Ian owns Thrive Internet Marketing and is an expert and has the staff, but he his a nice guy and will tell you about Inbound and how you can get monthly results for a small amount of money and not have to learn it then do it yourself.
Not sure on this one Matt, the main source I see from social network sites is visitors to mine and my clients sites, I do use hootsuite and ping fm to keep the content sydicating along with a lot of rss stuff, and even if Fb does block google it does appear to pass some juice onto the target site, not sure how it does this but I know it does.
Anyway the Twitter thing is that if you want a new site page or post indexed quickly, then post on twitter and get two retweets, then search and you will find it’s already indexed, that’s the benefit I see with twitter, Google appears to take notice of re tweets rather than just tweets.
All the Best
John Robbins
Seo Services Cardiff
Hello Matt
Now i really want to comment on your blog asking and hoping you can explain something.
I dont want to advertise my site here but i want to show you something.
I started testing with a big nich and created a website for the Kindle-Fire-Color made some social profiles and added my link there, tweeted my domain with the kindle website http://www.bestbrandgroupdeals.com/index.php and i even landed really soon on the second place in google , first place on bing, first place on yahoo. Now when i do a search on google for kindle-fire-color i still find this site http://www.myspace.com/bestbrandgroupdeals yes MYSPACE on the first page on google.
My domain is only 10 months old, only having the kindle page 3 months and it is constantly changing and allready has a pagerank of 1 and is on some ranking websites allready somewhere in the 500.000 So you tell me is social media counting or not?
Matt Carter Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 7:31 am
Hi Hugo
Glad to see you getting stuck in, however I can’t provide one on one coaching for subscribers, it’s just not practical for me and I get dozens of emails everyday like this, I’m sure you can understand.
MAtt
Hugo Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 7:39 am
Yes offcourse i understand and i was not asking for one on one coaching i was just showing you that if you ask me social media is counting for your site
Ohh yes one other thing maybe a tip for all of you in case you dont know it yet.
There are plugins for WP that submit your post automatically to allot of social media sites all at ones. It is a bit much configuring at first but when you are setup it is fully auto pilot.
You can also connect your twitter to your facebook profile so all your tweets show up on your facebook page.
There are also websites where you can connect all your social media profiles to post all at ones.
I also used your tip from 1 of your video,s insite:tumblr “liked this” also helpt allot.
But i noticed that when you click the like button it is a NO FOLLOW link but when you reblog it you get a FOLLOW link
And sorry Matt but i forgot to say thank you for everything and keep up the good work
Can i bother all of you one more time sorry for this.
I bet we are not all in the same niches so cant we not setup a secret site where we post our sites/links and we start all clicking on the google+, Facebook like button and all the other buttons we have on our sites??
Hi Matt,
Thanks for setting up the webinar on SM in January. SM is something I have not really done much with and I know I should. Some of my site are in narrow niches and tend to be “thin” so I am wondering the best way to use social media with these. And also if I just do one should it be Google+1, Twitter of Facebook? I expect that after your webinar I will know so much more,