How to Integrate Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Promotion

There is an increasing trend for companies to try to integrate the two disciplines of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Promotion, which are separate but functionally complement each other. The end results have been beneficial to the bottom line of the companies involved. In this article we discuss how this integration can be performed successfully and with minimum loss of time.

Search Engine Optimization:

SEO is an acronym and refers to an assortment of various techniques and methods used to improve the visibility of a website and to increase its PageRank. The higher the rank and frequency of its appearance, the more it will be visited by the major search engines.

Social Media Promotion:

Social Media Promotion refers to a collection of websites that are called Social Media Networks. They enable their members, called the community, to interact and share information online. Social Media is about people and has been applied more and more to Internet marketing. Some of the more famous examples of Social Media Networks are Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flikr, YouTube and StumbleUpon.

Social media marketing (SMM):

Social media marketing is actually the oldest form of marketing used by mankind, though today it has some imposing names. In its simplest form, social media marketing is just word-of-mouth advertising, which has been reinforced with the use of modern technology. Popular sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, etc. are all examples of social media networking sites which are used in marketing. They exist and thrive on the strengths of their communities. The sites provide the members with a platform through which they can converse with one another, share their views and opinions, ask questions and receive answers, thus providing them with valuable feedbacks.

Integrating SEO with SM:

The idea of integrating search engine optimization with social media promotion is a sound strategy that will result in benefiting your company. The following suggestions may be found useful in planning such an integration process.

• Prepare a detailed roadmap in consultation with a person or a firm with experience in Internet marketing

• Create an online forum on your website where you can interact with the members. The questions and answers resulting from these interactions will help you in your decision making process.

• Start a blog on your site, with carefully crafted posts that will provide information on your company and its products or services, and provide outbound links to other selected blogs and sites. The participation from the readers will provide opportunities for useful inbound links to your site.

• Keep your online community alive and healthy. Update your blog regularly with fresh new posts to sustain the interest of your readers. This will also lead to regular visits to your site from the major search engines.

• Provide links to other popular social media sites on reciprocal basis. These links can deal not only with business matters but also with topics of day-to-day interest.

• Subscribe to relevant RSS feeds for publishing in your site. This will furnish interesting content and tempt viewers to visit your site regularly.

Remember that starting the integration process is the hardest part of the exercise, so get going as soon as possible.