Social media, audience engagement, social metrics and enhancements of search engine algorithms all effect business marketing and show the value of change in online platforms when devising online marketing strategies.

In this piece, Bravr discuss SEO and social media campaigns, and ultimately, what this means for businesses looking to either develop a team in-house or look to outsource online marketing.The first focus is SEO, with a insight into the types of strategies implemented by marketing agencies. One trait that is certain with online marketing, businesses get what they pay for.

SEO

When searching for an agency to develop your Search Engine Optimisation, it is essential that your marketing team analyse the previous outcomes of their offerings and establish whether there is longevity in the results. Often agencies pride themselves on improved Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERP’s) for particular time bound campaigns; however with 500-600 Google algorithm changes each year it is crucial to establish the effectiveness of campaigns.

Significant algorithm changes, namely, Penguin on April 24^th this year, can render a large chunk of previous SEO campaign data out of date. It is integral to ask agencies how they have achieved their results, rather than what percentage differences in performance;  ask how many different methods they use and what strategy would be best for your campaign, rather than looking at a case study for a company in an entirely different sector than your organisation. If possible, attain details of SEO campaigns and cross-reference results to Google algorithm changes to establish how the updates have affected results.

In essence, Google are focusing on two features to enhance the value of the 88 billion searches each month, these are i. anti-spam (Google Penguin) and ii. high quality content (Google Panda).  This is at the core of the philosophy of Google, invariably pushing toward unique, relevant and high quality content that ranks accordingly rather than ranking data from deceptive sources that involve spam, and, most importantly have very little use to the individuals landing on the page.

With SEO, it is imperative your team devise an online strategy for the right reasons.  Analyse the areas of your websites and content that have relevancy and establish  keywords that perfectly represent  content on your websites. This will result in individuals getting the the most of their search queries. This will not only benefit people searching your keywords, this will provide longevity to SEO campaigns. It is infinity better to rank highly when your organisations website deserves to, rather than through strategies that are short-lived and face being banned from Google.

Social Media

Many digital marketing agencies promise enhancements in social metrics, opting for an exclusively quantitative approach to campaigns rather than overall engagement to their target audience. In theory, social media is a step towards a real-life association via digital platforms, with a focus on personality, popularity and trust.  It is not necessary how many friends you have, it is the quality of connections that associate to your online brand and the influence they then have to your target audience. A trusted voice on social media platforms is essential for longevity and this works similarly to Google's philosophy of content omitting spam, providing high quality, engaging information to the appropriate people.

When seeking a social media team, it is always beneficial to take on personable people with marketing expertise and experience with the appropriate monitoring tools.  It is best to avoid the agencies that guarantee you 10,000 Facebook likes in a month and focus entirely on the quantitatively justifiable campaigns copiously based on internal account metrics. The successful social media campaigns are behaviourally constructed through an intelligent mix of qualitative, quantitative data with a mix of charm and personality.

Social Metrics

Research has shown that social media activity, relevancy and popularity have an influence on natural search on Google. It is no surprise that the metrics within Google+ can have a profound influence on search results within Google. It must be noted that both twitter and Facebook have a valuable influence organic search results. Interestingly, with Twitter it is tweets and retweets that influence rankings rather than followers. This, of course synchronises with the Google philosophies mentioned above and reiterates a movement toward social signals and activity rather than static, retrospective metrics.

How about us?

At Bravr, we pride ourselves on marketing strategies that have longevity as well as producing outstanding ROI’s for our clients. We believe that the effectiveness of campaigns go beyond quantitative analysis basing the success of our client's online presence on  continual growth, significant returns and creative execution. We believe in transparency with all of our clients with our methods fully explained. We are proud to share all information and strategies with our partners.  For free consultancy give us a call on: +44 (0) 845 0558 413 alternatively you can email our team on: [email protected]. We would love to discuss your online marketing strategy with you, and your team.