Now it's getting off topic though. Viral marketing is not synonymous with Social Media Marketing. You can marketing virally (i.e. ebooks, etc), and never engage social media sites.
I am also not sure who has the free time to do SEO to just "bless" a random plumber with business.
In my opinion, if you are doing SEO and not leveragin Social Media sites, you are missing out. for example, you can see references to a websites poularity on StumbleUpon in the Google search results. I am fairly confident that Google would not waste the time to have it a part of the search results if they did not take its popularity on SU into consideration.
Please know that my goal is not to argue for the sake of arguing. I have just seen very good results from using Social Media in conjunction with SEO.
"but branding is about credibility and trust building...which leads to conversion...and that's where social media's main strength lies...in branding and building a following...not advertising and direct sales."
This was my whole point as social marketing is hard to use for over 50% of sites, just like the local plumber, it is not the most effective tool for that type of site.
Each form of marketing has its own places, as I had stated above, you do not advertise a rock guitar in a gardening magazine. It is about using the right methods for each particular site.
I use socail media all the time, but it is by no means a cure all for all sites and energy can be spen with little to no return if not used correctly and on the right type of site.
Now, I just stated something similar to this on another thread. There are sites that PPC will not work for, there are sites that social will not work for, but there are none that SEO will not work for.
But, as stated, they all have their part, and I use them all.
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Have you seen the new e cigarette?
Ok, I will go further, decide on any site theme and I will make 2 of them, someone do all the social media they want on one with affiliate links, I will do the other with seo and we can track for 6 months and the seo site will have a higher volume of sales. I will even do the social also.
"I am also not sure who has the free time to do SEO to just "bless" a random plumber with business."
I would!
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Have you seen the new e cigarette?
I decided to try the StumbleUpon account and put $25 in it. My curiosity is peaked now and I want to see if that type of advertising will work for an insurance agent. I'm pretty sure the budget will get spent quick, so I'll repost the sucess or failure of it. I do agree that SEO and PPC work better for insurance websites - that's what I do
This was my whole point as social marketing is hard to use for over 50% of sites, just like the local plumber, it is not the most effective tool for that type of site.
You could use the social media sites to brand the plumber. For example, who hasn't heard of "Joe the Plumber" right? Granted, that's because of the election...but what if we created a newsworthy campaign around socially branding a plumber, and perhaps a video blog with a weekly "TV Show" about plumbing tips etc...and submitted that through social media sites...etc...
In time, that plumber would get recognition with the content they are providing through social networking...and BAM! Branding begins.
And yes, his site would end up getting more traffic as a result, and with the proper marketing process in place (which most plumbers don't have on their websites at all)...you convert/set more appointments etc...
Obviously, there's holes in this little bit of text I placed here...but we could expand this into a full-on social marketing plan.
You could use the social media sites to brand the plumber. For example, who hasn't heard of "Joe the Plumber" right? Granted, that's because of the election...but what if we created a newsworthy campaign around socially branding a plumber, and perhaps a video blog with a weekly "TV Show" about plumbing tips etc...and submitted that through social media sites...etc...
In time, that plumber would get recognition with the content they are providing through social networking...and BAM! Branding begins.
And yes, his site would end up getting more traffic as a result, and with the proper marketing process in place (which most plumbers don't have on their websites at all)...you convert/set more appointments etc...
Obviously, there's holes in this little bit of text I placed here...but we could expand this into a full-on social marketing plan.
Wanna do it for one of my clients? lol. I'll let you
I decided to try the StumbleUpon account and put $25 in it. My curiosity is peaked now and I want to see if that type of advertising will work for an insurance agent. I'm pretty sure the budget will get spent quick, so I'll repost the sucess or failure of it. I do agree that SEO and PPC work better for insurance websites - that's what I do
Did you pay $25 to become a sponsor or are you trying the StumbleUpon ads? My posts were referring to using SU for Social Marketing, but the advertising is certainly another angle.
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