B.L. Ochman has kept me entertained with his various articles poking fun at the proliferation of people claiming to be social media gurus. His most recent article about how the number of self-proclaimed “social media guru” titles has gone down but other, but new titles are emerging got me thinking:

Hiring a [social media] strategist, guru, consultant, or any other title is a bad idea for 99% of the companies I come in contact with.

Now, before someone with that title gets all upset and leaves me a heated comment, let me explain why I feel this way.

Social media is a very small piece of what it takes for the majority of businesses to succeed online, pure and simple. Hiring someone who is a recently name social media _________ is a bad idea, because it’s very likely that person knows little about many of the other tools in the online marketing arsenal.  It takes years of study, trial and error, discipline, and a little luck; to become an effective online marketer.  Do you really want to hire someone who has mastered Twitter and Facebook to manage your online strategy?

If you think you need a social media strategist, then I’m going to make a very educated guess and say that is probably only a part (maybe a small part) of what you need.  Most businesses I start working with are not doing many of the other fundamental things right – so why would you jump into social media?!

If you’re not effectively marketing to search engines and generating qualified traffic that converts, then you have work to do before diving into social media.

If you are not segmenting your customers with email lists, cross-promoting to them and building loyalty and referrals, then you have work to do before diving into social media.

These are some sweeping generalizations, but it boils down to this: you need an online strategist, not a social media __________. You need someone who can look at your business and craft a solution from all the many tools in the online marketing toolbox, not just push you into social media because it’s what everyone wants to talk about right now.

Related articles:

• Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Your Social Media Marketing (verticalmeasures.com)
• 3 Social Media Myths You Should Be Careful Of (onesocialmedia.com)
• The Big Myth – Anyone Can Do Social Media (charlesheflin.com)

I was asked to speak to NPA Worldwide, a global organization of personnel professionals, in a workshop for recruiters.  Social media and recruiting go hand-in-hand, especially in today’s climate where finding the ideal candidate is the name of the game.

Fortunately, social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook provide some amazing tools to allow recruiters to target potential placements.  We all post such detailed personal and professional information about ourselves in online profiles that can all be easily searched, that means that finding that ideal candidate is (or can be) easier now than ever before.

Time
One obvious issue that was discussed is the time investment required to be successful in social media.  Several of our participants today voiced concerns about the level of involvement needed. My thoughts on the large time investment are this:  if you are spending tons of time on LinkedIn and you know that it’s working, then that’s obviously well worth the effort.   In order to justify the time, you have to be monitoring your social media efforts and quantifying your results.

PLET
I presented my PLET method for using social media, which covers the basics that everyone needs to know if you’re going to successfully take advantage of these new media channels: Post, Listen, Engage, & Track

Here are some examples that I covered for how recruiters can use this methodology:

• Posting information is crucial, and content is still king! But don’t just throw out your job posting like every other recruiter does- find some way to “hook” people and get their interest. Keywords are crucial, but finding your (online) voice and letting your personality show through are important.
• If you aren’t measuring it, then you can’t improve it (or for that matter, know if it is worth your time investment).  Measuring the effectiveness of social media efforts is a must – so using tools like URL shorteners (bit.ly) that allow you to see how many clicks you’re getting to job postings can go a long way towards helping you start to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
• Listening for opportunities is one of the chief ways to take advantage of online tools.  Google alerts to monitor for lay-offs or openings is a free way to extend your ability to know what’s happening.  We also discussed the importance of organizing all of that kind of information, and using RSS feeds with Google Reader is a brilliant way to not only organize, but it will give you the ability to do searches as well.
• I talked a lot about the great tools that Google provides, and Analytics was another one.  Knowing that your site or blog is getting increased traffic from wherever you are spending your time promoting is just as important as knowing if people are hitting your links.  The reason we can be so good at online marketing is because we can measure it on such a granular level!

Firstly, thank you to James Hutto, not only for following us on Twitter but accepting our invitation to contribute to this blog.

Leading on from this, I’ll be discussing how utilising your blog can help you network with those within the same industry, as well as increase the success of your SEO campaign.

Many people know that a blog is a vital tool to have within a website, but are not using it to its full potential. A blog offers various opportunities for a business to succeed within the World Wide Web, if used in conjunction with other elements of SEO. Content is still King and what better way to voice ideas, opinions and strategies than using your own website to do so.

Blogging has mixed reviews. There are many people that have been contributing to their blog for a long while without as much as a single comment. Then, there are those blogs that seem to have numerous visits and are highly regarded as being a useful source to find out the latest information and goings on in specific areas of interest.

So what makes a good blog and how can it improve online relationships with both people and Search Engines?

Get It Out There:

Blogging is no good on its own. As with all aspect of SEO, you need various components to comprise a successful campaign. To get the readers you need to find them, and once you’ve got them you need to keep them. But how is this possible?

Well with social media for one. The most obvious place to find people is on some of the most highly populated websites; Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. Regardless of the industry there are people that always want to know more authoritative figures, but haven’t got the time to go searching. Make yourself visible by posting your information and highlighting news that you’re proud of.

There are various online tools that can link from your blog to your Twitter then to your Facebook so at the click of one button you’re covering all bases. Once you’ve got people visiting your blog, the hardest battle is won.

Keep Content Current:

Search Engines are fickle, they get bored and when something better comes along they are likely to choose that over something that isn’t reinventing itself. Search Engines want to see websites producing fresh content, taking the time to build links and spread themselves across the world wide web.

A blog is the perfect platform for reinventing a website, as it offers the opportunity to add fresh content on a regular basis.

The only rule that you should follow to ensure that your blog is successful, is related to the content that you are adding to it.

Make sure it’s recent, exciting and new. You blog doesn’t have to be stuffy, in fact it should be chatty and engage readers. Writing industry based content that is exciting will attract those with the power to influence your company, who will help spread the word within a community. This type of exposure isn’t possible with old copy that people have read about before.

Don’t Focus On A Time Limit:

It is healthy to set goals for a business and do everything to reach them. However getting a blog noticed and building up an authority can take a long time, it’s virtually impossible to put any timing together.

Instead of focussing on what isn’t being achieved, spend time planning what else could be done to improve the blogs authority. This may include increasing how many posts are being submitted, researching further afield or even requesting guest posts from other people to share their thoughts.

This brings me conveniently to how networking can enhance your blogging practices.

Networking for Blogging.

Networking provides the perfect opportunity to discuss elements of your business with others within the same industry. But why stop at tweets or comments? Surely the point of making friends, and followers is to engage in their recent activity and share ideas.

Blogging can strike conversations and with news that is well written, people will soon be keen to learn more about your company. Urge people to contact you and offer your services through your social media. It is called ‘networking’ for a reason and your news and updates are the perfect conversation starter.

It also opens up doors for people to contribute to your website and with so many different opinions on SEO it’s easy to see why blogging is crucial for any SEO campaign.

Improving your SEO is about engaging with those that can potentially help your business grow. Don’t focus on what your website isn’t providing but rather the people that can help get you where you want to be.

A blog holds more cards than perhaps many website owners realise. If you don’t currently have one it’s a must before continuing with your SEO campaign and if you’ve neglected yours recently, then ensure you get back writing, it’s a sure fire way to help expose your business and gain those all important contacts.

If you’re still on the fence about social media marketing as an effective channel for your business, you may want to think again.  Take a look at this calculator that shows how quickly the medium is advancing:

When it comes to successfully marketing a business, the key is to be where your customers are, but your competitors aren’t.  Considering the hesitation some businesses have about jumping in to social media, there is a great opportunity to be one of the first out of the gate.  The reasons why your business should explore social media are endless, and so many articles explaining everything from 101-type starters to strategy models; just get out there and do it already!