Listen

Yo! Listen up! Listen to what people are saying about you, your topic, your offering in Social Media. What motivates them? What do they need? Listening gives you knowledge and insight to survive when others are not. What keywords do they use when searching online? Listen to conversations to learn about their desires and needs.

 

Listen to what your competition is doing in their Search Marketing efforts. Are they ranking with targeted SEO and link-building efforts? PPC? Social Media? Research your market by watching your competitors in the search engine results, mentions of them in Social Media, Google News, Technorati. Where are they getting links and where are they hanging out?

 

Listening is THE most valuable research and analysis strategy...and often the hardest!

 

Optimize

Optimize with keyword-rich messages both on and off your site.

 

Create content people want to read, tweet about, share, bookmark, vote on and link to! Since you've been listening, you have notes, keywords and strategy for creating viral content based on the latest trends, news and needs of your audience. Publish and optimize blog posts, photos, videos, and tweets that are current and provide value.

 

Your website is your foundation. It must be organized with a strong information architecture. Once your site is optimized, you'll gain trust, attract links and improve your SEO ranking for your target keyword phrases.

 

Set yourself apart. Show some leg and some personality! You might get people talking about you, gain friends, increase traffic and attract incoming links!

Engage

Engage with others. Join conversations. Share. Exchange ideas. Connect. It's not complicated. Social Media is engaging with people and is not a set of tools. People are talking, probably about you. Optimize the conversation using relevant keywords, when appropriate. Shout out, and say "Yo!"

 

Engagement is more than marketing! People desire relationship and interaction. Follow and connect with people to build relationships.

 

Throw out your old markeitng messages. Forget about stuffing keywords and hidden text! Focus on traffic and conversations! Engage your site users to ensure they find what they need.

 

Blog and respond to people commenting on your blog. Share and participate in social networks — Twitter, Facebook, forums, review sites. Presence builds presence!