Guest comment: How to use your marketing budget wisely through the downturn

This period of downturn has also been mirrored by the exponential rise of social media which has opened up a raft of new opportunities for businesses to engage with their stakeholders.  So, how can businesses first tune-up their web sites ready for social media and the benefits for search engine optimisation (SEO) and also take full advantage of opportunities from ‘free’ social media without burning through their time and budget?

Before you dive in on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, there are some foundations you need to put in place first to get ready for social media and that means looking at your web site.  Your web site is your shop window on the web, the place you want your social media traffic to go.  Directing visitors back to your web site is where you can capitalise on sales leads (or sales if you have an e-commerce site) and also benefit from ‘organic’ SEO.

Organic SEO means letting the strength of your web site content, news flows, in bound links (links from other websites) and social media activity help drive up your website hits, search results and rankings, rather than spending more money with SEO agencies or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns.   First base for your web site is having a site that is search-engine friendly such as a content management system (CMS) that makes your site open for quick and easy consumption by search engines such as Google.  If Google cannot easily read your site, then you are not being indexed by Google which means you are not even on the radar.  This does not mean an expensive upgrade.  Open source CMS’ such as Wordpress or Joomla are ideal.  They can easily incorporate all your social media tools such as blogs, RSS feeds, Twitter feeds, bookmarking and so on. 

Any SEO expert will tell you about the importance of ‘key words’.  Key words link the web browser with your web site, so it is worth putting in the time and there are many ways to develop your key word strategy, defining those search terms that your business wants to focus on.  Key word strategies are vital for successful SEO, proving to a search engine how important your site is to a particular search. This is also vital for social media as it identifies the keywords being used and searched for in social media content.  Use your key words liberally but sensibly in your social media activity especially for your biographies and profiles.  With your key words defined and your web site optimised for social media, it is time to start social networking.

With good content – articles, news, video, podcasts, you can see your website hits climb, as your company becomes more renowned as an expert in its chosen field.  Blogs are fantastic for SEO, regularly updated, keyword-rich blog content is favoured by search engines, also video, causing your site to be re-indexed with each new content addition.  Good quality blog content will also be recommended by others.  Wherever possible, when using social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, try to encourage users to visit your site – such as launching new content via your blog and promoting it on Twitter or with your LinkedIn contacts and groups.

In addition to the benefits for SEO, social media tools provide an excellent channel for your company’s external communications.  It gives your business the chance to participate in dialogues with customers, prospects and the wider world.  Use monitoring tools such as www.socialmention.com to listen first, monitor who and what is being said.   Research suitable sites, groups and lists to participate in, the closer you get to your target customer, the more likely it is you will either influence or attract new prospects to your business. 

Excellent monitoring, regular participation and engagement is the key to success with social media – you want to attract and then retain an online community which is interested to hear what you have to say and is tuned into your updates.   With a renewed focus on SEO and exploiting social medial channels to the full, your marketing efforts will go much further and ultimately at lower cost through the last six to twelve months of the current downturn.  The investment will pay dividends once the market begins to turn around properly.

For more information and to discuss your online marketing strategy, visit Amplify at http://www.dthomas.co.uk/amplify/default.htm

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