Sphinn - Are You Really Ready to Offer Social Media Services?

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Are You Really Ready to Offer Social Media Services?

Went Hot: April 23, 2008 - 5:29 am
Posted By: EricLander 174 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.searchenginejournal.com)
Category: Social Media

Companies lust for the high margins that successful social media efforts can generate. They infatuate themselves with backlinks, page views and opportunities to score major ad revenue. Sadly, they fail to understand just how organic the space has become. While they were drooling away in their daydreams, fantasizing about easy returns and low budget efforts — the communities that they hoped to exploit grew larger, smarter and more fickle.

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from rossdunn 174 days ago #

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Great article Eric, I reTweeted that one quickly. I think you have some excellent points and they are undoubtedly a bit predictive since I imagine many SEO companies are just getting ramped up to mess up the space. That said, I do believe it was too clear cut to say that ALL SEO companies shouldn't do SMM. For example Jeff Quipp and the crew over at Search Engine People have done a wonderful job of creating SMM services - setting a great example for other SEO companies.

Anyway, what I liked most about this article was that it should serve to raise the bar for people entering the field. Using StepForth as an example I know I want my company to enter the SMM field but I don't dare advertise it until I have an understanding of SMM that matches (at least nearly) my understanding of SEO; and this is a way off. Meanwhile in our case we will be experimenting with the basics on a few clients over the next 6 months and using Search Engine People (who are already established) to run the bigger campaigns we need done.

So far I feel the two mediums marry very well AS LONG as the company reps have a firm understanding of the ethics of each property and that community supportive participation always comes first - after all social media is based on that first and foremost.

So what do you think Eric? Have I got a clue... I am really asking LOL because I am very much still learning.

from JohnCarcutt 174 days ago #

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Nice article Eric.

I see a trend towards SEO breaking down into niche markets. We already have ones like "link building specialists" and no doubt as the industry grows more and more niche specialties will emerge. SMM will be one and probably should already be.

I am going to have to disagree that "SEO firms have zero business providing “social media marketing” as a leg of their business". Like most aspects of this industry, people doing it wrong hurt the industry as a whole. SMM is not any different. Grouping all SEO firms into that statement would be similar to saying that "SEO firms have zero business doing link building" because of some of the idiots out there doing it wrong.

I personally believe in the coming years, SMM will be just a vital to SEO as Link Building. Heck, it may even take its place as a primary factor.

from EricLander 174 days ago #

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Ross, you absolutely have a clue - trust me. The fact that you're concious of where you stand with SMM proves that. As I mentioned on Twitter -- it's my style to make blanket statements to get people emotional and interested in having a debate. I really enjoy it when people discuss the article's topic as you have here.

That's why I casually mentioned that... "My goal here is to agitate you enough to become better at what you do."

I could challenge your stance that SEM and SMM are closely related though if I had taken the time to clarify what is included in (my idea of) SMM. SMM to me is viral content generation, link bait, social media profiling, branded SERP defense, community involvement, etc.

Viral content and link bait efforts absolutely agree with SEO's initiatives. Creating social media profiles for the purpose of polluting the SERP's can begin to counteract SEO efforts though. Are they related? Sure they are. But, not enough for me to say that ideal compliments.

SMM also requires a lot of maintenance and babysitting. I've found that most hardened SEM firms lack the ability to maintain efforts after they have launched. The ones that do, are more Internet Marketing organizations -- NOT SEM firms.

I say this because to manage SEM efforts, you need to go beyond keywords and search results. You need to understand the legalities of what's posted. You need to invest time into learning your client's best interests, their business capabilities, their threshold for involvement, etc. While Internet Marketing firms can offer SMM and SEM services, I've yet to find an SEM firm offering quality SMM.

I'm probably muddying the waters here a bit by leaving things open and vague -- so to wrap things up, I'd say this. If your firm offers SEO and SMM services, it's NOT a search company. It' an online marketing company. :)

from EricLander 174 days ago #

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John, I want to treat your comment in the right context, so I hope that this response is not too close to my response to Ross.

Before going too far, can you give me an unbiased example of an SEO firm, as well as a link building firm? Multiple examples are welcomed too...

from JohnCarcutt 174 days ago #

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I don’t know of a Link Building "firm" .. but there are plenty of individuals that only focus on link building. I guess this is what I was referring too. We all know that certain companies are known for certain aspects of the business. Mention Eric Ward and what do you think of, mention Jill Whalen and what do you think of, 10e20 and what do you think of ...

How do you define a firm? SEO shops come in all sizes and some of the best ones are only 2 or 3 people deep.

from EricLander 174 days ago #

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To me, an SEM firm would be an organization along the lines of iProspect. In other words, an organization large enough to trip over itself. I don't have any connection or experience with them, but I'd be shocked if they thought they could magicly provide SMM services overnight. Firms to me are simply not nimble enough to compete in this space.

Link building firms and brokerages are another beast alltogether, which is why I was interested in some examples that you may have offered. While SEO and SMM may be kissing cousins, link brokers and SMM are light years apart in my mind.

I would guess that you're building links as a supplement to your SEO services. Or, you're generating links with specific anchor text so as to reinforce your SEO efforts to make your work more effective. There's nothing wrong with that, and it is certainly part of the SEO puzzle. But that's why you're leveraging SMM -- to supplement and strengthen particular SEO efforts.

The organizations I'm (alredy) fed up with (and ranting about) are positioning themselves as SMM experts because they're involved in the SEO space. That's not even possible, as we're in the infacy stages of SMM.

To clarify -- a firm is a larger group of people who are generally hired and trained for specific roles. The nimble companies you speak of are really just effective and effecient teams of people who know what pieces to put together to be successful.

from bbcarter 174 days ago #

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Hmm we call it SMO- social media optimization. You bring up some good points. I think some discussion of the SEO implications of SMO activities is warranted- but maybe you'd still call that SEO.

How much SM activity is there in the niches people will want to manage/optimize? i.e. products and services-

The people you talk about you are SM rock stars may be great at doing it naturally, but clients want to hire someone who can do it naturally and intentionally for them. Sounds like you're saying the SM-rock-star naturals can't/won't do this?

from EricLander 174 days ago #

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bbcarter, -- I tend to call the industry of paid search anf organic optimization SEM, while others think SEM is straight paid search. SMM and SMO are certainly interchangable for me as well in that same regard, so I won't go too far into that.

You ask some great questions. I know I can answer them, I'm just not sure I can provide the depth of answers your looking for.

How much SM activity is there in the niches people will want to manage/optimize? (i.e. products and services) I can't speak to that, as I'm not in that space as a service provider, and I haven't reviewed such services to market any products.

The people you talk about you are SM rock stars may be great at doing it naturally, but clients want to hire someone who can do it naturally and intentionally for them. Sounds like you're saying the SM-rock-star naturals can't/won't do this? Mentioning Brent, Chris or Brendan was done only because I've spoken with them and/or reviewed their work in enough detail to understand their dedication. I can't speak to what they do professionally, but I'm sure we can safely assume they profit from their work.

I agree that there are clients, ready and willing to purchase social media optimization services.
My arguement is that there are true professionals, and those who are simply posers. It's the activities of the posers that I'd love to do without.

from Jill 173 days ago #

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I love this article as it totally echoes my thoughts. Nice job, Eric!

from nulpt 173 days ago #

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Dude, you bring up some excellent points here. True social media is based on building relationships, pretty much like everything else in life and business. A "player" is just not going to get very far in pretending like they are interested in the relationship. I don't think an SMO company can do the actual work for another company or organization. It's like hiring someone else to parent your own child. Even if that type of a situation began to work it would still be based on the sincerity (of the hired help) in the relationship. Social Media profiles, the maintenance, and babysitting like you talk about, are tools that the client needs to be taught how to use. An SMO firm cannot use those tools posing as the client. Really my thought is.... how can an SMO company truly get effectively involved in the relationships that a company needs to have with it's partners, customers, employees, etc without being passionate about that which the company has a passion for? You just can't fake the funk for someone else and have successful long lasting results.