SEO insiders have wondered whether this new search innovation would affect placement strategies. And the simple answer is: yes. Yes, there will be changes to the way SEO professionals run their clients’ campaigns. Yes, this will affect the industry as a whole. And yes, we believe SEO professionals will have to adapt to meet ever-evolving needs.

But to think that this development is rocking the SEO world is to misunderstand the realities of the industry. In its roughly 15 years of existence, SEO has grown from being a small wildcat operation run by webmasters and content services to being one of the most dynamic, fast-growing sectors of the tech market. The reason for this rapid growth is because — not in spite –- of the constantly evolving nature of search engines.

Of course, as with any complex question about a dynamically evolving industry, there is a caveat. While the Bing-Facebook agreement and the recent updates to Google will change elements of how we do our business, the fundamentals will remain the same. As much as innovation shapes the day-to-day processes of optimization, the core foundations of the industry remain unchanged. The goal was — and still is — putting clients at the top of results pages, whether this is through organic search, paid search or social media.

Social media is nothing new in the world of online marketing. Facebook alone has 500 million users. We have already seen certain Twitter feeds included in Google search results. Before long, results may integrate other social networking sites, like Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and myriad other sites that haven’t even been developed yet. For SEO professionals, this change highlights the need to integrate social networking if they haven’t already.

The Bing-Facebook agreement is indicative of the many changes that have taken SEO from a small-time game to a major, innovative industry. SEO is not about counter-punching, and it’s not about simply reacting to the changing search-engine landscape. Instead, it is about growing alongside search engines. It is about evolving with them to ensure that searchers get the results they need.

For years now, successful SEO firms have not been focusing their efforts strictly on organic search results. They’ve been steadily evolving along with changes in search engines: new Google algorithms, the emergence of Bing, the development of Google Local, instant searches, paid search, and searchable Twitter feeds. To be successful, SEO firms now need to become something more advanced: Digital Media Agencies.

Digital Media Ageniess are about handling the many online representation needs of their clients. While top search engine placement remains the major goal, it is just one aspect of what they seek to do. A Digital Media Agency also seeks to manage a client’s online reputation, create and maintain their social presence, and handle the many other aspects of a client’s online brand.

Will SEO professionals have to change their strategy in reaction to a new social media paradigm? The answer is yes. Their evolution into full-fledged Digital Media Agencies is imperative. And as the social and search industries continue to change, so too will Digital Media Agencies need to innovate.

Companies must now tap into online conversations to find out who is talking about them and their brand, what really interests them, and where they are saying it.

The importance of social media is grossly underestimated. People think that by having a Twitter account, that they are one step ahead of their rivals. But they are missing a major opportunity to establish strong relationships with not only current and potential clients, but also internet users that can promote their brand for free!

Social media offers you the opportunity of doing in-depth research at a much lower cost than conventional advertising methods. And it is much easier to measure.

It is possible to set goals and get ROI, but you have to know where
you’re going and what you want to achieve. Tap into the online conversations
to find out:
• who is talking about you
• what they are saying
• is it positive or negative
• where are the conversations taking place
• what communities talk about you
• what are your competitors doing in social media
• what’s the buzz about them
• what content resonates with your audience
• are there subjects of interest you could provide content for
• what social sites have the most conversation
• who are the “fire-starters” you need to connect with
• who are the influencers in these blogs or communities
• where are the opportunities and threats
Once you have this information you can allocate your resources wisely. You’ll know where to start and what social sites you should be concentrating on. When you know the lay of the land it’s much easier to plot a path to your
destination. A social media marketing strategy is your roadmap.

So think about your audience. Who buys your product or service..what are their interests/what’s important to them? Google Alerts, Google BlogSearch, Twitter search, BlogPulse, Yahoo Groups, are good places for you to make a start. These will tell you what blogs, message boards, and forums, are relevant for your business, once you have analysed your target market thoroughly.  It’s not rocket science, but it takes time! It is well worth the effort!

We tend not to suggest using online advertsising so much, as much as anything due to a lack of knowledge. I think we need to look at this again. The course, part of my MSc (nose to the grindstone now!), was largely about the use of various display advertising formats, CPMs, CPAs, CPCs and the like. It has to be said that for certain offerings, this channel should be used – in conjunction we would suggest with the more standard routes such as search and email marketing. That sentence in itself is contentious, as for some people their view of the world would be the opposite with displays being the primary focus. I will leave it up to you to decide on your own priorities.

The key point however is that online advertsing is continuing to grow http://bit.ly/2oqCxP. This is all good news for those suppliers involved in the digital arena. It is also good news for clients, as online promotion has one huge benefit over traditional media – MEASURABILITY! Whilst you will never know how many people see your ad in the paper you will certainly know the reach of your online promotions. If nothing else, we would recommend you review the allocations of your marketing budgets and check those pounds are working their hardest for you.

Even if the recession has bottomed out, and we are not fully convinced of that, we would suggest companies should still be looking at how they allocate their marketing budget. The number of people we meet who don’t measure where their enquiries come from never ceases to amaze me! What is the point of spending thousands of pounds on Yellow Pages if you don’t know how much business it brings?

That is one of the key advantages of using the online medium – you can track and measure everything through Google Analytices – even your off line campaigns. This allows you to really determine where those vauable dollars or pounds should be being spent – they do still need spending of course and many would suggest you should be increasing the spend during tough times – we would not advocate that – just a redistribution to a more online focus.

I quite like my newspaper! Reading The Sunday Times over breakfast and through a lazy Sunday is one of life’s true pleasures in my opinion, but through the working week it is harder to achieve this due to lack of time – in my case I also live in the middle of nowhere so can’t have it delivered to read over breakfast anyway!

What to do?

I am a bit of a news addict – I listen to it on the radio, watch the TV news and also still read the papers. What I am doing now however is using technology to improve my news gathering and better satisfy my craving. I am doing this without any effort and also for free. I am focussing on the topics that interest me and can scan stories related to those subjects from a number of sources quickly and easily.

How?

I use Feedly which in my opinion is the best way to aggregate your news and any other data that you want to follow. It essentially provides me with my own personalised newspaper and it is free – rather than paying for The Times, Financial Times and Telegraph I now get all their stories, or at least the ones that interest me, in one place. I think it is great and would strongly recommend it!

In a business sense, as part of our research setting up social media campaigns and any online marketing campaigns we will research not only what our client is up to but what their competitors are doing. We do this through Google Alerts, which then feeds into Feedly. We obviously use this to see what our competitors are up to aswell! If you don’t have a Google account this is one good reason to have one for sure! Every time your competitor is mentioned in a new article or post you will know about it – which has got to be of some value, even if you are just a nosey parker!

Try out Feedly!

Not only is online marketing’s share of spend increasing but it is at the expense of traditional advertising … as Paul mentioned the other day, people are increasingly not using newspapers as much, although I still buy them myself (!), so what is the point of advertising in them?

Pretty simple really – spend your marketing money where the people you want to reach exist!

More information, with the appropriate Forrester Research numbers can be found at http://www.briansolis.com/2009/07/the-decline-of-advertising-and-the-rise-of-social-media/