What’s occurring in the search scene?

Search fuels traffic, but content fuels search. Consider the rise and rise of social media and all the user generated content out there. With advertisers trying to impress an increasingly hard to please digital audience, they too have had to start creating content that is not only engaging or funny, but transient.

As a result search engines are working overtime to redirect curious users to branded, unbranded, co-created, spoofed, mashed, tagged and presumably deleted content that lives all over the social web space. So instead of users being directed to a ‘destination page’ that has been carefully crafted by one proud advertiser; search is now sending them off in all different directions to find a much talked about content jaw-dropper (or food for thought document, or coupon, or competition…need we go on).

By providing new traffic driving opportunities, eg to Facebook fan pages, popular Diggs or embedded widget banners, we need to be cognisant of the need to spread the branded word in areas outside of our destination site. It takes time and effort and of course great content (get a copy of my Digital Thought Report on ‘Content is King’, for deeper thinking on that subject), but it can do wonders for our natural search appearances. The positive knock on effect is to open the brand up to a wider more in-tune audience, who may not be ready for/aware of the product or service yet, but will start to shift their perception of the brand if the content, placement, sentiment and tonality are right up their street.

And here’s the fun bit: if the audience like you and your clever content, then they will talk about you. This is the biggest change to the internet landscape - the emergence of 'The Conversation.' Web 1.0 was a one way street. The Social Web (or Sweb!) is a virtual spagehetti junction.

That means if conversations are happening people will be looking for more of the same via their search engines. Or free advertising to you and me. So why not capitalise on it. A good digital marketer will sync their social SEO with their onsite SEO and PPC efforts. This is done easily enough buy investing in a good social listening tool and tapping into the postive and negative keyword clouds. Et volia! You have a collection of terms that you can plug into your sites editorial optimisation routine, and start putting your destination site among the list of natural search results that you would otherwise miss.

the online content kingdom. first thought...

So, you’ve heard the one about the chicken and the egg? Well then you’ll know no one’s been able to crack it. Which is true for a number of brands trying to tap into the online content scene. So what does come first? The compelling engaging content hoping to draw numbers of adoring viewers? Or the huge number of viewers hoping to be engaged by their adored brand? Actually it can work both ways, but what you’ll find is even the most loved brands have to produce an outstanding piece of content to impress their viewers. Go out with the wrong message in the wrong format or environment and the brand can lose credibility faster than you say “egg on your face”.

The big considerations with content is much the same as any media. Audience. Format. Distribution. Advertisers also need to think about the value to them for producing and distributing content and how to measure the success of their content piece. The burning questions will be, what ROI has it delivered or has as it opened up new opportunities for us?

If you’re going to embark on a content lead campaign you need to know what material, tone of voice, visual stimulus and primary message your want your content to hold. Be mindful of who will be viewing your content and manage their expectations in regards to a ‘quick fling’ contact, or a long lasting relationship. The approach you choose will determine other factors, like are you, your website and source of material, geared up for the long haul. Or if you just want a short and sweet encounter with the audience, how do you communicate this up front? What is your exit strategy (and that applies to both long and short term content exposure).
As long as we abide by the laws of his land, then we’ll all be in for a long and fruitful life in the Content Kingdom. Long live the King!