The Social Media Guide

We talk a lot about social media on Marketing Trenches. And for good reason - Social media seems to be at least one item on the agenda for about 90% of the meetings we have these days. Everyone wants to run 100 miles an hour to do something on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I wrote about this previously in Want to Succeed In Social Media? It Sure Helps to Have a Strategy.

A big part of any strategic plan is revisiting that plan - Making sure you are doing all the things you should, adjusting the pieces that aren't working and continuing to optimize the pieces that are. Sometimes though, we get so excited for the newest, shiniest, brightest, sparkliest things that we neglect the basics. Herndon Hasty's recent article in Search Engine Watch, That's so 2004: Everything Old Is New Again, reinforces this - both from a Social Media and Search Engine Optimization perspective. I encourage you to read the whole article, but here's one quick excerpt:

Blogging: The Oldest Social Media

In the midst of the discussions about Twitter strategies and how to build a Facebook fan page, the huge value that a company-driven blog offers has gotten lost in the shuffle. Maybe it's because it's easier to think about reaching out to potential customers in 140-character snippets, maybe it's because these sites have already built the platform for us rather than having to create one ourselves, but keeping a blog for your company still brings value to your site and your brand that these newer social outlets can't.

Combine a drive by the engines for fresh content with SEO value that newer social media can't touch. It's an invaluable channel that's frequently overlooked and neglected - in many cases because it's not the word on everyone's lips at the moment. Remember, if you have enough news and content to Twitter about, you have enough to blog about.

I couldn't agree more. We like to view a blog as the hub for your social media efforts. It serves as the platform that feeds the rest of those efforts, and it has undeniable SEO value.

Don't get me wrong, it's incredibly important to have a social media strategy that encompasses all the places you should be - just don't neglect our old friend the blog.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your thoughts in our comments section.

About the Author: Will Davis is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing. Don't hesitate to drop Will a comment on this post. If you liked this post, follow @willdavis on Twitter for more commentary like this.

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