Social Media And The 3 New Pillars of Marketing

I have been involved in sales and marketing to create new business for clients and my own companies over the years and I have used many different methods including cold calling, database marketing, fax broadcasting, direct mail, mass media, letterboxing plus many other types of what has become known as traditional marketing. Over the last few years I have noticed that the results for many of the old types of marketing has continued to diminish as new technology has emerged and recently I wrote a post that mentioned the importance of content as an important component in this new approach titled “New Study Reveals: Content is King… Not Social Media” that highlight how important the new rules of marketing are in growing your business and attracting new clients. 

So it has come to the point where the question has to be asked “Is it worth continuing  with the old methods?”  and “Is there a better way and are there more efficient methods of marketing?”.

The evolution of the the search engine’s marketing power… (you could almost call it the “Rise Of The Machines” with the development and power of the 800lb gorilla called “Google”) is making redundant the old methods of getting your business and products and services found. This is due to the all pervasive obsession of society with”Information” and the “Information Age” and its delivery platform called the Internet. Additionally in recent years the rise of the smart phone (dare we call it the “iPhone”) has enabled us to find information and content “Anytime.. Anywhere”  as the usabilityof the devices, portability of the platforms and the speed of networks allowing us to obtain information anywhere we want it, in different mediums whether that be text, audio, video and images has evolved into a complex and powerful multi-channel and multi-media environment.

So what are the 3 New Pillars of Marketing? and why are they important for “Getting Found Online”.

1. Content
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
3. Social Media 

1. Content: Of these three content has always been around on the internet before the other two and even though it was important from day one (the internet was initially built to provide textual information and documents to be communicated between universities) the capability of the technology to enable it to be found easily was cumbersome, slow and very inefficient. In 2009 the internet can deliver information in many different mediums.

• Blogs
• Video
• Text
• Powerpoint Presentations
• Audio Podcasts
• Video Podcasts
• Microblogging
• Audio
• Wikis
• Forums
• Vlogs (Video Blogs)
• Webinar

Note: I have even heard of a blogger taking their blog content and re-purposing it in to 10 different mediums and if you take into consideration the different technology environments listed above you may start to get a bit creative with your content 

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): In essence SEO is the technology and effort required to make it easier for potential customers to find your content. It is the practice of building your site and inbound links to your site to maximize your ranking in search engines, where most of your customers begin their buying process.There are essentially 2 types of SEO practices.(For a more in depth look at SEO go to my blog post “How Social Media Can Help Organic SEO : 2 Case Studies”)

• Organic SEO: What is Organic SEO?  A  post by Scott Buresh’s Post from Marketing Profs  is the best explanation I have come across (I couldn’t put it any better)

“When people refer to “organic SEO” (search engine optimization), they almost always use it as a blanket term to describe the unpaid, algorithm-driven results of any particular engine. However, a sophisticated search engine optimization company will often take the meaning of “organic” one step further. To such companies, the “Organic SEO” is essentially 2 Things (but not only). These are

1. What shows up in the “natural” search engine results

2. Methodologies used to achieve such rankings, such as great content and utilizing social media like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Technorati, Reddit, Digg, Stumbleupon and other types of social media 

• Artificial SEO: A search engine optimization company using “artificial SEO” will ask, “How can I get links pointing to this site without adding anything of value to it?” The latter approach usually leads to reciprocal linking schemes, link farms, the purchase of text links, and more—anything except making changes to the Web site that entice others to link to the site without the link being reciprocated, without paying the Web site owner, or without asking “pretty please.” There is a stark contrast between “Organic SEO” and “Artificial SEO.” Of course, any decent search engine optimization company will make certain that a site is listed in all the popular directories, such as the Yahoo Directory, the Open Directory Project, and Business.com. A good search engine optimization company will also continually seek any industry specific directories where your site should be listed. But truly using “organic SEO” means evolving your site into something that holds actual value to your prospects. In my opinion, this is much more beneficial in the long run than the artificial methodology of trying to garner incoming links that the site does not truly deserve.”

3. Social Media: Social media amplifies the impact of your content. When your content is distributed across and discussed on networks of personal relationships, it becomes more authentic and nuanced, and is more likely to draw qualified customers to your site. The leverage it provides can be astonishing as your “interesting, unique and valuable content” gets embedded and linked in blogs and websites across the web. Your great content is praised, commented on discussed as you sleep and work and play. You will be amazed where it travels. I use a URL shortener that  tracks the time and location of the clicks on my ”Twitter” links as well as a tracking tool on my blog that shows me the time and place of links and clicks.

So what are the critical Social Media Channels you should be using?

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blog
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

Note: These are the top 5 and if you have read my article How Many Social Media Channels Should Your Brand Be Using? you will be aware of the exponential effect of using more then one Social Media Channel” Over the next few weeks we will go into more depth on the elements that you need to address within each of the three pillars of the new rules of marketing.

So what traditional marketing methods have you used in the past and what marketing mediums are you using now and finding to be effective?