Social media or social networking is basically a type of word of mouth marketing. You’re more likely to purchase a product or service, or become more loyal to a brand if you get a positive recommendation from a friend or family member. The internet has allowed us to expand this friend base to more than just people we physically know. This is one reason why social media is so important. Another is related to blended search results and personalized search. You’ve probably noticed over the last couple years that the search engines are now including different types of content in search results such as images, video, and you guessed it… links to blogs. By writing quality blogs, you have the ability to rank well and gain traffic, and improve sales and leads. So let’s talk about some basics of blogging as a form of social networking, and how to create a buzz with your blog.
The basic rules of optimization apply when trying to gain a ranking for your blog. Keyword placement is important in the title, meta tags, content, heading, URL, etc. When writing a blog, you want to be sure to write something that will engage your visitors and entice them to comment. When a blog has lots of comments the search engines perceive it as a good blog because it has created a discussion or a buzz about a topic. That gives your blog a better chance of ranking. Also, when there is a discussion going on, it is useful to your users because you can learn from them and perhaps their comments will help you improve some aspect of your site or business.
An important element of your blog should be the use of tagging for social networks. Be sure to include links on your blog to allow people to tag the blog in site such as Digg, Newsvine, Del.icio.us, Reddit, and even niche social network sites. This can help drive more traffic from these tagging sites if the blog becomes popular.
Another way to drive traffic to your site is by using the micro blogging sites like Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, etc. When you post a blog, post a short description and link to the blog using one or many of these sites. Try to get the people in your community (friends, followers, whatever they are) to get interested in what you’re buzzing about. If you have an account with a good list of followers, they will be more qualified visitors to your site because they probably share similar interests since they have elected to be in your network.
So write a blog for your users that engages them in a conversation and entices them to comment. It will drive up your traffic, rankings, and if you target it right, leads and sales.