We often monitor Google Trends for interest sentient with regard to a number of different searches and sources. Upon revisiting data from our popular SEO vs PPC vs Social Media post we noticed that search interest in SEO was at a 4 year high.
Take a Closer Look: View the Google Trends Graph
The Google Trends graph below compares organic search interest over time for “SEO”, “PPC” and “Social Media Marketing” search terms.
According to Google, the graph numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular.
We have a few theories, neatly placed in bullets below.
Please contact us with questions or comments!
Much like SEO, the social media realm is beleaguered in a continuous state of flux. Which is to be expected, as we blunder and plunder our way along the path to social sentient enlightenment.
If Stuart Smalley Can – So Can You
Some of the best advice I was given long ago in regard to getting social with media, something you hear over and over these days, is to focus on your passion and just be yourself. Sounds easy, right? More like easier said than done.
I can’t teach you how to be yourself (let’s be honest – no one wants that), but I can set you in the right direction by helping remove distortion from the process.
Early on, SEOs and new media marketers looked at social networks as a way for rapid deployment of their branding message. Which was typically automatically syndicated, over and over and over.
Tools like Hootsuite enticed marketers with the ‘set it and forget it’ broadcast methodology by allowing users to punch in, schedule or automatically feed a status update, the exact same status update, to every single social network. In some instances multiple times. While this got (out of hand quickly) the word out, it eroded the ‘social’ aspect of engagement with bot-delivered duplicate status updates.
If you followed a brand on Facebook, Twitter and Google, it was pretty common to see the same message hit each network at the same time a few times. Lamesauce.
Trading out a measure of distortion for one with more control can help your status updates regain a healthy portion of human personality.
Here’s how to get started:
You need to control and massage each message per social network to maximize effectiveness. That’s right. Old Skool.
This means you pick the pic that shows on your Facebook status update, not Facebook. This will allow you to ‘speak’ a little more true to self when sharing content on social networks instead of sharing status updates composed of bland web page titles like a robot.
Plus, at all costs, try to get your actual URL in the status update instead of a URL shortner. Link juice never tasted so good!
While I can’t tell you a sure-fire way to ‘be yourself’ and ‘follow your passion’ at the same time (or independently), I can tell you that focusing more on what you share on each social network will yield personality to your status updates.
Turning off automatic, syndicating status updates is a great way to start sounding less like a pre-recorded message.
You Might Also
Consider limiting daily status updates to 3-5/day and not posting the same update to each network, but to the one most relevant. Or, if you’ve got BIG NEWS, at least consider a unique approach to updating each social network.
A little personality can go a long way. Or, be a bot if you want.
80s Google
Ahh the dial-up days… I (not fondly) remember the awful screaming squelch emitted from my bodacious, top of the line 56K US Robotics modem as it ‘attempted’ to connect me to the almighty Interwebs. Peaceout 28.8! 56K all the way! Psyche!
Before you get too stoked and spaz out on me, def check out the videos below featuring Google and Twitter in the 80s and Facebook in the 90s.
Please press the return key to continue… NOT!