The Social Engagement Operative

You're searching to hire a search engine optimization (SEO) firm to provide digital marketing services for your company. You did a search on Google, Bing, Yahoo for [your geographic location] + seo and got a list of "over 9000" SEO firms. You start contacting the firms starting with the top ranked firm. To all appearances that guy at the top obviously knows what he’s doing. And when you contact the firms they all tell you exactly the same thing, or as a client once told me, “SEO must surely be the greatest con ever. Explain to me how every Internet Marketer on the planet can promise every client to get them onto the first page of a Google organic search?” The answer is that some can follow through and others can’t. But if that’s the case, how do you figure out which SEO firm to hire? [Full Disclosure: I'm the owner of an SEO firm and biased in my opinions of what "the right kind of SEO firm" is.]

Let’s clarify some of your misconceptions about SEO firms. If you find yourself thinking any of these subsequent statements, question your preconceived notions.

“This firm ranks #1 for searches related to SEO in my geographic area, they must know what they’re doing.” I’m going to let you in on some classified information. My adversary showed up first in Google for “red deer seo” for several years, but it’s not because they're the best SEO firm in Red Deer. It’s because they were one of the first SEO firms in Red Deer, they have an old domain that’s been in use since 1996, and because they did a unmistakably decent job on SEO. But nothing more outstanding than 50 other firms targeting the same keywords [Yes, I'm talking about you Yellow Pages]. Fortunately for them, it appears Google put a lot of weight on those first two factors.

“This SEO firm has a nice website, they’d be good to work with.” A nice-looking website does not make a good SEO firm. If you’re looking to hire an SEO firm that can also take care of designing your new website, then yes, you should probably consider how good their own website looks. But if you’re only looking for top-notch SEO, some of the best firms have websites that are downright bloody awful.

“This company has a lot of employees and is making a lot of money, they obviously know what they’re doing.” Admittedly that firm is great at something, but it potentially has very little to do with SEO. They potentially know how to form the right kinds of partnerships, a skill that may not correlate to SEO success for their clients. The best “SEO firm” for you might not be much of a firm. Bigger is not always better. The right SEO firm for you might be a guy working from his basement. Or it might indeed be the international SEO firm with 500 employees. Don’t write either one off automatically.

Would you hire a labourer because he looks good, speaks well, or has worked for a lot of companies? Do these traits have anything to do with the job of being a labourer? Likewise, you need to look beyond the superficial to hire the right SEO firm. Here's how:

Decide what you need. Do you need reputation management, link removal, link building, a one time SEO audit, ongoing SEO, PPC management, retargeting, content marketing, or one of the other services SEO firms frequently offer? If you’re unsure what you need, start by figuring out the job to be done, this will save many hours of wasted time and effort. Are you wanting to grow sales by 15% over the next 12 months, or leads by 60% over the next six months? Is your goal increased search rankings, or do you want to placate the boss by telling him someone is working on SEO and then checking this bothersome item off your to-do list? Make sure to have a goal in mind by which you will benchmark the success of your engagement with your SEO firm, and make that goal the focus of your dialogue with them. If you can’t measure how successful your SEO efforts are, you’re very unlikely to be successful with them.

Once you've hashed out what you want, setup a meeting with an SEO firm, in person or by phone or SKYPE, that seems reasonably qualified and ask them to help you figure out what you need to do. Ordinarily SEO firms will enthusiastically offer a free consultation, because they know they have a chance to impress you and win your business. This time will let you feel out the firm and the people whom you’ll be working with. By the end of the consultation, which theoretically can take a few days if the SEO firm needs to do research on your website and industry, you should receive a proposal with the services you need and pricing for them. Afterwards, unless you’re in a time crunch and love the first firm you’ve met with, go do the same thing with one or two other firms so you have a basis for comparison.

DO NOT advertise this. When you divulge to an SEO firm that you will be "shopping around,” or “talking to other firms,” this doesn’t make them compete harder for your business, it may make them compete less. This is especially true of some of the best SEO firms, where clients are seeking to work with them rather than the SEO firm seeking to work with that client.

Make them tell you stories! A good SEO firm executes tactically. A great SEO firm does that, but is highly creative as well, and creative people tell great stories. Stories also allow you to get a truer vision of what the SEO firm is all about. Case studies and references are like looking up someone’s LinkedIn profile. You should do that before hiring an employee, but you wouldn’t hire someone based exclusively on their LinkedIn profile. You’d also want to hear them tell you stories about their background, experience, and successes. But even more importantly their failures! In my line of work many a mistake has been made but it is a key cost to doing business. Measuring the success of a campaign and adapting it to the constantly changing environment is what defines a successful SEO strategist. Ask the SEO firm how they were founded, what their best client experience was, what their worst client experience was and how they handled it, and how they’ve improved over the years. Despite having made up your mind after following the first three tips, as you listen to stories you may completely change your opinion.

Setting SMART goals, getting competitive bids, examining predictors of the future, and listening to stories–that’s how you ensure you’ll hire the right SEO firm. Are there exceptions? Sure. At my own firm we’re terrible at producing formal case studies. We’re busy doing the work that produces results for our clients, and although we know we should have the case studies, somehow they aren't our highest priority. And I know of some firms that I wouldn’t hire myself nor would I recommend them to anyone else, and yet they have great looking case studies. In both cases listening to stories is the best way to better see the reality behind the company.

Keywords do not need to be repeated verbatim throughout a piece of content. In a headline, in particular, you want to use a keyword (or keywords) in a way that makes the most sense to your audience. The goal should be to write a stellar headline (somewhere between 4-9 words) that clearly explains what a piece of content is about.

Nothing is more of a buzzkill than having a headline that’s awkwardly framed around one keyword phrase or, worse, that forcibly repeats a keyword phrase.

This rule applies not only to headlines, but also the content on the page: the goal should be to inform the reader, not to inform the search engines.

Don’t waste your time trying to find the perfect couple of keywords to use on your site over and over. First of all, Google hates it when you over-optimize for machines.

Secondly, searches will use a vast mix of words and phrases to find what they’re looking for. The content on your site should be varied enough to meet that search criteria while still sticking to one overarching theme.

Social media is one of the most volatile tools at a brand's disposal. On one hand it is an open platform allowing for direct engagement the likes of which we have never seen before. However on the flip side of the coin it is an over-saturated platform full of constant noise that can be difficult to infiltrate. The mission is to build a loyal fan base that is part of a circular community within social media. You want to foster a sense of belonging that engages your audience, bringing them back again and again. While direct interaction is one way of doing that, it should be combined with another tactic, namely a content strategy.

The Power Of Content

Whether you like the buzzword or not, content is imperative. It is what you impart to your patrons in return for their support and interest. It is a way to impart information and entertain. But most of all, it is the most consistent and fail-proof method of building a brand, not only in substance, but in authority. Social media content isn't actually a different animal to what you would find elsewhere. It is just another genus of the same species, a form of equally valuable content optimized for social sharing. You can create an unstoppable social media content strategy in five basic steps.

Step 1. Establish your audience.

I don't mean you should set about building your audience, that is what a social media content strategy is for in the first place. I am referring to establishing who the target audience is, and what they desire. How can you create remarkable social content if you don't know your audience? Target audience research is most likely part of your overall digital marketing strategy, so you can get some insights from the website analytics software you are using (Google Analytics is probably the most widespread). Those insights will include basic demographics, acquisition channels, and content preferences. There are also social-media focused tools that will give you more information:

Birdsong Analytics (http://www.birdsonganalytics.com/) provides an in-depth analysis of your competitor's page showing which content has been the most successful for them, which days of the week and time of the day trigger most interactions, which words are the most common in their posts and much more.

Buzz Sumo (http://buzzsumo.com/) lets you compare pages and get insights into how their updates are being received by their fans.

Fanpage Karma (http://www.fanpagekarma.com/) allows you to identify your competitor's most engaged social media followers.

Step 2. Invest in some (social) keyword research.

Keyword research is going to optimize your content. Social keyword research is a more specified form of research that will give you a good foundation for captivating your social followers (or potential followers). I prefer a tool like Hootsuite for this, as it is a quick way to see what is regularly updating, and what is engaging. Of course, you can also just do a search on Twitter, Facebook, or your other chosen network to see which context your core terms usually appear. If you want a cheap alternative that will give you plenty of widgets to play with, including customization features, you can check out Cyfe. They have some great social researching tools to use. For example, you can import, archive and analyze Twitter search results for any keyword or hashtag. Serpstat is another must have tool here. One of its free features allows you to find all various questions your target users tend to search for when it comes to your core term. This is great information giving you tons of content inspiration to address your audiences specific needs.

Step 3. Begin testing networks to focus.

Previously I would recommend people only focus on one or two social networks when they are building a campaign. That isn't really the rule anymore, as most brands have expanded beyond a single platform. For a smaller brand that doesn't have a team at their disposal it is more likely that they will have multiple pages, but only really target one for major social growth. With that in mind, I would like to amend my past advice. Set up several social media profiles, and put equal effort into each one (in the beginning). Define which yield the best results, testing out multiple forms of social content and tactics along the way. This is kind of like an A/B test, but slightly less straightforward. You won't necessarily get rid of the under-performing networks, as you would with a design or feature. You will just discover what form of content and use works for each one, and then use the one that works best. So really, you are setting up several social media content campaigns individualized for the followers on each platform. This has the added benefit of allowing you to use each network for something which it is best-suited.

Step 4. Develop a content calendar.

Once you know what goes on which platform, and who you are writing for, you should have a good idea of what content to plan for. I am an advocate for having an editorial calendar for every piece of work drafted, or that will be drafted in the future. Incorporating a social element into that calendar is a great idea. It will turn an incomplete strategy into one that is completely integrated. Here are some ideas to include in your social media calendar:

Monthly holidays (including personal / unofficial holidays)
Big entertaining or business events (especially those specific to your niche)
Festivals, upcoming big movie releases and concerts (Find memes to cross-relate to your niche and gain attentions for exploiting long-awaited events)
Your company plans and events (birthdays, anniversaries, company trips, etc)

Step 5. Double-check your site performance.

There's nothing worse than spending days planning a social media campaign and then watch your users land on a broken or problematic page. This is what too many viral content campaigns have ended up looking like. The beauty of having a social media calendar is that you can actually anticipate more traffic coming in, so do your due diligence to let your tech team know your plans and make sure they are properly prepared.