Social Media: Marketing King?

Is Social Media The New Online Marketing King?

Lately there has been a lot of shifting in the internet marketing community. Google is slapping overly optimized affiliate websites out of existence. Facebook has taken over as the most visited website online. It seems like more and more that social media is the weapon of choice for online traffic. Has social media marketing become the next online king?

In the past the most popular marketing strategy was search engine optimization. The problem with SEO is that it is not interactive and it definitely is not viral. A website still needs to be optimized in order to rank online, but when a visitor arrives on the site, they are now influenced by social signals.

The power of social media marketing is exhibited by its viral nature. The “like”, “Google +” and the “follow” button is more than just a click of the mouse. Every time these buttons are clicked, the message is made visible for all friends and followers. The search engines have also join the social media bandwagon by tagging search engine results with social signals as well.

Web developers can no longer ignore the power of social interactions. That is the reason why any website online today is not complete until social media buttons are implemented. When a visitor arrives on a website to notice that a few of their friends have already “liked”, are following or “Google +” that site, it is the equivalent of a personal recommendation.

This trend has also spilled heavily into the business world. All the top businesses including CNN have social media pages with Twitter, Facebook and now Google. The businesses that are not taking advantage of these tools for whatever reasons are leaving money on the table for their competitors.

The reason why social media has taken over the business world is simple; People like to do business with people they know. Socializing online helps to bring a human side that a website alone can not bring. When a business owner post pictures of their family on their last vacation, or a joke of the day, it helps to give a potential customer a personal insight into the people they will be doing business with.

Furthermore, news networks have become reliant on social media for more than just branding or marketing. Social media websites in some instances have also become the first source of news that is happening right now. This was truly evident during some major news events like the Haiti earthquake. Many of the images were sent via Twitter and Facebook.

In my opinion, social media is the undisputed king of online marketing, branding and breaking news. For all the affiliate marketers that are being slapped by Google, have no fear. The clear answer is to create quality content that people would want to “like”, “Google +” or “follow”. Once you follow those guidelines, the search engines will not have a choice but to rank your site high in the rankings because the people have spoken.

Marc Marseille has been marketing online since 2006. He currently is the owner of Front Page VIP an internet marketing consultant company for local businesses in Atlanta. You can read more about Marc’s online marketing techniques by visiting http://optinemaillists.org.