Recently Matthew, our Social Media Guy, and I attended a free Business gateway event introducing people to social media. Matthew is a bit of an expert when it comes to social media and has worked with clients such as Dell, HP, SAP and Samsung. You may wonder why he actually attended an introduction to social media if he already has vast knowledge of social media marketing. After all, this was just an introduction. Was he looking for a couple of hours skive – possibly. Was he looking for potential new clients – maybe a bit. Or was he just open to the possibility that he might even learn new things at an introduction?
No matter how much you know, or how much you think you know about SEO, social media, or anything for that matter. It is always important to keep an open mind and listen to what other people are saying. The reason why it is especially true for SEO & Social Media is because both disciplines are still very much in their infancy, and there is so much happening out there it is impossible to pick up on every new technique or technology.

Whilst at the event, everyone was having an open discussion about what effect social media has on your business. Apart from the obvious points that it can drive traffic to your site, be used for relationship & reputation management, I also mentioned the other benefits like how it can actually increase your search engine rankings. A few people nodded politely and agreed, but one woman challenged me and said “Why would search engines pay attention to what people are saying on twitter!? “. To me the answer was obvious, and seemed like common sense, but this is maybe only because I have been involved in search engine optimisation for a while. I went on to tell her that if people are talking positively about a certain product, website or news event, it would probably mean it’s something worth talking so therefore that’s why it should play a part in were you are ranked in the search engine results page.

What people are saying on social media channels, providing it is positive, seems like a common sense way to help determine a pages rank on the search engine results page. Here is a real world example. Like most offices, around lunch time we quite often talk about food and people start throwing around ideas. Occasionally someone hits out with a fantastic idea that makes bellies rumble(we are a very food motivated bunch), and lights the fuse wire for a feeding frenzy. Say for example, someone mentions that they fancy something spicy, and then someone suggests Taco Mazama(which we very often do), that would then start conversation about Taco Mazama and everyone else started talking about how great Taco Mazama is, this would probably become the most popular choice for our lunch.
At the moment quality inbound links and having quality page content in the correct structure are two of the most important factors that determine your rankings on the SERPS*. Although search engines have already started to pay attention to what is being said on social networking sites such as twitter. I feel that in the future this is going to be something that has a greater impact in your rankings on the SERP*.

Visions of the future

At the moment we have real time results, say for example there is a breaking news event and you search for it on Google, there is a good chance you will get news and social media results combined with the normal search results. Just now if you type in ‘italian restaurant’ and Google has Geo-located you, chances are that you will get results for Italian restaurants in your area. Soon, I think we are going to see real time results based on your area. So for example if you enter “places to eat” into Google, you will not only get the normal organic results, but you will also get real time results that are specific to your area and pulled from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. This process will probably be quicker than expected if twitter agree to sell to Google.

*SERP(s) = search engine results page(s)

Hello everyone!

I’m the new Online Marketing Executive for 360innovate.  If you keep up to date with our blogs, you will probably already know that I take a terrible picture and look like a vampire version of Spud from Trainspotting – I personally blame the camera angle! 

Anyway, I have been here for nearly two weeks and this is my first job in the city centre, which has its pros and its cons.  On the plus side, the choices of places to eat is amazing, Gerry, our Project Director, tipped me off about a cracking wee Mexican place that offers Burritos, Tacos and all other things Mexican.  The only negative thing I have to say is that the freezing cold conditions has made it terrible to get into work – I suppose this is the same everywhere though.  I look forward to the summer weather when I can relax on the train and read a book without having the dreaded tanoid announcement saying that you have to get off because of point failure – you’re on your own now people!  

The guys at 360innovate have been amazing and really welcoming.  My first impression of 360innovate is that they are a vibrant, forward thinking company that really care about their staff.   They are a focused company, but still allow enough room for their staff to be innovative and creative.  What I also love about here is how the projects are managed, everyone has their own specific discipline and our Project Director is here to bring everything together and make sure everything is going to plan. There is also a strong focus on teamwork, and although everyone has their own specific discipline to deal with, we are always encouraged to share knowledge and have an understanding of what everyone else in the office does. 

My first few days consisted of getting me up to speed with some of our clients, mainly by researching and bugging Andrew with question after question – he has the patience of a saint to put up with me – thanks Andrew!   As well as that I have been doing analytics reports which involves researching how our internet marketing clients are performing on the search engines, creating bar graphs, line charts, pie charts and writing reports to show these results.  Gerry asked me how I was getting on with these reports – I told him that I actually quite enjoy analysing data.  To which he replies “Geek”.  Only moments after, he asked John how he was getting on reconfiguring a clients backend* – who’s the geek now!?  I have also been working on increasing 360innovates exposure to the search engines for the search phrase internet marketing glasgow.  There has already been some success and it’s something I will continue to work on.

As well as internet marketing, I enjoy gardening, various sports and new technology.  

Lunch time already!  The mornings are really flying in.  I’m off to get something to eat – all this talk of pie charts has made me think about paying the bakers a visit, either that or I might go for some delicious Mexican Grub!  I’ll flip a coin. 

 *backend:  Behind the scene operations of a website.