This was originally an email I sent to a prospective client. He suggested I turn it into a blog post.
Maybe you’re a startup, or a company starting a new website, or maybe you’re from the old internet, and you’re on the lookout for ways to get hip and current. If so, beware of falling into the trap of social media and other SEO marketing crap!
The ‘Guru’ Trap
As a content developer and creative consultant, I’ve often been involved in the process of contracting professionals to help grow a web presence. These professionals might be anything from web developers, to SEO firms, to hot, new social media marketing companies.
However, all these self-proclaimed gurus have one thing in common: they will promise you the world, without ever once mentioning that there is no magic formula for generating web traffic or guaranteeing the success of an online marketing campaign.
Cultivated Engagement
Over the course of many past projects, it’s been clear to me that what most people are looking for (and online, what folks are hyper-sensitive to) is a little authenticity. Brand building and growth of site traffic happens when you can get people to genuinely engage with and become excited about your project, something done successfully by the ‘brilliant’ web team for the Obama campaign.
Believe this: no amount of trickery, social network-building, or forcefeeding of links to the interwebs will make that happen without some honest engagement.
Here’s a good little example (one of many): social networking experts will let you pay them sixty bucks an hour to friend 10,000 people for you on Twitter, and run a nonstop feed on your profile posting links to your site or promotion. A lot of those 10,000 people will friend you back, but most of them will be spambots or other Twitter marketers with self-motivated interests, and that doesn’t equal a successful social media campaign.
Conversely, energy put towards social media development would be better used connecting with people on Twitter that might actually care about what you have to say, sending them personalized messages telling them about yourself, and inviting them to check your offering out. Candidly working towards making friends and engaging sincere interest is what social media is all about. It can be a wonderful thing, but this core principle often gets lost when trying to turn the social multiverse into a marketing tool.
The Big Secret: BE REAL!
Before investing in any packages or promises, most online ventures would be better served by getting out there, meeting colleagues, and developing real relationships. You can do this by:
- Using social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to not just randomly build a following, but connect with those who have similar goals and interests.
- Find and contact websites similar to yours, TELL THEM WHAT YOU’RE DOING, and ask them to write a review of your site/product.
- Blog about what you’re doing and ask people to read your blog, or guest post on relevant networking sites.
- SUPPORT other projects! This is the best thing you can do. By reaching out, you show you’re a good presence to have in the community.
Garlic Will Not Save You
If you actually have a good idea or product – for example, a presidential candidate like Barack Obama – these strategies will grow your web traffic. On the other hand, if your idea is stupid or played out, there’s nothing gonna save you.
Semi-tragically, if you fit into this latter category, you’re not going to be able to pay anyone any amount of money to tell you that you fit into said category. There are a million shifty marketing gurus out there that will suck you dry, leave you flat, and THEN tell you that none of their strategies worked because you had a bad idea to begin with.
Unfortunately, this type of vampirism is the name of the game. The trick is to figure out how to become a player, rather than some capital-sucker’s prize.
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