What is Social Search?

Online branding tactics can help you spread your message, and raise awareness. Your tactics can also encourage engagement, and even put your customers in a position to ask you to market to them. One of the growing methods of encouraging such interaction is search marketing. This tactic can help you reach people who are already looking for what you have to offer.

One of the fastest growing search marketing tactics is social search. Social search includes social media interactions, and takes into account what a user’s friends have been viewing, and what they have been bookmarking.

Social Search: Beyond Keyword Marketing

Internet marketing has gone beyond just using keywords to describe items in a catalog. Now online marketing includes a wide variety of strategies. Social media engagement, blog content, videos, images and other “extras” are considered part of Internet marketing. Content is quickly becoming important, and your web site needs to keep up by updating information, and adding new content.  Then, you need to make this content sharable.

Humans are social creatures. They want to interact with others, sharing their experiences. This is especially true online. Social search is a way for you to build your online presence and raise awareness while also improving the way search engines find your web site. Make the effort on social media, and others will share your web site information – and vote you to the front page of social bookmarking sites.

Keywords matter in social media, and stories that make it to the front pages of many social bookmarking sites can provide traffic and link authority. Properly coordinated, your social media profiles can help you build an online community of potential clients and loyal fans. The way you engage with your community, and the content you provide on your web site, can attract more visitors – and more sales.

Personal Results

It’s also worth noting that social search includes increasingly personalized results. When you search for something in Google, you can also see which people in your own social circle have made a similar search. You can see which links they clicked on, and even which links they rated. Many news sites and other web sites have social media widgets and plug-ins that show you which of your friends “Like” something on Facebook.

When customers see that their friends are already using something, or frequenting a web site, they are more likely to trust it. Optimizing your web site for social search makes it easier to appear already a part of your customers’ lives. It also makes it easier for new customers to find you through their friends’ networks and search activity.

Paying for Ads on Social Sites

Another option is to purchase ad space on social media sites. Facebook offers you the opportunity to advertise, and buyers can “Like” your ads, sharing them with friends. It is also possible to pay for tweets on Twitter, and place ads on sites like Reddit and Digg. Sponsored submissions and ads can raise your visibility on the social media web sites that people are already using.

As you plan your marketing campaign, it’s vital that you remember the impact of social search. Consider how you can broaden your social media appeal, and possibly even place ads on popular sites. Engage your audience where they “hang out” online, and see better results.