Newsletter Article

February 2007

Why Social Search

D. Graham Tweedy, DGT Internet Marketing

I have resisted this - after all what is a legitimate internet marketer doing playing around with social sites?  Are there not enough serious tasks to accomplish?

I read an article by the recognized Internet Search guru Danny Sullivan and if you do not pay attention to Danny you best quit this game.

The gist of his article was, if you consider yourself an internet marketer you must include social sites in your portfolio.

What does one do?  After all, don’t I have better things to do than to visit StumbleUpon, Reddit and del.icio.us?  I am over 25.  Do I have to?

The advent of Web 2.0 has changed things

The web has evolved in the last few years moving from an “about us” orientation to one of “about me”.  It is a reflection of our society where “me” has come to dominate “we”.  The web at the same time both facilitates and reflects this trend.  Witness MySpace.com, YouTube.com, etc. 

The lesson is that this change must be accommodated in our strategy starting with the purpose and development of websites and then to their marketing.

The trend is reflected in websites now incorporating a greater emphasis on involving the visitor and developing community.  We are currently developing a site where the purpose is to be a place where a community of like minded individuals will gather.  They will read articles, share and contribute information in a forum and receive discounts on products advertised with some sold on the site.

This trend has been defined as Web 2.0.  It is also the “wiki” trend.  Now that term will send you to your dictionaries but you won’t find it there.  Try www.wikipedia.org.

Social sites, who goes there and what do they do?

As I am writing this article I checked my email to find an announcement from www.fastpitchonline.com.  They wish me sign up my business where I can begin to network with other business persons of like mind, post press releases even optimize my site for the traditional search engines.  And of course much more.

Everyone is visiting social sites.  Even those of us over 25.  The trend will continue and social sites will proliferate.  Some are evolving into social site search engines.

As an online marketer do I have this figured out yet?

No.  I am still trying to master traditional online marketing. Come to think of it you really never “master” on the web.  It is a continually moving target and an evolving learning task which is stimulating but at times I confess, a little frustrating.

As an online marketer I must incorporate the social sites into my portfolio so as not to miss an opportunity for my clients.

For some websites/groups it is more obvious that they must take advantage of the social site phenomenon and now.

For most smaller more local business the emphasis of making sure that these sites are in local vehicles such as online yellow pages, local business sites and the local versions of the major search engines is still prime.  This gives us time to figure out the role of the social sites.