The Convergence Imperative: Why Search Requires Social Media & PR To Be Successful. Presentation from Elasticity given by Partner Andrew Barnett at IABC Omaha in October 2013. Why search requires social media and public relations to be successful in 2014 and beyond.

1. T H E C O N V E R G E N C E
IMPERATIVE
Why Search Requires Social Media and
Public Relations to be Successful.
CEDAR CREEK PROPOSAL | JUL XX, 2012 1

2. LET’S START BY DISPELLING A FEW MYTHS
R.I.P
SEO
1995 - 2013
1001101010100
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011
SEO IS NOT
DEAD
SEO IS NOT
MAGIC
SEO IS JUST
TECHNICAL

3. BUT, IT HAS EVOLVED.

4. TODAY
BASELINE: SEARCH 101
ENTER PR & SOCIAL
MOMENTS OF TRUTH: Search & Reputation
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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5. THE BASICS (IN FIVE MINUTES OR LESS)

6. HOW GOOGLE WORKS
SEARCH STARTS WITH THE WEB. IT’S MADE UP OF OVER 60 TRILLION
INDIVIDUAL PAGES
AND IT’S CONSTANTLY GROWING

7. HOW GOOGLE WORKS
Google navigates the web by
CRAWLING
Software called “spiders” follows
links from page to page.

8. HOW GOOGLE WORKS
Google then stores the crawled pages in an INDEX Capturing a wide range of information about the page
It’s over 100
million gigabytes

9. HOW GOOGLE WORKS
When a search is entered, Google uses
ALGORITHMS
To rank the results and deliver users the most relevant results.
We use +200
factors to rank
the results

10. THE ROLE OF SEO
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
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Enquiro
(2007)
Chi9ka
(2010)
Slingshot
(2011)
CTR BY POSITION

11. TO BE AN SEO SUPERHERO
GET MORE LINKS

12. GOOGLE: NO LONGER FOOLED
> In 2011, Google launched major
updates designed to stop spammers
– specifically unearned links
> As more updates rolled out, tactics
that had been effective became a
liability
> As a result, SEO has become an
earned media approach

13. ENTER PR + SOCIAL

14. HOW GOOGLE WORKS
Ranking in 2014
Know your audience. Repeat. 12
Create great, unique content that your
audience will care about
3 Market your content to promote it with your
audience. Share it in social media
4 Do the basic technical stuff right

15. LET’S DISTILL THAT: WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
1. Creative content
2. A great user experience
3. Relationships + Storytelling
4. A dash of technical geekery

16. “Content is the
currency for
building social
relationships
that boost
earned media.”
- @leeodden

17. SO, WHAT MAKES CONTENT “GREAT”
Original Simple Valuable &
Useful Entertains Emotional

18. ABOVE ALL, CONTENT MUST BE
RELEVANT
TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

19. IT BEGINS WITH CONTENT STRATEGY
> Get internal commitment
> Understand (and segment) your customers
> Align content with the buying cycle
> Build an editorial calendar
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20. KEY CONSIDERATIONS
Who is the audience that you need to reach?
Why will they care about you?
What are you doing to earn their interest?
What incentive do they have to share?
Finding Topics
> Ask your sales team
> Map the buying cycle
> Q/A Sites – Quora,
Yahoo! Answers, etc.
> Mine social media
> Follow industry, peers

25. TELLING YOUR STORY
Leveraging PR
> PR should be involved
from outset
> Ensure content aligned
with audience
> Build and nurture
relationships
> Custom pitches
> Utilize social media

26. ROLE OF SOCIAL: IT RANKS WELL
F500 Brands with Social
Media on First Page of Google
90%

27. WHILE SOCIAL MAY NOT DIRECTLY IMPACT
SEARCH RESULTS, IT HAS SECOND ORDER
EFFECTS THAT CLEARLY IMPACT RESULTS.

28. SEO RELATIONS
CONTENT
PUBLIC
DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL MEDIA

29. ZERO MOMENT OF TRUTH

30. TCHOEN CMEOPMT ENT OF TRUTH “ Shoppers make up their minds about a
product in three to seven seconds.
This time lapse is called the “First Moment of
Truth,” and is considered the most important
marketing opportunity for a brand.
- Wall Street Journal

31. WINNING THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
Find your
1 moments of truth
2 Get your message out
to the right to the right
people at the right time
Paid
Local
Organic
[Brand]
Reviews!
www.brand.com
Real
reviews
from
real
Paid
users.
Get
the
facts
first.

32. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

33. SEARCH CANNOT EXIST IN A VACUUM.
PR, SEARCH & SOCIAL MUST BE
INTEGRATED TO SUCCEED

34. SIX BIG TAKEAWAYS
> If you want earned media, become the media.
> Create a content strategy, not just a blog. Get creative.
> Be willing to fail repeatedly before you find what works.
> Build (and nurture) relationships before you need them.
> Use Google Authorship.
> Research and manage your ZMOT.
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35. THANK YOU.