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The Future of Marketing Starts with Publishing Part 2

As social media moves from the edge to the center of adoption and practice, the future of marketing hinges on the ability for brands to evolve from the broadcasting of one-to-many sales and marketing messages to an authentic media company that creates and publishes meaningful and timely content. In Part 1, we examined the idea that every company is a media company: EC=MC, the various forms of pervasive media in the social Web, the need for editorial calendars, and how through the creation and proliferation of social objects, businesses could earn awareness and presence.

In this Part 2, we’ll now examine the infrastructure necessary to create a fully-functional media team and channel and also how to optimize social objects to dramatically increase findability and shareability.

Introducing the New CEO

Editorial Calendars and bringing them to life are uncommon today, but necessary to compete for the present and the future. Decision makers in every business, from entrepreneurs to local business owners to executives at enterprise organization are learning to appreciate the prospectus of social media and its promise to materialize a brighter, more interactive and customer-focused future. Very few however, create the change necessary to support the establishment of new media programming and perhaps more significantly, do not endorse or lead the humanization of the company and its culture. Again, actions speak louder than words; that’s why we need a little less conversation and a little more action.

Obviously the creation of new roles and the support of new programs is far easier with access to an unlimited fountain of resources. Whether we realize it or not however, we do have access to capabilities in house or within reach. Marketing, communications, and PR already produce and distribute content today. And, while their content is driven by top-down, messaging rich content blasted towards markets through one-to-many cannons, they are merely performing as instructed and remunerated.

Many of these departments or those individuals performing one or many of the above, report to a conductor responsible for the performances of the many instruments that form the brand’s orchestra. Whether it’s the president or founder, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, everything they know about content production and distribution works against the laws and virtues that vivify social networks.

Therefore, I suggest the creation of a new role or at least the introduction of new insight and responsibilities within existing roles that resemble the role of Editor-in-Chiefs within today’s traditional media hierarchies. The new CEO is for all intents and purposes a Chief Editorial Officer and is responsible for the timely creation and distribution for relevant and material content delivered as attractive and engaging social objects. Once social objects are introduced into the wild, businesses are then challenged to ensure that these objects are supported by representatives who will spur conversations and reactions as well as implementing Social Media Optimization (SMO) techniques to ensure their “findability” when consumers are searching for relevant information.

When the right person is not on staff or readily accessible through existing vendor networks, Ike Pigott offers a compelling option worthy of consideration. As the axe swings vigilantly at all media properties affected by the evolution of journalism and the finances and systems that support it, rampant cutbacks set the stage for new opportunities. Perhaps placing a bona fide editor or publisher in the role of newly created Chief Editorial Officer or Editor-in-Chief role would transform the elusive into something tangible and actionable.

Optimizing Social Objects

As alluded to earlier, Social Objects inherently possess the capacity to represent our brand mission and purpose even in the absence of brand ambassadors. Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a derivative of the more extensive discipline of Search Engine Optimization, SEO. The saying goes, “if it can be searched, it can be optimized.” And, such is true for social objects. When placed in social networks such as YouTube, Flickr, blog posts, etc., these objects are contenders for the top of results pages that are generated for each search query. SMO optimizes social objects so that they appear when relevant or coveted keywords are used to seek relevant information.

SMO is defined by the distribution of social objects and their ability to rise to the top of any related search query, where and when its performed. SEO + SMO = Amplified findability in the traditional and social Web.

However, the technicalities involved with wiring SEO are not the same processes required to boost visibility in social networks like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter. And it’s in social networks like these where people are increasingly spending time communicating, finding relevant and interesting content, and sharing it with their connections. So now, in addition to SEO, we have to implement and manage a SMO program around our content to increase visibility in these new environments.

At the center of any successful SMO program are social objects. Social objects represent the content we create in social media, including images, videos, blog posts, comments, status updates, wall posts, and all other social activity that sparks the potential for online conversations. As such, the goal of SMO is to boost the visibility of social objects as a means to connecting with individuals who are proactively seeking additional information and direction.

The Social Web relies on metadata, leveraging “the crowds” to classify and organize the volumes of user-generated content uploaded to social networks and blogs everywhere. In some ways, we became the web’s librarians by indexing the volumes of useful social objects to help others discover them quickly and easily.

At the very least, social objects are contextualized through keywords, titles, descriptions, and/or tags.

Keywords

Keywords are the terms that people use to find relevant information in searches. When selecting keywords for your social objects, it’s important to remember that the keywords used by customers and influencers are not always what you think they’d be. To help, I suggest visiting Google Adwords to generate keyword ideas:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

It’s also important to use Web analytics on your Website or blog to see how people are phrasing searches to arrive at your site. This allows you to calibrate your keywords accordingly.

Titles

Titles refer to the official designation or name of your content. Instead of focusing on a sensational or controversial title as in other forms of marketing, headlines on the social web should feature title tags and keywords upfront. In Social Media, your headline must contain the keywords that explicitly match the search patterns of the people you hope to reach.

Descriptions

Descriptions further refine the context of your social object to entice visitors to view and circulate your content amongst their social graph.

The description field is your chance to frame an object in order to further convince the viewer to click through to it. A good rule of thumb when writing descriptions is to make sure that your copy includes at least three keywords related to your business/brand and target viewers – without reading as text explicitly written to manipulate search results.

Tags

Tags are keywords that further group and organize your Social Object within the social network.

Tags are based on folksonomy, a system of classification derived from the practice of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content within specific networks. In order to make sure that your tags are categorized most effectively, make sure they include keywords related to the branding and marketing of your product, as well as its competition.

Links

Links are the currency of the Web and serve as the primary undercurrent of search engine optimization. As in SEO, links help fuel traffic (as measured in views) to your social object, and contribute to your ranking within initial search results. Links equate to authority, and by amassing an extensive inbound linking infrastructure, the visibility of your social object can earn significant inertia. This, in turn, allows it to traverse from resident social network searches to appear in matching results in traditional search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

For example, sharing a link on Twitter and Facebook that points back to a video on YouTube extends the reach of the video to people in one or more forums, potentially connecting them to your content. If individuals within these outside social networks decide to share the video across their social graphs, we further extend the visibility and the authority of each object.

From “Sales Rhetoric and Messages” to Influence

No brand is an island and the idea of our Web properties serving as destinations is quite honestly dated and no longer effective. As many online activities begin with a search, creating and deploying strategic beacons of information within targeted social networks creates roads and bridges back to our business.

This “inbound” form of unmarketing, enriched through the production of meaningful content, helps us connect our value and our story to those who are already searching for solutions and guidance. We’re either part of the results or we’re unfortunately absent from further consideration.

Our road to the future begins with understanding that attention is finite and is increasingly thinning. It is now our responsibility to connect purpose and value directly with individuals where, when, and how their attention is focused. We must help ourselves by introducing relevance, discoverability, and shareability into the mix. Empowering consumers to view the most material information and in turn, make advantageous decisions is now a critical priority and will determine our stature not only in online societies, but also in the markets where we hope to thrive and excel. We are either part of the information gathering and decision making cycles or we are absent from them. Where we rank once connected is established by our understanding of people and the information they seek combined with our mastery of the networks, tools, and services they use to communicate. It’s as simple as this: absence equates to irrelevance while pervasiveness equates to ubiquity. And, through the creation of compelling media, we earn the presence, awareness and ultimately the influence we deserve.

Engage or Die!

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google Buzz, Facebook

Please consider reading my new book, Engage!


Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism:



Image Credit: Shutterstock

Article originally posted at HubSpot

106 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “The Future of Marketing Starts with Publishing Part 2”

  1. rmbpearson says:

    There may be opportunities for NYU-SCPS to create new courses or update our existing ones based on your article. Would love to hear your thoughts.

  2. Brian,

    Your post is so prescient. we need to win over the CEO's and CMO's so they can win the battle against the institutionalization of old habits and mindsets from the inside out. We need champions, visionaries and leaders that are will to reconstitute their companies for their long term well-being. Thanks for helping make that possible. Simon

  3. mariposa2010 says:

    Hi, Brian. Thanks for sharing this post. As always, I'm constantly learning something. FYI- I've named you for the “Prolific Blogger Award.” Just so you know how valued your blog is.

  4. joshmchugh says:

    Brian, you have outdone yourself with this 2-part post. Really impressive thinking and writing. This is a relatively succinct encapsulation of the reasoning behind my recent career decisions, so I dearly hope you are right. I think you are.

  5. forthmedia says:

    Hmm… the CEO = Chief Editorial Officer. I think I'm following along here, Brian. This is the guy that “graduates” from your New Media University in Engage! SMO is perhaps less scientific than SEO, at the moment, but nonetheless important!

  6. bkjrecruiter says:

    Brian- Thanks so much! “Our road to the future begins with understanding that attention is finite and is increasingly thinning.” WOW is that not the 100% truth…. This is something that is “earned” no more freebees! Blessings, Brian-

  7. Greg_Matusky says:

    Hi Brian,
    Wow, what a great series! It’s an exciting coincidence that just this week we posted a blog post of a very similar nature – What you call the Chief Editorial Officer, we refer to as the Chief Content Officer. Envelope –Ahnvelope, it is becoming clear that in today’s digital landscape, having a dedicated person to create and share relevant content is becoming a critical component of any PR and marketing strategy. As I stated in my blog, “content is now the single most important asset at our disposal for conditioning and positioning companies for increased revenue and value.” http://blog.gregoryfca.com/2010/04/hottest-new-

    Also, I like how you have highlighted the importance of editorial calendars in the social space. I completely agree with your statement that they are “necessary to compete for the present and the future.” We use editorial calendars for all of our clients and are continuously refining them to make them more effective. It has been a great asset to our overall social strategy. Thanks for your post and your continued insight on the changing landscape of new media.

    Greg Matusky
    President and CEO, Gregory FCA
    http://blog.gregoryfca.com

  8. MK Timme says:

    Since the Web made every brand into a publisher, shouldn't every brand have editors-in-chief to craft and cultivate the brand message online, esp on Social Media? Another great article by Brian Solis…

  9. mary_harris says:

    Indeed, “Decision makers in every business, from entrepreneurs to local business owners to executives at enterprise organization are learning to appreciate the prospectus of social media and its promise to materialize a brighter, more interactive and customer-focused future. Very few however, create the change necessary to support the establishment of new media programming and perhaps more significantly, do not endorse or lead the humanization of the company and its culture. “

    And it is clear all of us who are involved somehow in the business world are looking for the best ways to take full advantage of Social networking sites.
    I've taken part of several conversations and discussions on that, and found out about similar tips for using social networks to reach the target market.

    http://startups.com/questions/26398/how-do-i-kn

    This article is great because it focuses on the role of social networks within a company and the importance of what can be achieved through them.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  11. Mr Marketology says:

    Whether we like it or not, search is going the way of social media. Many companies have not embraced it yet but Brian is right, new roles will have to be created and editorial calendars will be a necessity for any brand trying to compete online. SEO will not be enough. Online marketing will now be how well can a company integrate SEO and SMO.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Great post Brian! Agreed! Although many CMO’s may say that they have a social media strategy, they usually don’t have a content strategy. In order to maximize the value of your social strategy, you must have great content to back it up. On the flip side, folks who do have online content strategies are usually relying on more traditional forms of digital marketing to drive audience (i.e. display, search, etc.). These tactics are great for some types of messaging, but not when it comes to finding the highly engaged audience the marketer is looking for.

    At Outbrain, we talk about DEO (Discovery Engine Optimization) which compliments your SMO. This is the practice of developing great content that give consumers the motivation to actually click and engage in a marketer’s content, and not just the “sales rhetoric and messages” you see in a lot of top-down advertising. The cool thing is that our data shows click through rates for content that marketers pay to distribute are almost the same as organic links. That means readers don’t care if it’s from an advertisers, as long as it is good content, they’ll engage in it! yippee! It works!

  13. Anonymous says:

    Great post Brian! Agreed! Although many CMO’s may say that they have a social media strategy, they usually don’t have a content strategy. In order to maximize the value of your social strategy, you must have great content to back it up. On the flip side, folks who do have online content strategies are usually relying on more traditional forms of digital marketing to drive audience (i.e. display, search, etc.). These tactics are great for some types of messaging, but not when it comes to finding the highly engaged audience the marketer is looking for.

    At Outbrain, we talk about DEO (Discovery Engine Optimization) which compliments your SMO. This is the practice of developing great content that give consumers the motivation to actually click and engage in a marketer’s content, and not just the “sales rhetoric and messages” you see in a lot of top-down advertising. The cool thing is that our data shows click through rates for content that marketers pay to distribute are almost the same as organic links. That means readers don’t care if it’s from an advertisers, as long as it is good content, they’ll engage in it! yippee! It works!

  14. ThuanTM says:

    Oh thanks, i appriciate that!

  15. Shane Tims says:

    Great write-up!Now this topic about marketing is what I’ve been searching for. Could be giving you credits around the way the way you provide this fantastic insight. Such an interesting story.Marketing Automation Software

  16. I was going to mention that this sounds like something the Chief Content Officer would do, but I see that   Greg_Matusky already beat me to it! 
    I recently came across the quarterly publication “Chief Content Officer” the other day. Seems like a good resource for some of the broad ideas discussed here.

    And from a personal perspective, it is somewhat difficult to change the idea in Marketing Departments that content for social media should be less “marketing” and more “media”.  As you say @briansolis:disqus , Every Company is a Media Company. 

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