Towards an ‘Integrated’ Approach

Social Link building

July 2013 – Truus Heremans

Biston Betularia

The peppered moth (Biston Betularia), once white with black spots, faced a strange challenge in London during the Industrial Revolution. Buildings and trees, stained with soot, turned black. The light colored moths could no longer hide against this backdrop, and were eaten up by birds.

But some peppered moths survived – by turning black themselves! To survive, you must adapt and change with your environment. Otherwise, you’re dead.

The times they are changin’

Tactical SEO games are coming to an end

Isolated on-page and off-page SEO tactics are no longer enough

SEO is now true marketing. It’s also about social media and PR

A new search landscape

Correctly uncovering searcher intent and understanding their problems

Identifying real and trusted people, using ‘signals’ that are tough to cheat

Gaining authoritative links from trusted authorities

“Think of any networking event you’ve been to. We’ve all met that one person with the business cards, right? You know, that person who boldly walks up to you, hands you their

business card and starts speaking at you about how fantastic they are and why their business is so brilliant.”

(Laura Hampton)

And it’s annoying… Because you don’t know that person and they haven’t taken the time to get to know you either.

A new search landscape

It’s exactly the same case online. You can’t expect to receive a link from somebody by asking for it straight away

It’s about building relationships and earning links, providing unique and highly relevant content

A new search landscape

And social media is perfectly designed for that…

Social Media can produce both direct and indirect links

Direct links

• Link connectivity via profile links

• Link connectivity via shared links

Indirect links

• As a result of increased visibility

• By leveraging social media channels and tools for research and outreach

Profile links

Pinterest and Google+ profile links are – for the time being – followed

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profile links are no-followed

Establishing your brand

Optimal combination for a natural link profile

Shared links

Google+ influences crawling

Twitter links

Building an active, engaged social presence

Choose the right platform(s)

Optimise your profiles

Maintain your social presence

Post regularly around relevant industry topics

Link back to your site

Use Social Media for Research

Identify key influencers

• FollowerWonk

• Linkdex

• SocialBro

Linkdex

Integrated features for SEO, social media, content and PR

Linking authors to content: great for your outreach efforts

Detailed link profile insights

Linkdex

Use Social Media for Research

Gain real-time insights into popular content

• Audience needs and interests

• Discover unnoticed trends and insights through interaction and observation

• SocialMention

• Topsy

• MentionMapp

MentionMapp

Topsy

Activity

Discovery

Influencers

Make your online content easily shareable by adding social sharing buttons • Gain insights into most popular content • Current trends and interactions • Identify potential link partners

Don’t build a brochure website, build a

‘Social Site’

Leverage Twitter

To find opportunities

• Anyone following you who isn’t linking to you?

• See what is popular and conversations you can tap into

• Getting your content in front of people who may link to it

• Twilert

• Twitter Advanced Search

To engage with influencers

• Follow industry leaders & engage

around the content they post

• Stay top-of-mind

Leverage Twitter

Help people

Leverage Twitter

Curate stories

Use Pinterest

http://www.sitevisibility.co.uk/blog/2012/11/12/pinterest-is-not-only-about-cupcakes-what-is-pinterest-and-why-does-it-matter/

• Pinterest is a great traffic driver • Builds brand awareness and engagement • Amplifies your existing content • Can help you find new link building opportunities

Social media offers a quick way to see that

you’re a legitimate source with an active interest in the field

And you’re not just out to spam any email address or

Twitter account you can get your hands on

Be personal

Make your message stand out

Email Social Media

• Use short and natural subjects

• Do not mention ‘link request’

• Send emails as an actual person

• Use names

• Include a natural salutation

• Converse with context

• Do not just tweet a link

• Brief and to-the-point

• Participate in conversation

• Relevant hashtag

Simply don’t, dot

Don’t send the exact same message to everyone

You will be perceived as a spammer

Build and leverage connections

Connect with key influencers • Get on their radar

• Give them a reason to link to you

• Leverage their contacts and social networks

Also consider virgin sites • Blogs that have few outbound links and are more

likely to be approachable

Build a network of bloggers • Aim for bloggers that are active on Twitter, Retweet

others often, and engage directly with other bloggers

Maintain relationships

After you have secured a link, continue to engage with your link prospect

Add them to private Twitter lists or Google+ circles

This will keep opportunities open for the future

A few closing notes…

We need to tear down the silos

All channels can effectively work together to get your message across successfully

The ‘Digital Team’

• To effectively reach and engage your target audience • Don’t let your digital experts work in ‘silos’!

It takes time…

Effective Social Link building doesn’t happen overnight

It is a long-term strategy, so stick with it consistently to see the results

Any questions?