Image above added 2016, the rest written 9 years ago.
SEO is persuasion.
We live in a world of persuasion.
Our attention is constantly being sought after. I see SEO as a tactical way to persuade someone to pay attention to a piece of information.
Once I have their attention I want the person to perform an action, click an advert, add to rss feed, leave an email or even just click through to another site. Whatever is required.
SEO is not just about the technical aspects of on page optimisation.
It is about getting one human being to perform an action you want them to. Whether they need to or not is another matter, my job is not to question the ethics of persuasion, it is merely to persuade through the tools I have available.
Social Media Optimisation is not a branch of SEO, it is a branch of persuasion. SEO is also a branch of persuasion. The two are mutual supportive.
Not going to bore you with the “what is it, what does it do?” or as I like to call it WIIWDID. Much better people than I have talked about it, here is a list of posts about social media
Gaming social media is different to SEO, it’s more difficult, because it’s not just a case of learning and doing.
Not sure that you need to create a higher mental state and adopt The Zen and art of Linkbaiting. But it certainly is easier for those with the right mindset.
It’s difficult to write a killer headline that packs a punch, if you do not have the mindset. It’s the midset of the persuader. Have you noticed how some people can get other people to do stuff just by using words?
If you can’t persuade your friends to see a great film you’ve just seen how can you persuade someone to read your blog with simple words.
And that is the great thing about milking the social media cow, all it is about is words. And for a wordsmith like me that’s great, but for the SEO dude who wraps himself in nerdy world of mod_rewrite and 301 redirects it may not be great. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I myself use the same blanket from time to time.
Is the geek dead? Is it the day of the used car salesman?
No, it’s the day of those who can speak numerous social langauges. It is the day of the social butterfly, the connector, the maven who can transpose itself to different cultures.
It’s not about php, perl or python anymore. It’s about being able to use the language of specific social tribes. Talk to the tribes in their language and you may be able to persuade them to do stuff.
The tribe of Digg is the one everyone wants to sit down and smoke the peace pipe with. The only problem is, they speak a unique and to some unintelligible language.
You may find you only pooh pooh it because you can’t do it. If you can’t do it, then hire someone who can.
Use the tactic of social media optimisation correctly and your overall online strategy will be bound to succeed.