A few days ago I tweeted about linkbuilding, social media and copy.
“Your social media, linkbuilding, and content creation should all work together. Like a little SEM family!”
Given the character limit, there was no room to explain myself. I didn’t think it would be necessary to explain myself, really. It was a simple thought and I anticipated that it would slip into the ether as many precocious little tweets do. I was surprised, though, to end up with a few IRL discussions due to that thought.
One in particular might have taken the analogy a little far.
“Tell me,” she said as we walked down the hall to get coffee. “If this is an SEM family, then what are the relationships to one another?”
I can admit openly that I was prepared for no such questions.
“Well,” I said, trying to come up with something decent to say, “it isn’t a matter of content and links beget social media… if that’s what you’re asking.”
“No birds and bees of the internet… got it.”
After some deliberation about familial favoritism, we decided I had perhaps used the wrong terms and this whole thing might need some clarification. I’m here to set the record straight.
Misconceptions About My Idea of Family
Big brothers and sisters are not any better or worse than little brothers and sisters.
I acknowledge and support both matriarchal and patriarchal family structures.
One member is not necessarily the cornerstone of all other members.
Misconceptions About My Idea of Search Engine Marketing
I do not feel that linkbuilding is the Holy Grail of SEM.
I am aware that social media brings in a lot of traffic sometimes.
I believe completely that content should be Step One.
Having heard what caused this confusion, I would like to rephrase the tweet. Content, Links and SoMe are all incredibly important but individually weak. Maybe they aren’t a family – maybe it’s more like a set of atomic bonds.
But that doesn’t sound nearly as picturesque.