Authors Of Search Engine Marketing Talk

Mike Moran: It's interesting because all the consultants that dove into search marketing a few years ago have now made the trek into social media marketing. I think that the basic idea that you can get attention from doing things for free that resonated with search engine optimizers is the same idea that makes social media so appealing.

The same people who liked the idea of crafting a good Web page to be found by search are excited at the prospect of a blog entry that attracts subscribers. I think that the public relations skill of knowing how to tell a story is the common thread between organic search and social media. If you know the kinds of things that interest your customer, you can create those stories so that search engines find them, but your customers will pass them along as well.

I think that social media has made search marketing more interesting because it's provided another way to get value from the good content you needed to create for search marketing anyway.

Do you see value in SEM and social media?

MM: Nah, I think it's all a fad. Oh wait, we wrote a book about it, so we probably think there's something going on here. Over the last few years almost everyone has discovered the excitement of getting qualified Web traffic without having to pay for advertising (with organic search and social media), or by paying much less than with other forms of advertising (with paid search).

But the real fun begins when you combine social media with search marketing. You can use your search-savvy techniques to get attention for your social media and, in turn, your social media success can bring you links to your Web content, which helps search marketing. I would go on to describe how your now-improved search marketing might further help your social media, but I'm concerned you might get dizzy.

Bill Hunt: Mike nailed it, many are looking to it as the new "it" technique and are moving on past search.  The reality is the better you optimize your content the more it will be found in the engines and the repositories for the different media types.