Let’s face it, the world as we once knew it is gone and in its place is a technology-driven workforce of young individuals ready to take on the world. Although Millennials often get a bad wrap for their lack of meaningful human interaction and their need for social media approval, their fresh take on old tactics may be exactly what your company or your brand needs to drive it forward. Even though a lot of companies tend to stay ‘stuck in their ways’, it is pretty clear to anyone who has a computer and a brain that SEO and SMM approaches to business are far more superior than plastering your company on cereal boxes and billboards any day.

Despite search engine optimization and social media marketing seeming like a very in-depth and difficult approach, there are many ways to boost your site or brand that are simple and can truly make a difference. However, many people still have no idea what SEO and SMM are and how they can contribute to their company in any way. So, what the heck is the fuss about either of these tactics and how can they benefit you and your site in this computer-driven, millennial world?

Search Engine Optimization: If You’re Not First, You’re Last

Okay, so maybe not last, but you get the point. Search Engine Optimization is really just a way of improving a company’s search engine rank on a search engine results page or SERP so the company can attain a larger viewership base overall. There are so many ways to take on SEO and these trends change every year but the basics of how to optimize your site using SEO tactics are a great way to test the waters and gain some traffic in the process. In the past, you may have found yourself passing out fliers, putting ads in papers, or even cold calling people to promote your product but with SEO, you can stop wasting your nickels at Staples, quit paying for crummy black and white photos next to the ‘tasteful massages by Phil’ ads, and save the awkward calls for your mother.

So now you’re interested, but where do you even begin to use this new tactic in your own company? The best organic ways to improve your company using search engine optimization are through external links and internal links.

External links, to keep it short and sweet, are any links to your site that come from another site whereas Internal links are links on your own site that link to particular pages or content on your site you want to reference. Both link building techniques can seriously improve your company’s search engine ranking in an organic and long-lasting way but knowing how to create external and internal links first and foremost is extremely important. In fact, you may have been wasting quality time and opportunities through your site since day one, but fear not, these tactics will help you get your company back on track and headed in the right direction in no time.

Three External Link Tactics:

1. Contact other businesses and have them link to your page

This is probably one of the easiest ways to build your external links. You’ve been in the business world for a long time, you have friends in high places more than likely, and you know how to help them if they help you. With these factors in mind, simply contacting them and asking them to link to you for anything their customers may find on your site that’s not on theirs is an easy way to build your ranking without doing much work in return.

However, keep in mind that the quality of the external link matters. Sometimes, outsourcing your work to someone that understands this better is your best bet. For instance, if your friend’s page isn’t highly ranked or popular and they link to you, it won’t mean jack in the large scope of things. Similarly, if your friend’s site is a spam-covered nightmare, it can actually affect your rank negatively and lower it on a search engine (search engines really hate spam) in the process.

2. Email blogs and sites and give them content to put up that links to you

This one is a bit harder to do than other tactics because some business owners aren’t very creative and the content you give these blogs really does matter. If the article isn’t worth reading, the blog will more than likely turn it down and even if it does make the page, it won’t do you any good when people leave it after a few seconds for something actually worth their time. However, there are plenty of reputable companies that can help you with your content creation or even create it for you which might be a good alternative for anyone who isn’t a ‘master of the language arts’.

3. Use Social Media to constantly keep your content fresh and being shared/linked to

Social media has become far more prevalent in the last decade and can actually really help you when building external links. Although this ties into SMM a bit more, even simply writing content and putting it up on different social platforms for people to share can help boost your Freshrank and credibility as a company. After all, who doesn’t like a compliment here are there?

Three Internal Link Tactics:

1. Have a blog and post daily

There are literally hundreds of ways to build your internal links but one of the most tried and true techniques is to create a blog full of wonderful content directly on your page and constantly link back to other pages throughout your site within these posts.

On top of being a great way to build your internal links, it is a good way to keep in contact with your customers, show them your personality, and gain their trust. The look of your blog and site can be very important when thinking about your consumers and how your website looks to them and there are many user experience courses to help you understand that aspect of your site more in-depth.

We all have seen the spammy sites full of garbage you simply must have and a huge component of why these sites give you a bad feeling is because you can’t get a grip on the person behind the site and the site looks terrible (bad user experience). That is exactly where a blog fits in and helps you set yourself apart from your competitors. However, you can be a great content writer and still have no readers. This is why ensuring you are using the right keywords, content, and links are so important.

2. Create a resource page

Resource pages are a great way to get straight to the point and give your customers the pages on your site they’re looking for without the stress of searching countless pages for hours. A resource page can greatly help your internal link building and let you advertise the links you want them to view most before ones you might not care as much about.

3. Use Keywords in your pages

Keywords may seem silly and feel like you’re writing a bunch of useless garb but when someone looks up your company and your anchor text (the text that your internal link is connected to) is full of the same keywords they’ve typed into google, you may find yourself getting more traffic and ranking higher overall. The important thing is to stay specific and focus on the major words that describe your company and all it entails.

Social Media Marketing: ‘I’m Insta-Famous!’

Social Media Marketing, unlike SEO, focuses more on your consumers and can be a wonderful way to connect with your client base on a more personal level. There are many ways to approach SMM and often, people who are not very tech-savvy can get lost in the vast world that is the social media side of the web. With so many platforms to create accounts on (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,etc.), it can often seem like a complete nightmare, however there are plenty of Social Media Marketing  guides to get you started on your journey and show you some of the best practices to utilize when creating your ‘Social Media voice’, so to speak.

3 Social Media Marketing Tactics:

1. Content Distribution

Social Media Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook can be a wonderful way to distribute your published content such as your internal blog posts (see, you are promoting your internal links again!), new products, or upcoming events and help your SEO in the process. It is a great way to get the community going to your site and keeping up to date with any and all new content you want to promote.

2. Live Update

Posting live videos through Facebook, taking photos of your employees and events, or even just keeping up with your comments and feeds are wonderful ways to show that your business is thriving, is relevant, and fresh. With all of the millennials spending so much time on social media, keeping up to date on your feed can really keep your brand relevant and help make you the first to pop up on their page AND in their minds.

3. Contests/ Consumer Involvement

You’ve probably hosted events and contests in the past but creating online events such as photo contests using your brand to win a product from your brand can be an excellent way to get your customers involved and build your external links likewise. In fact, according to Time Magazine freebies all but guarantee the boosting of sales in the long run. It’s no surprise that this new generation loves free stuff. When it’s so easy to get 100 branded pairs of sunglasses or silly keychains, what is there to lose? However, if contests really aren’t your thing, even simply opening up forums and using SEO or asking your customers for their advice on things can really help engage your followers and build your credibility likewise.

So, You now Know SEO and SMM—But, What’s Next?

Millennials may seem weird with their thrift store attire and collective apathy towards pretty much anything that isn’t a meme or local and organic, but there are many ways that this generation has positively affected business, marketing, and technology. From link building, data storage, SEO, and SMM, all the way to even the basic social media platform, viral app, or trending blog, millennials never fail to push technology further and getting a grip on this can really give you the advantage in your field overall.

Now you know the basics of SEO and SMM and how they can help you bring your company from the past into the future effectively. The only thing left to do is get out there and try some of these tactics out yourself. After all, with millions of people turning to their phone screens every five seconds, creating a business that is hip and constantly staying up to date on the web is probably the best way to build your traffic and, furthermore, your business.
However, if you find yourself needing help executing these SEO and SMM tactics in your own business, feel free to contact me and know that you are working with an expert that can quickly take your brand and expand it beyond your wildest dreams!