Social You Should Know: +1s and Search Success? Not So.

One of the most respected figures in SEO said that Facebook shares and Google +1s impact search rankings more than almost any other factor. An even bigger authority said “not true,” in this week’s Social You Should Know.

Also, a reminder that I’m hosting a free webcast next Thursday, August 29th called “How Dodge Drives Organic Social Media Marketing Success” with our client from Dodge, Mark Malmstead. Mark will give the audience insight into this iconic auto brand’s social strategy success. Register now, even if you can’t attend. We’ll send all registrants a video of the event afterwards.

Google +1s Impact Search? Google Says “No!”

Moz (formerly SEOMoz) and Rand Fishkin are highly respected in the search space. They published an article showing that Google +1s are more highly correlated with search rankings than any other factor except the overall authority of the page. Theirs is not the only study to find this and many brands and agencies are suggesting tactics to drive +1s that aren’t (shall we say) organic. Google’s very own Matt Cutts (the king of search spam) said Google does NOT use +1s to determine search rankings. But still, Matt isn’t surprised that content with a lot of +1s ranks highly: “If you make compelling content, people will link to it, like it, share it on Facebook, +1 it, etc. But that doesn’t mean that Google is using those signals in our ranking. Rather than chasing +1s, your time is much better spent making great content.” Take a listen to my explanation as to why Matt is right in this week’s social conversation.

Social Network Usage Among 65+ Nearing 50%

We already know that younger age groups are the most likely to use social networking sites, but if you still think that older folks do not, think again. Pew Internet research shows that 60% of those over 50 use social networks and 43% of those over 65 do. That’s nearly triple what it was in 2009.

A Brand New Way to Reach Fans on Facebook

This week, Ignite Social Media got a lot of publicity for a new program we’re doing in partnership with Expion. For one of our clients, we’ve launched an exciting new social advocator tool. It’s a browser plug-in that lets the most devoted fans of a particular brand share content developed for them to share, as opposed to the content developed for the brand to share on its page. I think it’s a very clever solution for brands with passionate followings and is just one response to Facebook’s overly restrictive algorithm.

Two quick shout outs on the way out the door:
Nice job J. Crew launching your fall catalog as a Pinterest collection. Clever and just right for your brand.

Thanks to the Ignite team, we were named one of the fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. magazine for the second year in a row. I’m proud of you guys!



Ignite Social Media