You HAVE to Get Integrated with SEO, Social Media and Content – Here’s Why

If you’ve never led half dozen puppies around on a leash, you’re missing out. I got the chance when I was eleven years old. One of the many dogs on my grandpa’s grape ranch had six black and white puppies. Just when they were at their fluffiest, I carefully got them on some makeshift leashes so they could pull me on my roller skates across the large black asphalt square that covered the area between my grandparent’s house and the shop where they stored and worked on all of the farm equipment.

It was a great idea in theory. I’d done it a million times with my big Black Lab/German Shepherd mix back home. Sammy, my dog, loved to race down the street and take me along for the ride. The puppies had a different idea entirely. One of the puppies headed for the small bunch of grass growing through the asphalt. Two more got into a fight, and the other three pulled in completely opposite directions. I ended up on the asphalt, with a bruised knee – but dozens of puppy kisses to make up for it.

As cute as they were, it was clear that they needed some kind of harness so they could lead me sled-dog style across the asphalt. If they worked as a team, we’d be headed in the right direction. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be on that day – but your marketing doesn’t have to suffer the same fate.

Where are Your Puppies Headed?

When you run a multi-channel, multi-persona marketing campaign, you can’t afford to let your puppies go in every which way. You’re risking a lot more than skinned knees – wasted time, wasted opportunities and wasted marketing budget. But many organizations don’t treat it that way. They work with an SEO provider to develop a keyword plan, but have in house copywriters creating content – and then someone in a completely different department updates Twitter.

Content, social media and SEO don’t exist independently anymore. Nothing happens in a vacuum. If you’re not using your social media insight to fuel content production or you’re letting your keyword list gather dust after your website update, your puppies are on the loose.

The Harness of Integrated Marketing

An integrated approach gets the three pillars of online marketing – SEO, content and social media – on the same track. It transforms your puppies into a powerful, focused sled dog team.

With an integrated approach you can:

• Gain insight into unique opportunities for your brand.
  SEO research can inform content creation, and lead to new opportunities for social media. In addition, by developing engagement with your social media community, you can gain insight into new topics, terms and resources that your audience is looking for – which can influence SEO and content.
• Increase the efficiency and accuracy of marketing plans and tactics.
  Taking an integrated approach means that you’re sharing research and information between all three pillars. Your current content and social media traffic can inform a refreshed SEO plan, instead of starting from scratch.
• Benefit from the improved performance of your marketing programs.
  With integrated insights from all three pillars, you can expect better performance across the board. You’ll be able to develop, improve and execute a marketing approach that speaks to your target audience – however they may be searching for solutions – and drives business results.

Puppies are cute but they don’t get you results. Get those dogs on a harness and integrate your marketing – now!