SEM SEO experts of today have modified the practices of SEO Consulting firms of yesterday to offer techniques to their clients which are ranking higher with the search engines.  These new techniques are providing higher search engine ranking because they offer search engine users the quality content for which they are requesting information.  We are not only learning from the mistakes of our industry’s past, but the evolution of these new practices of SEO consulting professionals is providing a higher quality online experience.

Rostin Reagor Smith recently joined the social media debate on proposed FTC guidelines for social media content.  Companies, such as Rostin Reagor Smith are hired by brand managers and marketers to develop online brands through social media marketing efforts.   The proposed FTC guidelines on social media blog and comment posts will not affect Rostin Reagor Smith practices or results of our SEM SEO consultants.  The practices we use for management of public relations online will be enhanced by enforcement of regulations within the field of social media marketing.

Once again, the Internet Marketing industry is making strides to provide users with quality online content.  Just as news and magazine print made the evolution to mark advertisements as such within editorial content, regulations are placing guidelines within social media content.  Basically, if a company is posting blogs and comments within social media content, on behalf of another company, regulators are requesting that consumers should be made aware of the fact that the comments and blogs are not being written by other consumers, but are actual advertisements and promotional content.

These new guidelines leave room for interpretation, which is where the social media debate is established.  The FTC is interested in establishing guidelines to ensure that advertising does not make its way into online editorial content and that companies are held responsible for claims they are making which may or may not directly affect the public.  What they are attempting to regulate is known by the industry as Sponsored Conversation.

Sponsored Conversation has migrated to the online marketing space through social media content.  It is paid editorial content.  Sponsored Conversation was originally established as grass roots marketing efforts of the large corporation to the small business marketer.  It is cost effective and offers brand managers an avenue of direct communication with the consumer. It is also used in public relations online to manage online brands and increase consumer interest of products and services.  Sponsored Conversation is used in online reputation management and reverse SEO.

The migration of practices including questionable ethics in Sponsored Conversation is what initiated the new guidelines.  A few large social media marketing campaigns including political campaigns have used substandard guidelines within their efforts.  They have paid for placing mass comments within social media to divert the path of the conversation, enabling a positive spin to benefit the company or paying organization.

Company executives, brand managers, and politicians justify their practice by what guidelines offline media have also established.  We used the example of newsprint to make the analogy clear, but there are many examples which allow the lines of ethics to move.  The practice of product placement in movies and television, promotional sponsorships including celebrity clothing and product sponsorships establish some of the gray lines.  When is the last time our favorite golfer mentioned his clothing sponsorship on the 18th green or our favorite actor stopped a scene in a movie to establish that the product placed in the scene was actually a paid sponsorship?  So the debate continues, with reasonable question.

The practices used within the SEM SEO Formula include Sponsored Conversation to enable companies to directly communicate with the consumer.  Those practices are above board.  The consumer knows who is speaking to them.  Just as they do in offline sponsorships and product placement.

Social Media Marketing includes Article Marketing, Social Network Marketing, and creation of blog content, which are used to educate consumers on specific products or services. The practice also includes many bookmarking and tagging sites which allow social networking of friends, family and people of similar interests to communicate about a wide variety of products, services, concerns, and interests.

Social media marketing strategies work in every vertical market, for B2B marketing, consumer marketing and non profit organizations. In economic times we find today, social marketing applications are crucial to the overall marketing strategy and are necessary to engage customers to act in the very competitive markets.

A portion of the SEM SEO Expert Formula and what we use in best practices of search engine marketing will not be affected by the FTC guidelines.  The industry will be affected and driven to what will once again establish practices to offer the online consumer the highest quality content.

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• SEO with Social Marketing and Web 2.0 (rostinreagorsmith.com)

The SEO SEM Formula to rank higher in search engines is driven by social marketing, web 2.0, but when did it become crucial to the public relations effort? As soon as corporate marketing and public relations budgets came out this year, marketing and public relations executives began to find ways to stretch budgets. If you are depending on an income in marketing or public relations, you cannot afford to ignore this. We will show you how to use search engine marketing and this formula for search engine optimization to monitor your public relations effort.

SEO Consulting was once a small portion of the search engine marketing budget, but has become a major line item in the public relations budget. Top firms are hiring social marketing and media professionals to not only monitor, but to drive public relations efforts for the small business to the fortune 500.

The fact is that there are many companies out there who still believe internet marketing should only be in the marketing budget to target the 18-34 year old consumer market. At the most, some believe SEO and SEM should only drive internet marketing efforts to target consumer buyers. Not only is the internet and Web 2.0 specifically, the medium to drive business for B2B marketing efforts, social media is the medium to build and manage a brand.

SEO Consultants and Social Marketing / Media Experts are filling Keynote Speaker Roles. Recently, at marketing summits for Cisco Systems, corporate marketers witnessed multiple presentations on the subjects of SEO, SEM, Web 2.0 and how to apply social marketing to their efforts to reach business to business technology clients.

To follow are a few free social media applications to use in both management and monitoring of internet marketing efforts for marketing and public relations efforts. The practice of managing Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and social marketing efforts can be found in this SEM SEO Expert Formula. Apply it to public relations and you will receive exponential return. Leave it out of your plan and your competitor may adopt these SEM practices and benefit from them. Use social marketing and the following resources to increase return on public relations efforts, through increased lead generation, customer retention, and brand management.

Social Marketing and Social Media: Manage Your Online Reputation Here.
Rostin Reagor Smith, Inc. SEO SEM Expert Formula
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Many accomplished and proven brand executives are exploring the advantages of Social Marketing, when reviewing the trends of the subject, as we see it as an advertising medium. While participating in a discussions on the topic, within blogs and professional networks, many find evidence of a powerful brand management application. (more…)