Social search influence 'grows'

17th January 2008

Companies planning search engine marketing strategies now have no option but to consider the influence of social media if they are serious about being successful, a direct marketing expert has advised.

Jeannette Kocsis, vice-president of digital marketing at Harte-Hanks, told eM+C Weekly that social search is becoming an increasingly important tool in influencing search rankings.

Google's universal search now produces results that include many different forms of media, such as blogs and videos, Ms Kocsis continued, meaning company websites may lose top spot in search rankings.

As a result, marketers have to come up with a plan that can exploit the search potential of sites such as del.icio.us and Yahoo! Bookmarks, she said.

"Join some of the sites that use social bookmarking and tags, and experience the process firsthand. Create a set of bookmarks and tag some sites to understand the experience," Ms Kocsis recommended.

Marketers should then use that experience to make their own website more accessible and user friendly, she added.

In a netimperative blog, Tino Triste of Just Search recently advised marketers to build a strong presence on sites such as Facebook and MySpace in order to increase the number of links to their website.