It’s reported that nearly half of consumers online, admit that both search and social media influence their purchases. Social Media and SEO are hot topics for most online marketing agencies, today with more and more people and agencies jumping on the bandwagon, claiming the status of “guru”. However this can be absolutely devastating for larger organisations who put their trust and reputation in the hands of these individuals.

One of the most common issues that we have come across, is that, social media efforts themselves are often uncoordinated activities, usually run and managed by individuals with very little experience, let alone working in sync with search engine optimisation (SEO). Many online marketing consultants are accustomed to social media or SEO projects for small and medium sized businesses, which is a very different ballgame, to working with a large or complex organisation. Being able to coordinate social media and SEO processes requires a unique combination of organisational adaptability and subject matter expertise.

Larger companies know they should be utilising and engaging with customers through these channels, but it is a matter of how and by whom. These sizeable marketing initiatives typically involve multiple stakeholders, layers of approval and messaging policies that can stifle ambitious social content optimisation and promotion activity.

It is possible to make significant progress within a reasonable timeframe with the right mix of planning, communication and expertise. Once business units or teams have an understanding of goals and objectives, allocating resources, adjusting processes, training, and reporting outcomes can open up a wide range of opportunities. The key is to get right under the skin of the business and understand how a well coordinated social media and SEO effort can help the company solve problems and achieve goals.

Our top tips for ensuring the above is achievable are:

1. Provide Education

We cannot stress enough, the importance of delivering a well thought out proposal AND educating the key stakeholders within the company right at the start and throughout the project. Yes, you will find that perhaps they may have their own opinions, and may even try and bring in their own contacts and agencies. BUT providing an education session to key stakeholders and key team members, can give you buy in from the off. Hopefully, this will also provide you with social media and SEO champions within the teams you may have to liaise with on a regular basis, making it much easier to request data, content or even updates on key activity within the company.

2. Create Advocates

Touched on slightly in point 1, gaining support from individuals within various teams that have demonstrated a personal and/or professional interest in social media / SEO will help “sell” the benefits throughout the organisation. As champions for website optimisation and social media engagement, client side team members can use various tools to spread the “Social SEO” message, whether it’s via internal newsletters, internal update meetings or 1-2-1 / team training sessions.

3. Share Results

Showing results at multiple stages in the project with attention to those areas of focus for key decision makers can help motivate support for the project and make room for resources you may need to put behind it. Success inspires more success (and maybe support for extra resource or even budget…..).

4. Availability

The Online Marketing team behind the project within your agency or setup needs to be available to client contacts in various mediums for example via Skype, SMS or instant messaging. Training or support via conference call are helpful in providing timely information for internal meetings and the decision making process.

5. Content Creation / Content Curation

Whether its web pages, blog posts or tweets, ensure you are prepared to create content specifically for social media and optimisation initiatives. From experience, we have often found goldmines of content or resource that are able to create superb content within organisations that are simply pigeon holed by managers. By utilising the education sessions and creating advocates within the organisation upfront, you can identify resource that you maybe able to tap into at your advantage. The need for the creation of content in such a scenario can include: presentations, newsletters, images and even training sessions.

It takes considerable resources to execute and manage a successful Social Media / SEO project. Not many consultancies are prepared for the demands in communication, education and patience. It can also be a challenge to manage the billable time for the kind of support recommended here, so setting expectations and parameters up front is essential. BUT from experience, this can create fantastic results and set you off on a very good long term relationship with your client.