Rolling with the Social Networking Crowd at SES Toronto

For the Search Engine Strategies conference (held in Toronto June 8-10) to stay relevant, it must cover social networking. It has to be addressed fully and so it was. There needs to be a Twitter strategy in the marketing mix, so we’re told again. It’s no longer just doing what you can to climb up in the search rankings on Google. There’s got to be You Tube videos. And people have to be discussing your brand, so get out there and create buzz.

That’s what I got out of the conference upon reflecting on the first two days. Sure you walk away with some tips on Google Analytics, site architecture and building links, but that stuff is taken for granted now, isn’t it? After a few years, how could it not be?

What is the big picture? It's about connecting to your audience, your community, your customers. How do you do that?

Tara Hunt, author of The Whuffie Factor and a social media expert, has definite ideas on this. Turn that bullhorn around and focus on the individual is what she'd start off with. Don't merely shout out what you are doing, try and listen. Become part of the community you serve. Understand and respond to the community's needs. Create amazing customer experiences.

Emanuel Rosen, author of the Anatomy of Buzz Revisted echoes these sentiments. The foundation to stimulating good word of mouth is great customer experiences, he reiterates. And it could come from simple ideas as long as it leads to a good story. One example Rosen uses is Blake Mycoskie's start up company, Toms Shoes. Mycoskie, while in Argentina a couple of years ago, found some cool canvas shoes that he liked and on the same journey found poor kids running around in the streets with no shoes on their feet. An idea was borne. He'd redesign the shoes, sell them, and give away a pair to a child in need for each pair he sold.

It doesn't take too much imagination to realize that this is a perfect customer experience story and displays authentic connection with people. Not surprisingly it created tremendous buzz and success thanks to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, blogs... you know the usual social networking suspects. But it also caught the eye of Obama's Economic Development Team and Mycoskie told his business success story at the White House.

The idea of positive and amazing customer service sounds familiar and it's good advice and we've heard it before. The problem is that we've not taken it for granted, it's not second nature yet and we'll get beat over the head over and over until it resonates like: You've got to build links; You've got to tweak your title tags; and Content is King.

Count on plenty more of social networking tips, tools and ideas when SES rolls around in 2010.