socialThe best way to learn SEO is via trial and error. If you’re a small business owner and want to learn just check out my very simple DIY Guide to SEO.

What about social media?

I’ll tell you exactly what social media is good for. Talking to your grandma, getting stalked by X-girlfriends, contacting old classmates who you shouldn’t be talking to, arguing with people about Donald Trump, and looking at Kim Kardashian show skin and make duck faces.

I personally made the mistake of playing with social media. I even got carried away on Google Plus for quite some time, which is a haven for wannabe SEO gurus. I have YouTube videos with tens of thousands of hits, viral Pinterest pins with thousands of natural shares, Tweets featured by Buzzfeed, G+ posts w/ thousands of +1s, promoted Facebook posts, you name it. You know what I got out of it? Nothing. I fell for the echo chamber of noise that claims you can get traffic from social. It just isn’t true, in fact, for most people, it has a negative value. And no, social media does not help SEO.

Then I saw the “experts” on social media. These are available in almost every niche and are commonly shared among their own kind in “best of” style articles. They vehemently hate outsiders and cling to the delusional belief that they have some sort of influence in the online world. These are the people who pump their own numbers. If SEO were a stock, experts on social media would be imprisoned by the SEC. Anyways, to the untrained eye, some of these people, at first glance, seem to have a good understanding of what is going on.

The reality is that there are no great SEO experts spending any significant amount time on social media. Have you ever seen a good attorney on social media? How about a good brain surgeon? A good orthodontist? How about a dentist? Heck have you ever seen a quality plumber on social media? No- good plumbers are out making $175/hr fixing pipes. In fact, if you see ANY type of professional on social media during business hours telling you how great they are, it is safe to assume they aren’t.

That said, none of this matters, as nobody is looking for plumbers, attorneys, dentists or SEO gurus on social media. In a way, it is the perfect place for them: where nobody can hear them.

If you need SEO help feel free to contact me today. In well over 9 out of 10 cases I refer people out to other people or agencies who can actually help although I do accept select clients in select niches who are interested in getting real exposure online.

Len
Latest posts by Len (see all)
On March 9, 2016   /   Social Media   /   Leave a comment

Leave a Reply