The link between search and social media only becomes tighter as the engines and the social web innovate and integrate together in ways which make both more valuable.  From the standpoint of staying relevant and at the edge, the engines and the social web need each other.  They are working together for the benefit of users, but site owners can benefit too by creating a strategy embracing the connection.

The web itself has always been social, and search and social have already reached the convergence point.  The future will see an even closer, symbiotic relationship between the two.

Here are 10 reasons supporting the above graphic, that social is your future SEO strategy:

1.  The engines are continuously getting smarter

Make no doubt about it, the search engines are only getting smarter at interpreting links and user data.  It is evolution right before our eyes as their algorithms advance side-by-side with how we use the web.  The engines already know how to treat different kinds of links and will only get smarter at it.  The value of truly earned organic, editorial links will only continue to increase in value.

2.  Those with a strong social strategy get a growing amount of editorially-earned links daily

If your brand isn’t publishing content to the web and involved in building a thriving community of subscribers, you will forever be positioned behind competitors agile enough to do so.  This is because while you can keep trying to build links arithmetically to static content, your competition will be earning those ultra-valuable organic links daily  as their community will be conditioned to anticipate quality and be ready to share.  Their link growth will be both organic and exponential, not arithmetic.  Don’t handicap your brand on the web by throwing up red tape and making it difficult to publish compelling content.  Agility is a factor.

3.  Fresh content = more hooks in the water for search

Simply point, the more content you have on your site, the more you are going to cover the spread of the long tail related to your niche and snag more traffic from the engines.  Also fresh content keeps your site updated, which gives users a reason to come back.  People don’t want to visit static sites, we’re already too used to sites being social.

4.  The engines like frequently updated sites

Feed those indexes with fresh content and get rewarded with frequent visits by the search spiders.  Keep at it long enough and content from your site should get indexed in just a few hours after publishing.

5.  Social web success brings increasing returns

Popular sites, blogs or brands only get more popular, success is self-reinforcing here.  A positive reputation builds upon itself over time and will cause you to receive links and attention at increasing returns if you stick with it and push through the dip.

6.  Social is sustainable

Bearing you nurture your community and function as an honest, valuable contributor, a social strategy is highly sustainable.  You’ll never run out of fresh content and ideas to build your community, web traffic and links if you are truly that interested in the subject matter.  Besides, communities inspire so much, if you build it properly ideas should emerge naturally.

7.  Not only earn links, but digital PR

Links are nice, but it’s not all about links – getting that digital ink and endorsement from influential members of the community is going to help build your digital reputation.

8.  Communities are self-reinforcing

Create a popular community/destination and it will naturally propagate itself over time.  Communities with interested members want to see that community grow and succeed.  People within niches are connected to the rest of that niche, especially on the web – so if you do something worthwhile enough you should, in time, permeate the niche.

9.  The people who find your site through social are the people most likely to link

Yes, only 11% of the web knows to use RSS.  Guess what, that 11% really matters – those are the people savvy enough to share your content in meaningful ways to reach the rest of the web.  People finding you through social efforts are the same people blogging and using social web tools fluently.

10.  Compelling content wins

Notice how the cycle starts with compelling content – without this you have nothing, no other parts of the cycle matter.  The social web as at a larger level will link to the best content naturally, you can’t win against competitors who have this on their side.  And both search and social will only keep getting better at filtering, there is no reason to be boring – unless you want to be ignored.

Quick conclusion:

Search feeds social and social feeds search, there is no mistaking this.  Enable success from both directions to feed the other and your returns will steadily increase over time.

Related posts from The Future Buzz

10 Reasons Why Organizations (And Individuals) With Audiences Win

5 Reasons You Should Learn About Social Media

Ignore The Social Web At Your Own Peril

10 Reasons Why Social Is Your Future SEO Strategy is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

For this post, I am not talking about scripting content, I am talking about manually collecting it and being a human aggregator of the best, editorially chosen material.  I know that’s not the usual definition of aggregation on the web, but I think the actual, not buzzword definition of the word works to describe this strategy.

Editorially chosen content aggregation is successful for a variety of reasons:

• Helping others find signal in the noise positions you as a go-to source for your niche.

• Due to the nature of social media, when you aggregate original material from around the web those content producers will get pinged.  If they like how you aggregated them and you added value, they’ll likely share it.

• As social communities rise and fall, search engines come and go, and other trends pass us by – there will always be a need for skilled editors/aggregators with an eye for quality material – that never goes out of style.

• Inevitably, aggregated lists get shared across the web – especially if they are undeniably useful, interesting, or have a unique spin.  They take a lot of effort to do properly, but in the end they are too valuable to ignore.

• Good aggregated posts are flagship content – essentially this means it is evergreen.  They’re the posts that can become the bread-and-butter of your site traffic and help introduce you to many readers.

• Useful aggregation is seen as the ultimate resource, and can net hundreds, sometimes thousands of links and achieve consistent attention.

With that in mind, I thought it would be useful to list some of the better content aggregation ideas that foster links, buzz, attention and connections:

Aggregation idea 1

Useful material from other content producers under a similar theme

Why this works
You’re pinging multiple people at once, so inevitably it will get shared, especially if all the links are of high quality.  Also, you’re introducing readers to new sources.  This is win-win, just be sure to pick a unique theme and/or aggregate the content in a creative way.  Add value here by adding context to the posts, using images, etc. – essentially make it even more interesting than just links to posts and it will spread.

A quick example
Adobe Illustrator Tutorials:  Best Of

Aggregation idea 2

YouTube videos in your niche

Why this works
There is so much content on YouTube, you’d never be able to sort through it all.  Dig through the site to find those hidden gems your readers will love.  Find what people want to see but didn’t even realize exists – no question it is out there.

A quick example
The 20 Top YouTube And Video Memes Of All Time

Aggregation idea 3

Comments/tips/strategies/ideas from thought leaders in your niche

Why This Works
Adding the thoughts of the top minds together in one spot will prove to be an unmissable resource.  Most well-known people across industries are busy, but you would be surprised how willing they are to take the time to give a strong response to something interesting.  The worst that can happen is they’ll say no, and then you just move on to someone else.  The truth is popular people didn’t get to that point by being closed off.

A quick example:
25 Must Read Social Media Marketing Tips

Aggregation idea 4

Self-aggregate your most popular posts or specific type of posts

Why this works
People don’t necessarily dig through the archives, plus you frequently get new subscribers that are not always caught up on your discussions throughout the month.  This is also a good way to keep your community up to speed in case they missed something.

Two quick examples
Most Popular Posts:  May 2009
42 Marketing Lists from The Future Buzz

Aggregation idea 5

Interesting stats, facts or figures from your niche

Why this works
People are always on the lookout for useful stats, facts and figures – especially in cases they can use that data to support their own decisions.  They’re not only a strong resource, they’re interesting and entertaining.

A quick example:
49 Amazing Social Media, Web 2.0 And Internet Stats

I’ll even share the stats on this one as they’re rather good – notice that the post continues to receive traffic beyond the initial bump in attention, as many continue to share/bookmark/link it:

Aggregation idea 6

Content under creative commons under a similar theme

Why this works

The quality of work out there under a creative commons license is amazing.  Artists take the time to put their work out there under this so that it spreads – so you’re doing them a favor by using it.  At the same time, you’re sharing interesting and on-topic material with readers that has to do with your niche.

Four examples
50 Inspirational Images From Flickr Under Creative Commons
30 Evocative Flickr Images To Describe The Impending Death of TV
50 Inspirational Images to Inspire Blog Titles
Long Exposure Photography: 15 Stunning Examples

Aggregation idea 7

Quotes from interesting, relevant people

Why this works
People love quotes, and this is a way to quickly curate interesting, useful, inspiring or funny quotes from those in your niche.  There’s the old adage that people view quotes as more substantial than the original thought, as a quote adds authority to a statement.

A quick example
50 Thoughful, Funny and Polemic Blogging Quotes

Aggregation idea 8

Create an automated or manually edited list of the best blogs in your industry

Why this works
Keeping a curated list of the “best of” in a niche, and then keeping it up to date is highly valuable to readers.  There are pros and cons of doing this both ways:  automated means it will continually refresh based purely on popularity like traffic stats and PageRank.  Manually ensures a high degree of quality content due to the fact that each blog has met quality standards by humans, not automated submission.

Three examples
An editorially chosen list
TopRank’s BigList

An automated list where users actively submit their blogs via form
Ad Age’s Power 150 list

Another list sorted by a script where users can submit their blogs via email
Personal Development Blog List

Aggregation idea 9

Create a collection of the top PDF e-books in your niche

Why this works
E-books are a strategy content creators across niches use to showcase high quality content.  They have taken off due to the consulting and advice of many internet marketers, thus creating tons of them – many free – that are easy to access.  Grouping the valuable ones from your niche is a great strategy and huge resource to readers.

A quick example
20 Free E-books about social media

General aggregation tips:

• Keep SEO in mind when you come up with your aggregation idea.  Inevitably, you’re going to get links for good aggregation, and if done properly it is totally realistic to rank on page one for some big terms.

• Be prepared to be Dugg/Tweeted into oblivion and see spikes in traffic.  Make sure your host is prepared – if necessary use a caching plugin in WordPress to handle any spikes in traffic.  There’s nothing worse than putting in hours of time into aggregation only to stop it from spreading in its tracks.  I’ve seen plenty of sites get taken down due to this; don’t let it happen to you.

• Catchy headlines matter – spend as much time considering your headline as you do the aggregation idea itself.

• Don’t worry about being 100% original, be genuinely useful.  With that said, don’t just steal someone’s idea verbatim; put your own spin on it.

• The strategies listed here are editorial aggregation based, not scripted/automatically generated.  Some of the same tenants apply during automatic collecting of content, however that requires a different kind of strategy and thinking behind it for success.

Related posts from The Future Buzz

A Path To Rapid Growth: Find Your Formula

Make Your Site Known For Signal, Kill The Noise

45 Blog Post Ideas That Always Generate Buzz

Related posts from around the web

Want to Grow Your Blog Traffic and Audience? (Chris G)

The Future of Content in the Age of Information Overload (Dosh Dosh)

Tutorial: How to Write a Viral-ready Article in 2 Hours Flat (Skelliewag)

Content Aggregation For Links, Traffic And Buzz is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

With that in mind, I was thinking today it might be helpful if I share some things new marketers could do when entering the industry to give themselves the edge against the competition.  These are of course in addition to doing an outstanding job on client work and gaining experience over time – this is all about going the extra mile personally.

1.  Start a blog

Blogging about your experiences professionally is the number one tool for marketing yourself.  If you have insights and strategy to share, openness is a wonderful philosophy to embrace.  Don’t worry about giving away secrets or a competitive advantage to your peers; the rewards outweigh this by far.  You’ll also elevate your writing skills by challenging yourself to create original content on a regular basis, connect with like-minded professionals and gain insight to how the social web works.

2.  Keep a personal portfolio of case studies

Documenting your successes is a great way not only to create a personal roadmap to learn and build upon as you go, but is vital to be able to move ahead in the industry.  New marketers should get in the habit of doing this.  Another great benefit is on occasion you’ll get permission from your firm and/or a client to share a case study or campaign publicly – depending on the industry and type of work you’re doing.  Smart companies benefit from this as much as the marketing professionals behind the campaign – a rising tide lifts all boats.

3.  Network, network, network

Connections are vital for success, especially if you can make them with people who have leverage in the industry.  Use the web to your advantage, attend industry conferences, go to local meet-ups and build your network.  It helps both personally and professionally, and if you’re serious about becoming a go-to person in the industry, there is no excuse not to do this.

4.  Learn from the partners/senior members of your firm/company

The partners of most firms or senior staff are happy to share their experiences/expertise and get into discussions about the industry.  Get to know their history and learn from them as much as possible – I was always happy to share knowledge with all my colleagues and from experience I notice others have been equally as open.

5.  Personal SEO

This might not be easy, depending how popular your name is – but you should work hard to rank for your name in the engines.  Inevitably you are going to be searched, you really want to be first – and at the very least on page 1 somewhere.

6.  Respond to media queries

Subscribe to services like ProfNet and keep tabs on what industry reporters are covering, then offer yourself as an expert source where you can add value to a story.  Aggregate and collect as you go – just like you would for a client.  It opens doors with industry reporters and helps get your name out there.

7.  Make some close, personal friends in the industry

This is different than purely networking to follow others on the web.  Make some real friends in the industry you speak with frequently.  You’ll be able to bounce ideas off each other, share resources, collaborate on things like non-profit work and sandbox projects and essentially help motivate each other to get to the next level.

8.  Stay at the edge of communications/technology trends

To be an effective marketer in a world of constantly-changing communications trends, it is essential to stay at the edge.  Embrace this and take the charge personally to keep your company at the edge.  Read case studies, industry trades, relevant blogs – create a system to get the right information and data coming to you every day without spending much time.

9.  Learn to be an analytics, data and research wizard

Becoming fluent in interpreting analytics and using the data for actionable next steps is now a basic requirement of marketers.  Also, get efficient in using research tools to get data to help you make better choices.  Learn to not just come up with good ideas, but also know how to support them.

10.  Become efficient with pull marketing strategies

Pull strategies are far more efficient in a fragmented media world.  They break through the clutter and resonate stronger than traditional push marketing.  I’m not saying push doesn’t have a place at times, but pull is becoming the far more valuable skill to have, as it’s common to understand push marketing.

This is definitely a short list – there is far more I could have added here.  What else do you think new marketers can do to stand out from the crowd and position themselves for future success?

Related posts from The Future Buzz

Personal Branding And Companies: A Symbiotic Relationship

The Real Value Of Your Network

10 Skills All PR Pros Need For 2009 And Beyond

Related posts from around the web

Is your social media activity a safety net? (Being Peter Kim)

Business Networking 101 (why to have your own website) (Marketing.FM)

Six Career Tips (Web Strategy by Jeremiah)

10 Things Marketing Professionals Starting Out Should Do is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

Twitter is popular because it is easy. It is easy to setup, easy to copy-paste links into, and easy to write 140 character bits. But, having your own blog remains the strongest platform if you’re serious about sharing ideas and having a continued dialog with the world. Blogging is the antithesis of easy, however it is far more rewarding. Smart digital marketing professionals understand this.

I’m not saying Twitter isn’t a useful and interesting service, because it certainly is.  But it does not negate the real opportunity that is actually made more useful by the popularity of microblogging: having your own blog.

Are you just using Twitter but not blogging? You’re missing out. Here’s why you should make a blog your home base and consider Twitter an outpost:

1.  Blogging demonstrates true commitment and passion to your industry that you really can’t fake long-term. Most won’t be able to sustain it over long periods of time with frequency, but those who do so are rewarded in spades and stand out from the crowd.

2.  Old articles are valuable and still read years later, given infinite life by the engines. Old Tweets live in archive purgatory where a majority will never be seen again.

3.  Remember, you’re essentially contributing to someone else’s network on Twitter – certainly there are returns, but make no mistake they profit from your attention. I know you might not have a problem with that because you gain something too, but it’s good to be conscious of that fact.

4.  A compelling link in a blog entry will be clicked; links in Twitter are noise that in aggregate make up signal, but the reality is links in your stream aren’t the same as a post with a compelling link.

5.  Secret everyone knows: most of Twitter is just linking to blogs and content on the open web. Being the end product people are actually interested in and focus their attention on is where your ideas will be studied carefully, not in the cacophony of Twitter.

6.  You own your work in a self-hosted blog and are in total control over how it is presented.

7.  Twitter is in a sense social sticky notes, or the SMS of the Internet (however you want to consider it). It’s snack-sized content. Are you or your business interesting enough to provide the full course?  It’s telling who engages deeper vs. those who simply choose to engage 140 characters at a time.

8.  Cumulative results over time from blogging, each post incrementally adds value to your site as a whole.  Not necessarily true on Twitter.

9.  Full analytics with a blog.

10.  Multiple touch points to readership and interaction (email, RSS, on-site, etc.).

11.  Plugins let you add pretty much anything you want, can even integrate microblogging within your blog itself.

12.  Flexibility with layout.

13.  140 characters is often more than necessary – but also it is often less than necessary.

14.  Everyone on Twitter is looking for the next big thing or most interesting piece of content to link to. Wouldn’t you rather be the big thing than merely another person pointing at it?

15.  These are all just tools to share content and ideas, no more, no less.  You need a cohesive strategy for all of them to drive conversions in one spot.  A blog is the perfect place for that if you want focused attention and to build an interested community. What if any one network you don’t control falls out of favor or changes the rules? At the end of the day, self-hosted blog owners control the vertical and the horizontal, whereas on Twitter or any external network you’re at the whim of someone else.

16.  I don’t even know why some people consider for a second that Twitter and FriendFeed will kill blogging, these ideas are pure linkbait and show a lack of understanding of the motivation of people on the open web.

17.  Careful of how much time you devote to Twitter instead of contributing to your own channel.  Spend the most time nurturing that – time spent in Twitter comes at the opportunity cost of fresh content to your blog. You can use Twitter and other micro networks to draw subscribers and interest, but the premier value is in working on your own material in a unique space.

18.  RSS is alive and well – Steve Gillmor and the TC gang know how to write a great piece of linkbait, but that’s pretty much all it is. Remember, they are in the business of generating buzz, links and pageviews through opinion pieces that ruffle the feathers of tech bloggers, and they’re good at it. It’s entertainment value but I wouldn’t put too much stake in anything one person or site says, always look at the situation and landscape objectively.

19.  You are in control of when your blog goes into maintenance mode – not so with Twitter or really any free service.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like Twitter.  I’ve even taken the time to draft insights from using it as I think it’s a great service, however the biggest opportunity is still to develop a successful self-hosted blog. This advice isn’t new – but I just got the feeling this week that it needs to be restated. I know it’s not as “sexy” anymore but it is still far more valuable and should not be discounted merely because the early adopters have shiny new object syndrome.

Further reading to help push your blogging to the next level:

How To Successfully Integrate Blogging Into Your Busy Life

A Path To Rapid Growth: Find Your Formula

Make Your Site Known For Signal, Kill The Noise

Post image provided by Shutterstock, royalty-free subscription stock photography and vector art.

19 Reasons You Should Blog And Not Just Tweet is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

Both personally and professionally, I’m a huge fan of Creative Commons.  It actually goes beyond being an advocate – I license all my art under Creative Commons and encourage other artists and creatives to do the same, at least for some of their works.  I’ve written up some of the tangible benefits before, and for it that post received coverage on Techdirt (a popular tech blog) as well as on the Creative Commons official blog.

All the great imagery I use in my blog entries is from talented people adding their works to Flickr under a Creative Commons license.  It’s all free PR for those artists taking advantage of the open nature of the system, and concurrently helps my blog content be visually appealing – it is a symbiotic relationship where everyone wins.

So yet again I’m going to demonstrate the power of CC for artists to build exposure and visibility for themselves.  How?  I’m going to showcase their work of course.  Work that you may never have been exposed to if it wasn’t in a format that was able to be shared instantly, with permission and proper attribution.

It is a huge opportunity for photographers and visual artists to use Flickr as social proofing to build a name for themselves.  Many of the images I shared with you in the last batch of 50 stunning images from Flickr under creative commons have been viewed on Flickr several hundred thousand times.  There is no denying the power of that – plus it is incalculable how many times their images have been viewed around the web since they are in an open format.

Anyone can use the power of open networks and CC to share their work in an format which puts them on a level playing field with professionals and established artists and designers.  Next, they can document the success and popularity of their works by tracking those who share/display their images, (attribution links are track-able, or sharing can be discovered simply by searching for their name) then aggregate coverage in one place to show future clients or employers the popularity of their work.  Social proofing is a strong element for an artist or designer portfolio, especially if you track numbers, placements and times shared.  Aggregate the success of your work across the web as an attractive PDF or web page with relevant numbers and samples.  Graphic design may be subjective, but it is hard to argue with data.

Tim O’Reilly sagely notes:

“Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.”

The quality of the work being published under Creative Commons speaks for itself.  While going through images that are approved for remix to use as images in posts here, I see so many inspirational images I started a folder of work that was especially moving to share.  I noticed I was well over 50 images in the folder, so I packaged them to help inspire you as well.  No theme with these other than that I thought they were remarkable:

Wind Redux

image credit: serac

Sunset Cruise

image credit: ecstaticist

Racing Stars

image credit: Andrew Stawarz

My Tree At Dusk

image credit: joiseyshowaa

Autumn is on its way !*

image credit: AmUnivers

The Runoff at Cutoff

image credit:  Stuck In Customs

Railroad Crossing (Copper)

image credit: sandman

Phoenix at dusk (HDR)

image credit: robotography

Grey skies over Matsumoto (HDR)

image credit: eugeniusD80

Nidderdale

image credit:  hchalkley

R E S T 2

image credit:  tayseerh

Powerful Impressions

image credit:  darwishh

the green ascent

image credit:  vs

waiting for the train

image credit:  pepe

The Tree – 2nd Edition

image credit:  22281745@N04

Playa del Carmen

estrellaesteve

Il deserto dei Tartari (The desert of the Tartars)

image credit:  leosagnotti

A Hazy Spring Evening

image credit:  mdumlao98

Azalea

image credit:  91499534@N00

Pac-Man Mob

image credit:  bestrated1

See Harness

image credit:  dccxlix

Q – 2:53AM

image credit:  darn

Baobab on the Planet of the Little Prince

image credit:  bestrated1

Colorful Joy

image credit:  robino

Nexus Above Erskine Lake

image credit:  drp

Take me with you

image credit:  aftab

orange

image credit:  moertl

Colourful night

image credit:  garry61

morning after

image credit:  jurvetson

Drive-Through

image credit:  nicholas_t

El comienzo del otoño

image credit:  hiskinho

The Message

image credit:  wtlphotos

un puente hacia el futuro

image credit:  jesuscm

Menlo Castle Infrared (Alternate)

image credit:  bhalash

Himeji gardens

image credit:  zhzheka

Fog and Sunlight

image credit:  mccain007

Nantes-Paris

image credit:  erwan

Emergency Shelter

image credit:  orvaratli

and then there was light (2)

image credit:  matt_hintsa

The Vanishing

image credit:  lee mccain

Lomo Streak

image credit:  frcsyk

Specatular Santa Barbara Sunset 01/11/07

image credit:  davebluedevil

Redheads

image credit:  cats-eye-view

This is NOT HDR. No postprocessing, direct capture from my D90

image credit:  torek

What to do with an overexposed shot?

image credit:  mrullmi

Perhentian Islands in HDR

image credit:  nadio

Bodiam Castle – Sussex – England

image credit:  belowred

Blue world

image credit:  lecasio

standing in Astoria looking at the sunset

image credit:  limonada

Storm gathering at Death Valley

image credit:  ozyman

Why did I create another gallery using Flickr CC images in particular?  Several reasons:

• The community and interactions I observe on Flickr are absolutely amazing.
• Everyone in the network really seems to support and encourage each other in creating and sharing art, a philosophy I agree with.
• The Flickr ecosystem encourages real connections between artists, photographers and designers of all skill levels.
• The model they use of both professional and CC works side-by-side, with CC works clearly categorized and available for easy download and attribution with a simple link encourages sharing/remixing from the blogosphere and social media.
• Search is flexible – you can look for all levels of CC licenses including commercial use.
• Sorting options allow you to crowdsource your search results to quickly discover content the community deems to be the highest quality.
• Images are well tagged so you quickly discover precisely what you want.
• No registration necessary to dig through content (more ad revenue for network owner, more exposure for artists).
• The quality of the images in the network under CC is outstanding.
• Flickr encourages users to publish under CC by doing things like featuring selected images on page one of Flickr.com which provides hundreds of thousands of impressions to the image  submitter.

Also a quick observation:  I know there are sites devoted to Creative Commons music, but no one has done something as accessible, useful and simple for music as what Flickr has done for visual artists and photographers to gain exposure for their works.  If you build startups, study Flickr – it’s a strong model to consider for developing a site featuring works under Creative Commons for music or really any type of digital content.

Related posts from The Future Buzz

50 Viral Images (And How They Spread)

50 Viral Images Part 2

21 Reasons You Should Make Art

Related posts from around the web

50 Beautiful And Creative Portfolio Designs (Smashing Magazine)

10 Ways To Take Stunning Portraits (Digital Photography School)

20 Sites with Beautiful Character Illustrations – v2 (Deziner Folio)

50 Inspirational Images From Flickr Under Creative Commons is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing