Like it or not (I happen to like it), social media is here to stay and changing the landscape for SEO and user sourced traffic.
Okay, it’s been a rapidly emerging signal and opportunity for 2 years now, but whether you’re courting Google or just looking to mainstream your inbound marketing overall efforts, using social media is a must. If you’re a small or aspiring mid-sized market site, don’t think you’re too small to jump into the field. Just the opposite, in my opinion it’s the niche and smaller sites that have the most actionable opportunity in front of them.
Focusing on Twitter to Identify Opportunities
I am NOT going to turn this post into a comprehensive social media or ‘how you should be using Twitter or Facebook’ strategic overview. There are plenty of other great reviews that are worth reading. Some of my favorites include:
- Social Media – from the always on-point Rand Fishkin @SEOMOZ
- Social KPIs & Video – companion video also from Rand
- Social Signals – Nice recap on social signals and how they’re incorporated
- Twitter Stories & Recent Posts – from SearchEngineLand
- Social Posts & Raves – from Michael Gray (always fun & unfiltered, no BS…)
Instead, this is a very tactical brief review on some simple tips and fast ways to find communities, reviewers, enthusiasts, and evangilists that relate to your vertical or theme.
First, some disclosure is needed as if you’re extremely late to the scene you should know that Twitter is easily spammed – and the problem is only getting worse. Because it’s anonymous, it’s easy for trashy accounts to get spawned overnight and a huge # of “followers” to be created. (read this post from Shoemoney) This happens a lot with the oversea spammers (a lot from India & Pakistan) – so be aware. More on that later.
I like to use a variety of tools for researching Twitter activity and finding potential partners or just identifying authorities & potential sources. You want to look for people or groups/organizations who really stand out — something James Martell used to refer to as “what do you want to be known for.” We’re looking for people who have a voice & opinion — which is usually given a good start by matching a keyword (that represents your theme/vertical) and having an ample # of followers.
This is not an exact science. Most Twitter API and 3rd party service tools only show you the name, handle, # of followers, and their brief bio. At a glance, you can at least get a feel and begin to identify/harvest potential worthwhile people to follow though.
Twitter Search Tools
So what are some Twitter Search engines worth considering? A brief overview of a handful of these are listed below. There are a ton more worth considering, so if you have a favorite (not just another “me too” copy that doesn’t differentiate itself from these) comment below and I can update this post.
- Twellow – Directory style. Helps you find users quickly.
- Followerwonk – Search bio’s & do comparisons.
- LocaFollow – Search results style. Similar to the others.
- Twiangulate – Robust search style, digs deeper than some others.
- JustTweetIt – Category drop downs like Yellow Pages to find similar interest tweeters.
- WeFollow – Directory & Top Lists. Drill down and organized.
Twellow - I’ve used Twellow a number of times lately. It features category search (YP style categories) and of course an open search box function. Pretty standard, but it works.
Once you search on a category or vertical theme, you get a stacked result set (just like just about every other engine). Here, I’m searching on “star trek”:
Followerwonk – This is actually the 1st Twitter search engine I ever tried, having seen it referred to by several pundits. It works well, and has a bigger display. They’ve got their own proprietary “wonk score”, and it’s easier than the others to at a glance take in # of followers and bio’s. I do tend to get occassional connection errors though – API can be a little buggy – but still a favorite.
Followerwonk also has some cool capabilities when you log in with your own Twitter account, including the ability to cross compare followers and stats with your own (similar to finding common ‘hubs’ in traditional SEO) and comparing multiple twitter accounts. Fun times.
LocaFollow – Stupid name, but does it work? Kind of. I don’t care for their layout, and they have a ton of ads (including an annoying suggested follow ad that has zero relevance to whatever you’ve queried). There’s no way to make the result set filter (for example, to stack rank with most followed first). So you get results with 2,000 followers and then in the next position someone with 5 followers. Not my favorite…
Twiangulate – I’ve been using this one only a short while, and it has some cool features similar to Followerwonk. Including the ability to compare lists, an “inner circle” function, and mutual follower identification tool.
JustTweetIt – A heavily styled directory that I haven’t used but seen referenced. I actually can’t seem to find an open search box, only rigid pre-defined categories. Seems more advertiser & “buy your way in to a listing” than a search function. Not one I’m recommending, but still sharing…
WeFollow – Another one that has a lot of style but fizzles on results. It does have an open search box, but for multiple basic queries (the same “star trek” query noted above) it returned no results. Seems more suited to finding celebrities than being a real search engine. Skip it for our cultivation purposes….
Twitter Feed Round-up & Recommendations
For my purposes, as you may have guessed, I prefer to use Followerwonk, Twiangulate, and Twellow. The first two are more robust, and gives more results which is helpful when you’re looking to go through a larger # of potential results.
So where do you go from here? It depends on your objectives. If nothing else, I like to build lists of prospects and sources who I may learn from or want to follow. This is also a great way to catch emerging sites or properties. If they’re investing heavily in good content and have a valuable message, it’s a good sign they may be worth looking at yourself.
As for traditional Google & Bing SERPs, it’s true that they’re rapidly beginning to use social and twitter as a more influential ranking signal. While I still wouldn’t qualify it as a primary signal, think about it — social signals share a lot in common with traditional link building.
The SERPs are looking at who is following who, if nothing else by the relative authority of who is following whom. It’s less about quantity than it is quality (just like traditional link signatures), and it’s easily spammed, but as a signal – you bet, very useful. Even moreso, Google is incorporating results from tweets into regular Universal results (not just News and time based results).
Once you’ve identified potential partners, follow them and find opportunities to learn. If it makes sense, engage with them and give them props. If you have a complimentary but not competitive focus, this can work really well. You may find social can be a great way to interact and jumpstart relationships and interaction with like minded partners.
As for what to look for, depending on your vertical you need to think through the user personals and use cases. Think outside the box a bit, don’t be lazy. If you’re a site featuring cakes, use Twitter Open Search to prospect potential partners on targets starting broad and then get more and more refined.
For example, “food and pastries”, “foodie”, “cakes”, and then get more refined “cake recipes”, “baking reviews”, “wedding cakes”. You get the idea. Drill down to find off topic but complimentary potential targets. Think advanced keyword research and apply that skill here — build a prospect list (I like to use Name, Twitter Handle, # of Followers…) and store it in a single doc to use as a contact list manager (Google Docs does fine).
In the meantime, tackle social as a strategic rather than a tactical item in your arsenal. Don’t just do this for SEO, do it because it’s right for your business and can add a lot of value. Be smart.
