SEO Igloo: The Dark Side of (some) Social Media
By Matt McGee on Jul 3, 2007 | comments (3)
Social media marketing is the Hot Thing these days, but is it all cookies and milk for marketers trying to use those tools to their clients benefit?
Miriam Ellis — a small business web developer and search marketer whom you should recognize as a regular commenter here on SBS — dipped her toes into sites like Digg and Reddit and wasn’t impressed with what she saw, specifically in the discussions that take place on those sites.
Miriam emailed me a couple weeks ago to compare her experiences with mine, and did the same with a handful of other search marketers, too. Those conversations led to her post on SEO Igloo:
The debate is about the often gutter-like commentary that happens on those sites, and whether they’re an appropriate marketing venue for small businesses. I like what Barry Schwartz said best:
As a marketer, SEO, SEM or whatever you want to label yourself, you can look at Digg or Reddit as pure business. It is a great tool for link building and viral marketing. Disassociate yourself from the community and consider it business.
That’s pretty much in line with my comments in the article, though I didn’t put it quite so eloquently. 
It’s an interesting discussion and well worth a read. Thank you, Miriam, for letting me share my thoughts with your readers.
- Disagreeing with Danny on the value of Social Media Sites
Today on Search Engine Land, Danny made what I think is a pretty bold statement about the value of optimizing/using... - Can a Small Business use Social Media?
That’s the question I’ve attempted to address in my latest “Small is Beautiful” column for Search Engine Land: Social Media... - When Social Media & PR Matters More Than SEO
I’ve been contacted twice in the last three months by small business owners looking for SEO help — but needing... - 7 Traits of a Social Media-Friendly Web Site
We talk a lot about building user-friendly web sites and SEO-friendly web sites, and both of those are things we...
On Jul 3, 2007, Miriam said:
Hi Matt,
Thanks so much for participating in this post. I really appreciated your input! It’s such a help to talk things over with others, eh?
Have a happy 4th of July!
Miriam
On Jul 4, 2007, Matt McGee said:
Thank you, Miriam — and Happy 4th to you, also.
On Jul 5, 2007, bhartzer said:
You’re right–there’s definitely an issue with some comments on the social networks. There’s definitely a different type of crowd that does the commenting.
If you’re going to participate in the social networking and social media communities, you need to do some “online reputation management” so to speak to make sure you’re aware of what’s being said.