Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder, YouTube, Yelp, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Tumblr. Sounds familiar? Social media, an essential part of everyone’s everyday life, is the new rage of the millennium. Do you like to share your travel stories with your social circle? Try Facebook. Do you enjoy art and craft videos and love to experiment with creative ideas? Switch to YouTube. Like to keep in touch with all your contacts but still maintain a private space for yourself? WhatsApp is your answer. Do you wish to share your professional profile and discover better career opportunities? Join LinkedIn. That’s social media for you, a universe in itself.

The incomparable reach of social media lays an excellent scope for the marketers. By definition, ‘Social Media Marketing’ is the form of marketing that aims to draw traffic through the use of various social media platforms. Most of the social networking sites have a data analytics tool that can assess the impact of any promotional or advertisement campaign. Through social media marketing, a company can address not only its potential and existing customers, but also its other major stakeholders such as the employees, bloggers, thought leaders, the general public, and the government.

One significant effect of social media presence is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, the social signals that you generate through social media are directly related to the probability of your brand visibility in the top rankings of a search engine’s search results. We present below, some of the great marketing quotes from the world of social media and SEO.

“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” – Jeff Bezos, CEO and Founder of Amazon.com and Owner of ‘The Washington Post.’

The quote summarizes the kind of reach internet and mainly, social media has. A single comment from a customer can make or break a brand. A happy customer inspires and influences existing as well as potential customers. On the other hand, an unhappy customer can spread a negative image like a forest fire. A single post on Facebook or a tweet on Twitter or a simple picture on Instagram, what you post on the internet and read cannot get reversed. What is done cannot be undone.

It is therefore essential to take care of customers not only throughout the purchase cycle but also after the sale has been concluded.

“You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free.” – David Meerman Scott, Online marketing strategist, Marketing speaker, and Author.

The quote highlights the power of social media as a marketing tool. Marketing tools, especially the traditional ones have often been invasive. Some have been outrightly invasive while some have been so in disguise. Social media is the only form of marketing that does not outrightly demands attention. It is a choice that an individual makes. One may or may not choose to get exposed to the networking sites. In such a scenario, content is the king; indeed, quality content is the king. A post that makes even the slightest of sense draws views, likes, and comments. Slowly your content is demanded more and more. Say a short clip on YouTube depicting the handloom of a remote village in Rajasthan or a picture shared on Instagram portraying the positivity of a cancer-stricken young lady. If it clicks with the mass, it works.

Gone are the days when attention was bought and begged. It’s the generation that earns attention, that too without incurring any costs.

“It is not that Google needs to recognize you. It is that you needed to be recognized by others first to get recognized by Google. In short, Google analyses your popularity and awards you a top position.”― Hecate Strategy.

If your content is drawing attention, if people are sharing your content, liking and subscribing it, if the audience is engaging with your content, Google will be drawn towards you and so will other search engines. If people are ending up interacting with your content, your content gradually creates a brand that people start recognizing and recommending. More the clicks you garner, the better your rankings in terms of a search engine results.

That also indicates a relationship between SEO and social media. People are where the social media is. Social media is an essential channel for marketing and creating a brand and awareness. If people are spending time on your content, then that communicates value to search engines, which results in higher search rankings.

“Listening is one of the most important things a brand can do online. If your brand is broadcasting its own agenda, it isn’t truly engaging in a conversation”―Jeremy Goldman, founder, and CEO of Firebrand Group.

Listening can be both active and passive. If you are letting your customer speak without interruption, then that is passive listening. But if you involve with the customer while they speak by way of working upon their points of concern, that is active listening. Active listening starts a conversation and helps in connecting with your customers. Responding back to a customer by a message or taking action, may appear to be a small step, but it has long-term effects. It paves the path for future development.

Being loud about your brand is like an imposition. Today’s generation has so many choices; it can merely delete stuff that doesn’t interest them in a fraction of a second.

“The best place to hide a dead body is the second page of Google search” ―

The last quote only re-emphasizes the importance of SEO, which in turn reflects the importance of marketing and public relations. The kind of effort that has been put into marketing and involving your audience gets reflected through SEO.

In conclusion, “Don’t use social media to impress people; use it to impact people.”