The latest obsession on the Web, judging by Facebook news feed density (which is a pretty good judge of such things), is what others do for a living -- or, rather, what everyone and their mother
(literally) thinks they do. Writer.Psychiatrist. Director. Radio DJ. Executive Chef. Now we have a
nice, graphical (and super-ironic) way to describe these job functions.
After waiting a week to see if anyone in our corner of the world would take the bait, my team went ahead and created the
Search Engine Marketer meme. At the risk of beating a
dead horse, I’d like to devote this column to the pursuit of defining what exactly it is SEMers actually do.
What My Parents Think I Do
If your parents are
anything like mine, they have no idea what we do, but know it has something to do with computers and assume we’re qualified to troubleshoot any issue they encounter with their machines. Did you
try restarting, Mom? OK, I’m out.
What My Grandparents Think I Do
If you have living grandparents, consider yourself lucky. If they have any clue what you do,
consider it a miracle. It just so happens that my Grandpa Irv embraced technology early, so he’s hip to The Google.
What Society Thinks I Do
Despite the fact that every ad on
every major search engine is delivered in a relevant, non-interruptive manner, those of us that put said ads on said engines get lumped in with the punch-the-monkey guys and Nigerian Princes.
What My Boss Thinks I Do
To be sure, not every
misperception about search engine marketing is one we want to correct. Most CMOs don’t really get SEM but know the folks managing it are pretty much printing money. It’s getting a bit
tougher to take all the credit now that sophisticated attribution models are being used, but, by and large, when compared to other channels, we’re still making it rain.
What I Think I Do
My wife is an Occupational Therapist (which is one of the few jobs that has yet to get memed)
and works on a psychiatric unit at a local hospital. Every day we swap stories about our work days and, every day, I’m put back into my place and reminded that we’re not saving lives in
the SEM world. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking that what I do is rocket science. And nobody better say otherwise!
What I Really Do
So what the heck do we really do here?
And just what is search marketing anyway? These are heady questions I’ve tried to tackle over the years.
I once said the point of search was “to solve a problem by using math or science to remove friction and create economically
favorable outcomes for all.”
A few years earlier, I tried to change the lexicon from search marketing to query marketing, insisting that the core competency of search marketers was “the ability to
translate queries into action.”
These days, I’m thinking what SEMers really do is connect people with relevant content, community, and commerce. Content covers all facets of
information and entertainment. Community speaks to the people and opinions we seek out. And commerce includes products, services, brands, stores, etc.
Of course, it’s the commerce aspect
that pays the bills for search engines and search advertisers, which, in turn, pays the salaries of search engine marketers. However, no general search engine would survive without strong results for
content and community. After all, no one wants to use one search engine to find funny videos or dig up scoop on potential partners -- and another when it’s time to shop.
As such, search
engine marketers must capitalize on the opportunities afforded (and they can certainly be affordable!) by content and community queries.
When it comes to content, think product placement, and
optimize digital assets that represent your brand well. And consider buying ads against “lifestyle” keywords that are indicative of someone in your target audience before they enter
“buying” (aka commerce) mode.
When it comes to community, make your content and ads social through plug-ins from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and the like (pun intended). And reach
out to influencers in your industry in hopes of getting favorable mentions -- and, even better, links.
I won’t spend time on best practices for connecting people with commerce other than
to say that technology can be a great enabler here, as our lower-right box attempted to convey through a bit of high-brow humor.
Indeed, without a sophisticated platform running advanced algorithms built on complex models that automatically cluster keywords into portfolios, what search engine marketers really do is this.