It’s a catchphrase that has been used by most in the Internet marketing industry. Whether you’re talking about social media marketing, search engine optimization, or lead conversion, the idea that “Content is King” rings out as a mantra amongst most who are trying to drive traffic, links, leads, or all three to any given website. For the most part, this is correct, but…

In many ways, it’s a naive cop-out. Why? Because behind almost every King, there’s the people who really call the shots.

Content In Social Media

If a Twitter update falls in the woods and nobody is following that account, did it really make a Tweet? If a Digg story is submitted by someone who gets no Diggs to it, can it hit the front page? If a Facebo…

You get the point.

You can have an exclusive video of Barack Obama dancing with Marilyn Monroe in the White House and post it on your site, but if the right people aren’t there submitting it to Digg, posting it on Facebook, Stumbling it, or Tweeting it, it doesn’t have a chance.

Meanwhile, a picture of a guy standing next to Mark Wahlberg can go viral and get over 80,000 views on Flickr if the right people Digg and Tweet it.

In social media, having strong accounts, a sound strategy, and a little luck can go 90% of the way. The last 10% – that’s where the content comes into play. Having strong content in social media is extremely important, but by itself it won’t make a difference.

Content In SEO

Back in 2005, content was truly everything when it came to search engine optimization. You could stuff keywords, hide keywords, magnify keywords — if you wanted to rank for a particular keyword, it just wasn’t that hard.

Google and the other search engines soon figured this out and started going in a different direction. While the content was and is still important, they decided that offsite factors such as inbound links would need to be used to determine the true relevance of a page in relations to their keywords.

The theory is easy. If trusted websites link to a web page and anchor the link with particular text, the search engines see this and believe that the link must lead to an authority for that keyword. It’s like a vote. Not all votes count the same; a link from the New York Times is counted as a much stronger “vote” than a link from justinandhisspamblog.blogspot.com.

While content is still read and helps tremendously with rankings, it’s the inbound links that have the real juice. It’s possible for a site to rank without links, and it’s possible for a site with links to rank without content, but combined the two provide tremendous power towards achieving strong search rankings.

Don’t Stop with Content

That’s the moral of the story. You can put out the best content on the Internet but without a proper strategy to shine the right lights on the content, it will go nowhere.

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Read more about Internet Marketing Strategy on Hasai.

One of the most important aspects of having a complete Internet marketing strategy is controlling your reputation online. As consumers get more savvy and turn to user reviews as a portion of their buying decision, making certain that the good ones can be found and the bad ones are hidden can be the difference between good sales and bad.

Then, there are times when controlling the search engines for your name goes beyond just making sure that your reputation is strong. Sometimes, it’s a matter of driving off 3rd-party lead sites, competitors, and listings that include competitors and 3rd-party lead sites.

Marlboro Nissan (a Boston Nissan Dealer), TK Carsites (an automotive marketing firm), Hasai (us) and Pasch Consulting Group (an automotive SEO firm) have mastered the art of “owning Google”.

So, how did they do it?

Google is smart. Trying to fool them is something only attempted by the foolish. Instead, Marlboro Nissan, TK Carsites, and PCG used the oldest “trick” in the Google algorithm book: quality.  Rather than try, as most, to spam their way to controlling the first page and beyond on Google for the search term “Marlboro Nissan”, they did everything that Google told them to do. They offered quality content, quality pages, and a few other tricks to play Google’s game by its own rules.

1) Power of 5 Websites

As a website client of TK Carsites, Marlboro opted to use the Power of 5 website platform for their marketing. The platform separates out the individual profit centers and gives them a website of their own. Unlike simply using microsites, the Power of 5 platform combines the 5 (in Marlboro’s case, 6) domains seamlessly, giving it the look, feel, and functionality of a single website while offering up multiple, quality URLs for the search engines to index.

In the screenshot above, you’ll see that positions 1, 2, 4, and 8 are domains that are all a part of the entire Power of 5 web presence. They are ranked for the term “Marlboro Nissan” as well as other keywords specific to their purpose. The Used Cars Power Page is ranked #4 for “Marlboro Nissan” and has everything that a consumer would need to buy a pre-owned car from them. The page also ranks for several other terms, including “Used Nissan Boston”, to drive traffic from people not looking specifically for Marlboro Nissan.

With unique, quality content on each page that is geared to tell both the search engines and consumers what the focus of the page is, it’s a win-win for everyone.

2) Microsites

Marlboro Nissan also acquired the services of Brian Pasch and his team at Pasch Consulting Group to create lead-generating microsites. With a strong working relationship between TK Carsites and PCG, it made sense to select him as their microsite provider.

Positions 3 and 5 are PCG microsites. There are several throughout the search listing for their name, but these sites also draw traffic from other local and even national keywords to enhance Marlboro’s web presence beyond their primary website and to give them multiple ways to generate leads.

3) Social Media

Positions 7, 9, and 10 are social media properties created and controlled by Marlboro Nissan and Hasai. They are ever-evolving accounts that are active and give a strong presence to Marlboro on the Web 2.0 sphere.

As the accounts grow and the engagement increases, these properties will not only help control the searches, they will also help to generate traffic and leads.

4) Ratings

Oh no! There’s a domain visible on page one that Marlboro Nissan doesn’t control. Sitting at #6 is DealerRater, a site that is the thorn in many car dealers’ behinds.

For Marlboro Nissan, this is intentional. Why? Because it’s a user review site that has Marlboro Nissan listed with 4.9/5.0 stars after hundreds of reviews. That, my friends, is something that you WANT people to find out about you, which is why Marlboro has chosen to not only let it stay on their searches — they promote it on their sites!

Who wouldn’t?

Beware…

There are many companies out there offering services to car dealers and other businesses claiming to be able to not only control the first page of searches on Google and beyond, but to do so without the dealer getting involved. This is, for all intents and purposes, impossible without spamming. While they may be effective for a short time, the search engines will eventually figure out the game (as they always do) and squash it without warning.

Take your reputation seriously, but make certain that you are hiring companies that use proper techniques that fall in line with the search engines’ requirements. Otherwise, you’re taking a huge risk to simply save a few bucks.

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Read more about Social Media Strategy on this blog.

Over the last several months, we’ve worked with some, interviewed others, and came to the conclusion that there are some out there that are real. Some. The rest, probably 95 out of 100, know very little about how to truly design social media campaigns and manage a proper social media strategy.  This is a huge problem as several corporations and small businesses we have talked to lately are skeptical of anything relating to social media.

They tried it with this company or that company and they didn’t see the results.

Before we join the chorus of “we’re the best” that makes it seem like we’re just like everyone else, let me state something very clearly. Our results are predefined. Our methods are discussed openly and honestly. We do not collect a penny until AFTER the results are rendered.

Do I have your attention?

For the first year of existence, Hasai chose to stay hidden. Social media and its many components are sensitive topics. Companies do not necessarily want their customers or competitors knowing that they have hired a social media firm, so we decided to “not exist” except through referrals and word-of-mouth.  As the company expanded over the months, it became clear – there are ways to protect our clients without staying in the shadows.

Too many companies are popping up that offer the same thing that we offer. Then again, a Daewoo and a Bentley both drive down the street. They both have 4 wheels, doors, windows, and an engine.  The difference is that one does it right and one did it wrong.

Read through the site. We are carefully crafting what we can and cannot say in a way that will protect everyone involved while still offering the opportunity for companies to find us.

You’ve found us. You’re already ahead of your competition.

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Read more about Social Media Strategy.