SEO and social media have converged. From Google+ and Facebook to online review sites like Yelp, social media activity and review ratings affect how your business ranks in search results, enabling customers to find and engage you.
As VP of Strategy at web design and development firm Overit, Lisa Barone is at the center of this convergence, working internationally to create mixed-media marketing strategies.
Ahead of her appearance at Demand Success, where she’ll help #Demand13 attendees navigate this new landscape, we caught up with Lisa for an interview.
Vocus: What are you looking forward to most at Demand Success ?
LB: Is answering “all of it” allowed?
I’m looking forward to the incredible line up of speakers, the breadth of content and the focus on taking an integrated approach to your email, search, social and content efforts. That integration is really exciting and where a lot of my focus is at Overit. So getting to converge with other smart folks to talk about it, hear their experiences and to learn from them is very exciting.
What message are you hoping to convey about the intertwining of social and SEO at the conference?
I want attendees to really understand how A affects B.
Too often we place the “SEO stuff” in the SEO silo and the “social stuff” in the social media silo. But that’s not how your customers consume your brand. They don’t take it in chunks – every touch point tells them who you are and builds upon the other. And if those are not working together or if you’re not taking advantage of that opportunity, you’re going to lose that customer to a competitor and you’re going to dilute your brand and your message.
If you could provide marketers with 1-2 tips for achieving success, what would they be?
1. Focus on strategy: Businesses hear about the importance of social or search or content marketing and, in fear they’ll be left behind, they jump right in. They start brainstorming content ideas and throwing things on whiteboards without stepping back first to understand where the opportunity is, which channels they’ll be using, the audience/demographic they’re trying to reach and what the overall purpose/goal is they’re trying to achieve.
Before you jump into something, pay attention to that initial planning and research phase. It’s what the rest of your campaign will be based on. It’s sexy to jump right in, but you may be leaping toward the wrong platform.
2. Be obsessed with relationships: It sounds hokey, I get it, but the web is increasingly becoming a social communications channel. Your customers use the web to guide purchasing decisions, your industry uses it to new create marketing opportunities and your business is using to network with customers, contacts and media. It all begins with the relationships you are able to form. Work that process into your marketing.
Where do you see marketing evolving to in the next five to ten years?
With the quick pace of the search engines and social portals, it’s hard to predict where we’ll be in one year, let alone five, but I think this push toward social accountability is going to become even more important.
Consumers aren’t going to stop using the Web to get information before purchasing decisions and the opinions of our friends and contacts won’t diminish. Claiming your online identity, establishing relationships and creating the right content around your brand are what will allow you stand out and get noticed.
What was a hurdle that you overcame sometime in your career and how did you handle it?
The most obvious hurdle and the one people are most familiar with is, is my stuttering. I’m part of the 1 percent of the adult population who stutters, 80 percent of that number are men. So I’m kind of a rare bird.
Early on in my career, I shied away from certain experiences. I didn’t interact directly with clients. I didn’t want to manage a team, or even a single employee. I didn’t speak at events when asked. At the time, I wasn’t “out” about my stuttering so it often presented very awkward encounters for everyone. I figured it was easier to keep on that path, to stay quiet and to let my colleagues do the speaking for me.
But that wasn’t fair. To me. To them. Or even to my clients.
I really credit social media with helping me to “find my voice”. People got to know “Lisa” before they met my stuttering. The result was a lot more strength in my opinion, my knowledge and what I brought to the conversation.
It’s been a couple years now since I made the decision to speak at BlogWorldExpo (now New Media Expo) and TEDxAlbany and the community has been incredibly supportive. I’m looking forward to sharing both my knowledge and myself on stage at the Demand Success conference.
To learn and engage with Lisa and other marketing leaders at Demand Success, click here. 
