It is becoming more common to hear SEO professionals describe the discipline as a Social Science. This has to do with the growth of web 2.0, user generated content and social media sites that developed the foundation for marketers to drive viral marketing campaigns.

So the practice of SEO moves away from algorithm reverse engineering and becomes an activity whose main focus is on influencing people.

Of course, half of the statement above is false. Algorithm reverse engineering is still a great component of good SEO, as well as competitive analysis, link analysis, link building, on page optimization, keyword density optimization, etc.

In fact, many if not all the aspects of SEO that do not have to with Viral Marketing are still as relevant as they ever were. They are still relevant, but they are becoming increasingly commoditized for a number of reasons that exceed the limits of this post.

Marketers are realizing the explosive power of linkbait and viral marketing which has to do basically with two variables:

• content creation, and
• networking

Both of which are easy to categorize as “Social Science” because they have to do with influencing people.

But what the heck is “Science”? Is Social Science best described as being opposed to Exact Science? What is the difference between them?

The term is often used without a clear understanding of what it actually means.

The Issue With Empiric Evidence

From a strictly logical point of view, even though empiric evidence shows us that something has been in such a way until now, there is no logical reason that tells us that it will remain the same in the future.

For example, let’s look at the following scientific hypothesis: “All men and women die some day”. This is supported by empiric evidence. So far, we haven’t known any human being that lived past the hundred and something years.

The cells in human bodies go through a process in which they develop themselves until they reach certain point where they start an ageing and deteriorating process.

This is a fact. Not a logical deduction. In fact, there is nothing logical or rational about it. It is just the way it is.

Empirism Vs. Deduction

1+1 = 2

Now that’s logical. Can it be verified by empirism? No it can’t. Deductive knowledge operates this way. It is not looking at reality and trying to find out how reality works (that is empirism’s job.)

The deductive scientific knowledge is governed by one set of rules contained within what most of us refer to as “logic”. Given certain premises and the set of rules dictated by the logic, we can deduct a logical outcome.

Why am I ranting about this? Besides the fact that I enjoy making your head hurt, I think we need to get over the dichotomy “Social Science Vs. Exact Science” in which the SEO discipline tends to be misinterpreted.

Traditional SEO Is An Empiric Science

SEO has an empiric component, which has to do with the reverse engineering practice in which professionals interpret the reality of the SERPS and then attempt to apply the conclusions on ranking new sites (they attempt to verify their hypothesis.)

If the results are as expected, the hypothesis is verified. If the results are not as expected the scientist goes back to analyze the reality of the SERPS looking for more empiric evidence, then applies the new knowledge on an iterative cycle that only ends when the results are as expected.

Viral Marketing SEO Is Also An Empiric Science

Bait artists such as myself approach Viral Marketing from an empiric point of view. We research our audience, identify those elements that are known to work, and we use all this corpus of knowledge to create our hypothesis.

For example: My post titled “Top Ten Boob Jobs Gone Wrong (Pic)” will make the homepage of Digg if I am able to give it an initial push of 21 votes.

That is the hypothesis I elaborated after researching Digg users behavior and previous case studies. Next step in my scientific approach will be to verify or falsify my hypothesis.

So I go and perform the test. If the hypothesis is verified, I will leave it as is and consider it a “scientifically verified truth”.

If it is falsified I will:

• go back to the empiric field to collect more information
• develop a new hypothesis
• perform a new test

As you can see, the process is iterative.

So What’s The Point Of This Lengthy And Obscure Post?

• I want you to think about your SEO campaigns from a scientific standpoint
• I want to eliminate the misconception that exists in the dichotomy between Social Sciences and Natural Sciences
• I want to eliminate the misconception that equates “empiric verification” to “rational”
• I want you to think about the two basic forms of scientific knowledge so you are self aware of how you are making decisions that affect your marketing campaigns.

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Let me share something with you. I am a communication theory geek. Mc Luhan, Adorno, Horkheimer, Noelle-Neumann, Umberto Eco, Watzlawick, Van Dijk, Tufte, and many other great minds live in my library shelves and drink Scotch with me in the evenings.

This post is going to be the first one of many in which I explain Communication Theory elements that have a direct impact on your SEO and Viral Marketing Campaigns.

During the time I was exclusively a Black Hat SEO, these guys did little for me in terms of business and generating revenue. How could they help when I was building millions of auto-generated pages to trick the search engines?

However when I decided to get in the business of Linkbait and Viral Marketing, well, what can I say. The communication studies university fees started to pay off big time.

So without further introduction let me introduce you to the first communication theory that you need to keep in your mind tool box.

The Spiral Of Silence

I already described how the fear of social isolation is the key to unlocking the power of Tribe Penetration Marketing.

I didn’t expand on the theory behind this concept though. This is what this post is about.

The spiral of silence theory is based on the premise that the majority of people is afraid of isolation, and that when expressing their opinions they are in fact trying to identify themselves with the majority (thus, avoiding isolation.)

The main source of information contributing to create the dominant climate of opinion is the complex of Mass Media Communication.

In other words, it is the Media that creates a certain conception of reality, and people will inevitably stick to it because they feel that if they don’t they will become isolated.

Why is it called Spiral Of Silence? Because the logic within the theory states that the more one version of the facts is broadcasted, those who oppose it will be more silent about it.

The author of this theory (Noelle-Neumann) illustrates how this process occurred in Germany in the years between 1960 and 1980, benefiting the Social-Democrats in the government due to the undeniable leftist bias amongst journalists in the main Media Outlets.

Some of you may be thinking about the United States of America and the dominant climate of opinion after 9/11 that allowed a president to violate international laws and go to war using evidence that was being challenged by most of its ally countries and proved to be wrong in the end.

This theory is the result of research conducted in times when the Internet wasn’t a reality yet, so it will be up to us to take it one step further and see how it applies to Online Marketing.

SEO and Viral Marketing

But Marcos, you mentioned something about Scotch, and then you went ranting about theories and mass media communication. How is this relevant to SEO and Viral Marketing? Are you drunk?

I am so glad you asked.

The theory describes a communication model that applies to social groups when there is one group of messages that become more dominant than others, provoking most opposing voices to become silent.

Do you still not see how is this relevant to your Viral Marketing Campaign? Do you really need me to draw the B and the C or you already jumped from A to D?

Just in case, here is the B and the C. Let’s talk about the one social media site we all love to include in our marketing campaigns. That’s right, Digg.

What is the dominant climate of opinion amongst such social group? Would you try to market anything that opposes such climate? What do you think that bury button is for? What do you think the Bury Brigade is there for?

Don’t get me wrong. A polemic hook can be a killer linkbait. But that’s one home run you will have a hard time enjoying again, at least from the same domain.

When you are trying to build a consistent and solid relationship with your target group the future proof strategy to success is to decode the complex of messages that are mostly accepted and agreed upon in such group. Map them up and become the most committed messenger of such messages.

The targeted social group will embrace you as one of its own and be receptive to what you have to say.

Then you will be in a position to inoculate your virus, I mean, spread your message.

He wakes up and finds himself walking in his apartment, holding a packet of cigarettes in his hands. What the hell is going on, he thinks.

He sees his girlfriend looking at him curiously.

- Hun, where have you been? Why are you holding those cigarettes? You don’t smoke…

- Yes… I… I mean, I went for a walk, and then Chris called me on the phone and asked me to get him cigarettes for him.

- Really? Can’t he buy his own cigarettes?

- He said, just in case, because sometimes when we hang out here he runs out so he doesn’t need to go out and buy more.

Geez… what a lousy excuse

What do you make of this situation? What do you think the guy was on?

I’ll unveil the mystery. It was a psychological experiment. The guy had been hypnotized and told to walk out of his apartment. He was handed the cigarettes and told to walk back in. Then he was woken up. He didn’t know what he was doing and why he was holding those cigarettes.
The experiment consisted on testing his reaction when he found out he had no idea what he was doing.

Would he admit he didn’t know or would he make up a story to rationalize his behavior?

Empiric evidence show that statistically, 6 out of 10 people tend to do the latter.

Psychological experiments show that 6 out of 10 people will agree with their peers even if they know they are right and everyone is wrong. On experiments where the accomplices agree on a false visual perception, 6 out of 10 subjects tested end up agreeing with their peers even if their eyes tell them that the longer stick is not the one everyone else claims.

This is incredibly dangerous. It means that given the right propaganda and public opinion manipulation, 60% of the population can agree on ideas that are contrary to their beliefs. Like, I don’t know, go to war with France, the UK, Russia, and wipe out a few million jews in the process.

Why is this relevant to SEO?

Listen up. I’ll tell you in one sentence why this is relevant to SEO, and more specifically to Linkbait Development: Human Beings are not rational, they are rationalizers.

Given a certain belief they will do anything they can to find rational arguments to support it. Even if they know they are wrong, they will end up convincing themselves, so they can fit better on that social group they want to be a part of.

This is what you want to keep in mind when you work on your linkbaits. What tribe am I targeting? What is their view of the world? What do they think about global warming? Are they pro Mac? Are they pro Google? Are they pissed at Matt Cutts about the whole paid links circus? Do they consider Danny Sullivan a Hero? Do they consider John Reese a hero? (not comparing Danny ) Do they like sports? Are they conservative or liberals?

Please please please think about this when you work on that headline, when you work on that description, when you work on that post. Because if you don’t something horrible will happen: your linkbait will fall on deaf ears, discredited because it is a subversive threat to someone’s symbolic system.

Chris Crocker has one natural talent most marketers would die for. He can create buzz. If you haven’t heard of him before check out this post from Pablo Palatnik at The Palatnik Factor.Here is what this extroverted gentleman generated in a short period of time.

• 1,880,000 Google Results for “Chris Crocker”
• 1,210,000 ” Google Results” for “leave britney alone”, a phrase he launched to the blogosphere
• More than 5 Million Views on Youtube alone from one of his videos “Leave Britney Alone” (hard to track exactly because there are so many video duplications and remixed versions)
• The start of a new catch phrase that will start penetrating all spheres of public communication: Leave [insert your public figure here] Alone. This is already going on with: George W., Hillary, Ron Paul, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and an increasing number of celebrities, amongst which of course you can count with none other than Chris Crocker.
• Mentions on Popular TV Shows such as Jay Leno, Rove (Australian TV)
• Popular actor Seth Green Video Reply to Chris Crocker original video (if you think you don’t know him, you probably know his voice - he’s the guy who plays Chris Griffin’s voice in The Family Guy)

Wow.

When was the last time your Marketing Plan took you this far?

Unfortunately, it’s not all fun and games for Chris Crocker. Apparently he has been receiving death threats and if you have a look at the top results in Google for his name he is not controlling what’s going on there. Most of the top ten results are on domains he doesn’t control.

This is what I call a reputation management problem.

Chris Crocker should have done the following. He should have hired me, an SEO and Social Media Consultant, to manage his reputation and support his viral campaign from a SEM perspective.

If he had done so, Chris Crocker would now be enjoying 10 positions in Google listings for the phrases:

• chris crocker
• leave britney alone
• leave chris crocker alone (we would have predicted this one)
• other phrases that we would have predicted such as “leave George W. alone”, “leave Paris alone” “leave Lindsay alone” etc.

If I was about to launch a viral campaign that was going to generate so much buzz I would make sure I am ranking for all the phrases that my campaign is going to create search volume for.

Not only because it would give me the chance to reply to negative criticism, an outlook very easy to predict given his extroverted personality and his standpoint on many sensitive matters. But also, and more important in my priority list: it would allow for optimized monetization.

So I will make an open call to Chris Crocker: if you are reading this blog post, give me a buzz or shoot an email. I can be found here. I will provide a Search Engine Marketing support to your online popularity (and in the process make a bunch of cash for both of us.)

Tags for this post: britney spears, leave britney alone, chris crocker, leave chris crocker alone, you tube.