I recently saw a video of Seth Godin talking about the tribes that we lead and I was intrigued by the way the concept of tribes ties into search engine optimisation.

When it was first introduced, many people believed that the Internet would result in a homogenisation of our society; the worldwide web would allow people to connect on a larger scale than ever before. Seth goes on to talk about what the Internet has actually done, is to separate us out into various communities. He sees the Internet as a place where football fans can interact with football fans, fashionistas can compare notes with fashionistas, and most importantly of course, SEO geeks can debate with other SEO geeks.

This concept of communities is far from being a new one. For thousands of years, people connected by similar thoughts, interests and beliefs have cohabited in tribes. Today, we imitate these tribes in the sports teams that we form, the book clubs that we join, the concerts we attend etc. One way in which the Internet has actively encouraged this, is with social media. Each time that we contribute to a particular hub chat thread, follow something or someone on Twitter, or join a fan club on Facebook, we are joining an existing tribe with which we share a common interest.

The question that this raises in terms of social media marketing and SEO is this; is it enough to connect only with one tribe? Or should we be persevering with the mass-market objective of reaching everyone, as one homogenous community?

In terms of search engine optimisation, I think it is quite appropriate to think in terms of tribes. Had the Internet connected users in one enormous web as was intended, the principles by which we optimise today would surely no longer apply. When we optimise pages, we do so in the knowledge that there is a group of people out there, searching specifically for what is on that page. Rather than attempting to be there for every search carried out on the Internet, we try only to be there for the people who are looking for us, or in other words, one particular tribe.

Using social media, we provide this tribe we have identified with a platform from which to communicate with each other. And does it matter that we are only communicating with one particular tribe rather than attempting to reach every Internet user? I think not. You do not need to reach everyone, only those who are interested - the message will then spread to other people who want to become a part of the tribe.

As Seth Godin states, ‘the Beatles did not invent teenagers. They merely decided to lead them.’ This is a pertinent analogy in terms of social media marketing and SEO; Tribes and communities are pre-existing online. Everybody belongs to one or another, and with each SEO campaign we initiate, we are addressing one of these tribes. By providing them with a social medium to communicate, such as a forum or fan group, we are not creating the tribe, but merely directing other like-minded people towards it. After all, a single tribe or two can be won over, whereas the attention of an entire population is harder to gain.