Learning from the Best
Taylor Swift just proved to us (once again) she is a marketing genius. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may be aware that the biggest pop star in the world has announced the release of her next album: The Life of a Showgirl. Remember that for later.
Now, in case you feel like arguing about the “biggest pop star in the world” title we just bestowed upon her. Here are some fast facts from our resident Swifty:
- Most No. 1 Albums on Billboard 200
- Highest Grossing Concert Tour
- Most Grammy Wins for Album of the Year – the most prestigious music award given each year
- Most Hot 100 Hits
- First Living Artist with Five Albums in the Top 10
- First to Pass One Billion Dollars on a Tour
- She was the youngest artist ever to receive the Album of the Year award
- Has won the most AMAs
- Most Video of the Year wins at VMAs
- First artist to claim the entire Top 10 on the Billboard Hot in a single week.
Anyway, we could go on for quite some time, but you get the point – she’s a pretty big deal.
Now you may be asking, what is the appeal? And well, the answer is pretty simple. Marketing. Not just any marketing, Taylor Swift has built a culture for her fans. The infamous easter eggs she teases out give people something to talk about (or argue about), even when she’s not saying anything.
She’s smart. Frankly, she’s a genius.
But she’s outdone herself and once again sparked conversation as to how us marketers can use these tactics in our work.
Taylor’s Latest Genius
Let’s talk Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). In short, the practice of improving a website’s visibility and ranking in a search engine results page (SERP). But these days, we’re not just using Google, we’re on Meta, TikTok, ChatGPT, Pinterest, Spotify and YouTube to name a few. And ALL of these platforms have a search engine. So what are we doing to optimise elsewhere?
To give you some context, Taylor Swift does not like a) Kanye West, and b) Matty Healy, the Guitarist for pop band The 1975. We could go into the full lore, but you can look into that later, as we’re here to talk about SEO.
With her announcement of her latest album, keen Swifties have noticed the name appears eerily similar to West’s 2016 Album The Life of Pablo, known to be the album featuring the song Famous – IYKYK. This means, any time West’s fans or anyone tries to search “the life of” Taylor’s album will appear front and centre. Plus, not only does it appear above Kanye’s album, but all its iterations bump West’s album onto the second page! The place where websites go to die.
As well as this, Swift’s fans are now identifying a similar tactic used against Matty Healy back in 2020, with her release of her song the 1. Not The One. She specifically named it the 1 so that when people start to search The 1975… Guess what pops up. YEP. Swift’s song!
While we often use SEO to enhance a brand on its merit, what if we use it to take down our enemies? Or just get an edge up on your closest competitor? Taylor has inspired us.
Implementing this in Your Business
How can you (how can we help you) use this strategy in your SEO?
1. Sort out your site.
The first step to strong SEO isn’t content, it is a functional UX/UI optimised site. Search engines are designed to give their user a good experience and lead them to other good experiences. If your site is slow or things are hard to find, then people won’t be told to go there.
2. Look at your strategy holistically.
The digital space is changing. It’s not just about your website – though that might be the end goal. You need to understand your audience’s behaviour and how they seek information. You also need to consider how you can fill the SERP using third-party sites such as Instagram or Pinterest.
3. Competitive Analysis.
Outrank your competitors by being everywhere they are and doing it enough to bump them down a rank or two. Watch your competitors like a hawk, and put more time into creating content that will outrank theirs as well as coming up with your own.
4. Create shareable content.
Don’t just create your content and have it on your platforms and profiles. When people share your content, they’re turning into free SEO champions on your behalf. This will also bump down the competition.
5. Long-term goals.
While these tactics can create space for a quick fix, nothing trumps a long-term strategy. Look beyond the closest competition and find loopholes or gaps in your content you can fill before another competitor steps in. You can’t always be following the competition; you’ll need to lead at some point.
While we may not be in the same industry as Taylor Swift, we all play the same game when it comes to branding and marketing. So let’s take notes, take action and watch the results.
