How’s SEO supposed to work if content behaves like a spoilt king, sitting there playing with its trains and waiting for the money to roll in. Clearly someone has to be prepared to down the bread and honey, dive in and get amongst it all, conversing with the world through any medium possible to understand if this content really is a rightful ruler?

So where content is king, social media is queen. Regally sitting above it all, fan in hand, set with the dull task of simply making nice, and yet behind the scenes kicking a few shins and working artfully to form alliances, trade information, be strategic and social, and keep this damn online kingdom going.

Lightweight and agile, she’s the unencumbered quantity, with a playfull facade that belies the dirty hands of a genius diplomat who moves things along quickly, lightly, frequently and often for a song.

A multitasker, with hands in every corner of the kingdom, fingers in every pie and feet at the threshold of many worlds, bridging the gap between the private and the social, the serious and the silly, the formal and the informal, and working hard to keep clothes on the king.

She has no time to worry what Google thinks, which is exactly what it likes in that perverse reverse-psychology kind of way. The more she does her own thing, ignore what those search engine spies are up to, and just uses words and language that are colourful, engaging, relevant and en vogue, the more popular she will potentially become. And yet she’s also smart enough to not stand beating her chest for being original to an empty auditorium.

She understands that search engine optimisation is important in helping move content along, to be noticed, picked up and shared from one person to another. Her SEO is not paint by numbers or the rote use of keywords, it’s all about the intent, or more importantly ‘true intent’ for being online. Being fake does not work at all, people have a nose for the insincere, they don’t like being sold to or told what to do, and so social media’s job is to keep content relevant by simply being itself, having an opinion and creating interest in the company’s true personality. To stay natural, real and yet still have the business nous and cunning to move through a myriad of complex relationships, making allies along the way, while keeping the original message intact.

Helping with the thaw of a frozen kingdom, social media is constantly chipping away at old habits that keep information locked into static websites and helps content break out and flow like a steady stream of energy, ideas and thoughts from one platform to another, bouncing around the ether and gaining followers as momentum builds. She’s all about the longtail application of keywords, search terms that reflect a true purpose for being online, and building links with organisations that share a real interest in each other.

Embracing the inbound marketing approach, she’s also all about sharing with no obvious strings attached. Offering ideas and opinions on Twitter, friendship on Facebook, the serious and academic on LinkedIn, inspiration and OCD tendencies on pinterest and uber-coolness on Instagram. And understanding that all this altruism will reap rewards in the end by gaining trust, respect and movement towards the business brand.

She also understands that when organic social media growth comes to a standstill, when friendly talk fails to raise a pulse or make a sale, that the agents of paid social can take the baton and continue through background networks. Display ads and promoted posts are thrown into the marketing mix, shown the battlefield and told not to come back without the dead body of a conversion…and of course the sweet smell of ROI.

While Google and Bing are coy about the influence social media management really has on search engine rankings, it’s undeniable that it plays a big part in spreading the word, building popularity and keeping us all interlinked. And that is what makes a good SEO and content marketing strategy. Where the content you offer is useful, liked and searched for, and where true interest is reflected in movement en masse towards your website, app or whatever it is you’re trying to promote. This, Google will sit up and pay attention to.

This great infographic The state of SEO from Sprout illustrates just how important social is; where SEO ‘has evolved over the past few years in response to Google’s game-changing algorithm updates and the steady rise of content as king.’ Without social, website content is dead. So long live socia media for bringing the old king back to life.

And so, while King Content twiddles with his trains, outside the guillotine of public interest is forever being sharpened and you have to be prepared to arm your queen and engage with the outside world. Social media isn’t rocket science and doesn’t need much help if its intent is real. Humans are instinctively drawn to the way it works. It’s highly social, likes to interact and work with people, share information, be serious and yet not take itself seriously, have fun in a group rather than alone, and most importantly to be natural, itself and to get to the point.

You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours is not what it’s all about. It’s rather ‘I don’t care what anyone else is doing, I’m going to focus on what interests me, be passionate and energetic about it, use the tools of today to get the message out, and that will gain interest from other people’. Combine this intent with an energetic social media queen and great content that is king and you’ll have a winning combination to keep your empire intact.