The new social capital of internet businesses and the role search engines and social media play.  Social Capital explains the important role social connections and social relations have in achieving goals. SEO is the new social capital for online businesses and this type of capital is gaining favor in other areas. Today’s Business Reality, in a technological age, online optimization of organizational structures is needed to stay relevant for businesses

MedCepts is Named “Top In their Field, when compared nationally and globally among millions of websites”

A Case study on MedCepts by a WKU Graduate student attending as an Intern at MedCepts presents final conclusions of a case study on MedCepts. The case study reflects: “MedCepts is top in their field, when compared nationally and globally among millions of websites…”  “Their social capital including networks of organizations and organizations strengthen their ties through use of social media and website traffic increasing their prestige within the field…”

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The New Social Capital of Internet Businesses is presented by a Western Kentucky University graduate student attending as an Intern at MedCepts for a six week internship program. A case study was completed on MedCepts with final conclusions of the case study identifying the following:

1. MedCepts is top in their field, when compared nationally and globally among millions of websites, and with continued attention to key areas MedCepts has made a great impact on growing their business based on their social capital.  Simply increasing the standard outlets that strengthen social capital MedCepts has continued to climb the SEO rankings both nationally and globally.

2. Their social capital including networks of organizations and organizations strengthen their ties through use of social media and website traffic increasing their prestige within the field and their earnings potential.

Today’s Business Reality – In a technological age, online optimization of organizational structures is needed to stay relevant for businesses, schools, etc.

  • Online classes
  • Online rankings of companies
  • Use of social media
  • Businesses need hundreds of thousands of “visits” or “hits” per day to thrive online Why? Increased traffic = increased notoriety in the field, greater potential for customers

Search Engine Optimization –  What is it?

Parikh et al, “(SEO) can be described as a cluster of strategies and techniques used to increase the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP)” (2013:3).
SEO is the art, craft and science of driving web traffic to websites – Parikh et al (2013)
  • Search engine placement
  • Where a webpage appears in an ordered list in search query results (orielly.com)
  • Not all search queries are created equal
  • Businesses vie for higher rankings on different engines
  • Does Google®, Bing®, Yahoo® or MSN® return the same results?
  • »NO! Why? Algorithms used to determine utility differ
  • »Constantly changing

Social Capital

  • Explains the important role social connections/social relations have in achieving goals.
  • Resources accessed through such connections and relations, are critical (along with human capital, or what a person or organization actually possesses) in achieving goals for individuals, social groups, organizations, and communities (Coleman, 1988).
  • SEO answers why “it is who you know,” as well as “what you know” that makes a difference in life and society.
  • SEO considers both social / human / economic capital a company has in returning query results
  • Using a webbot
  • Page rank
  • Return of results
  • Index server

In what ways are SEO’s the new form of social capital for businesses and organizations online?

  • A webbot travels down weblinks to establish credibility
  • Index servers are storage of links, summaries, and related information giving credit to social capital of the website (your rank is based off how many connections or backlinks you have with another website)

Case Study: Using MedCepts

  • MedCepts is the largest network of independent contractors and consultants
  • Niche consultants from the new idea to concept and distribution in the medical and healthcare industry (target population).
  • The network includes:
    • independent physicians, physician entrepreneurs, physician inventors, patent attorneys, FDA regulatory consultants, pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

A lesson in Social Capital

  • Largest Independent Sales Network = Social Capital
  • Back links of articles, job postings, connections to other websites for medical sales, devices, and technology
  • Prestige of company within their field  – how many times they are referenced by others
  • Message boards, reader reviews
  • Good content draws traffic
    • Social Media (also Social Capital) is key (twitter, facebook, message board, linked in, reps for hire, job board)
    • Community and Corporate Intermingling (links to other corporations such as Rep Giant RIMEDIO)
      • Reputation/notoriety
  • With competing search engines to stay in business, consumers expect to be given the best on the first page of results query
  • Algorithms changes frequently and incorporate the use of social media more than ever before
  • SEOs vary day by day, but maintaining social capital online is a clear indicator of higher SEO

  • Alexa.com – (owned by Amazon®) premier ranking site for companies and their SEO
    • –A ranking of social capital in its own right
    • –Must also pay for subscription to Alexa.com
  • With competing search engines to stay in business, consumers expect to be given the best on the first page of results query
  • Algorithms changes frequently and incorporate the use of social media more than ever before
  • SEOs vary day by day, but maintaining social capital online is a clear indicator of higher SEO
  • Alexa.com – owned by Amazon® premier ranking site for companies and their SEO
  • As the Algorithm changes (what google is looking for on the page, the connections with other leading websites in the field, traffic, publications, etc.) ranks are altered and fluctuate on a daily basis. To maintain “popularity” in this day an age a company must stay connected on multiple platforms in order to maintain relevance.

Conclusions

  • Social Media is Key
    • Larger companies have greater rankings (larger assets)
    • Social media evens the playing field to some degree as information can be transferred with least amount of cost
  • SEO is the new social capital for online businesses  and this type of capital  is gaining favor in other areas (i.e. academia -journal rankings) – (Burris, 2004)
  • Back links, articles, webpage set up (webbots), index servers, page-rank, and results returned
  • In order for businesses to succeed a large portion of clientele comes from online
  • Rankings indicate where you fall in line, if you are on subsequent search pages, credibility decreases, and so does profitability
  • MedCepts® is top in their field, when compared nationally and globally among millions of websites, and with continued attention to key areas MedCepts® has made a great impact on growing their business based on their social capital.  Simply increasing the standard outlets that strengthen social capital MedCepts® has continued to climb the SEO rankings both nationally and globally.
  • MedCepts® Page ranked #1 when typing in largest independent medical sales network and other relative keywords to Google, Yahoo or Bing search engines. They are a relatively smaller company dominating the virtual world in a way that may not have been possible with brick and mortar. Their social capital including networks of organizations and organizations strengthen their ties through use of social media and website traffic increasing their prestige within the field and their earnings potential.
  • It will be interesting to see how important SEO becomes as we become more connected through technology both in work and play, and reputations becomes even more interwoven with markets  (Rindova et al, 2010)

•Social Media is Key

–Community/networking
•SEO is the new social capital for online businesses  and this type of capital  is gaining favor in other areas (i.e. academia -journal rankings) – (Burris, 2004)
–Back links, articles, webpage set up (webbots), index servers, page-rank, and results returned
–Money to pay for increased SEO
–Youtube videos increase capital – viewers
•MedCepts® is top in the field of Independent Medical Sales Network (1 out of 3,360,000) along with ranking #1 for variable other keyword searches.
–compared nationally and globally among millions of websites
–increasing the standard outlets that strengthen social capital MedCepts ® has continued to climb the SEO rankings both nationally and globally, while maintaining high standards relative to stringent social policies for those in the medical and healthcare industry.
•Future: more connected through technology both in work and play
–reputations becomes even more interwoven with markets  (Rindova et al, 2010)
The above was a final presentation of a Western Kentucky University graduate student attending as an Intern at MedCepts for a six week program. 03/2015

References:

Beel, Jöran, Bela Gipp, and Erik Wilde. “Academic search engine optimization (ASEO).” Journal of scholarly publishing 41, no. 2 (2010): 176-190.

Burris, Val. “The academic caste system: Prestige hierarchies in PhD exchange networks.” American Sociological Review 69, no. 2 (2004): 239-264.

Coleman, James S. “Social capital in the creation of human capital.” American journal of sociology (1988): S95-S120.

Davis, H. (2006). Search engine optimization. ” O’Reilly Media, Inc.”

Deephouse, David L. “Media reputation as a strategic resource: An integration of mass communication and resource-based theories.” Journal of management26, no. 6 (2000): 1091-1112.

Parikh, A., & Deshmukh, S. (2013). Search Engine Optimization. International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology (2)11: 3-21. ESRSA Publications.

Rindova, Violina P., Ian O. Williamson, and Antoaneta P. Petkova. “Reputation as an intangible asset: Reflections on theory and methods in two empirical studies of business  school reputations.” Journal of Management 36, no. 3 (2010): 610-619.

Shih, Bih‐Yaw, Chen‐Yuan Chen, and Zih‐Siang Chen. “An empirical study of an internet marketing strategy for search engine optimization.” Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries 23, no. 6 (2013): 528-540.