Why Are SEO Professionals Using SEO Slack Communities?

Most modern offices no longer use typewriters to draft reports and fax machines to send documents. We also don’t save our work after team meetings anymore by writing “Do Not Erase” at the top of the whiteboard. So, why should we rely on phone calls and text messages for chatting with team members when we’re in a hurry?

Instead, digital professionals are leaning into Slack, a convenient, cloud-based instant messaging tool, to send messages, photos, and documents on the fly. Now more than ever, professionals in the search engine optimization (SEO) field are leveraging Slack technologies to get in touch with their clients, team members, and colleagues. 

The beauty of Slack is that you can tap into private communities that let you chat with select team members or public channels that let you reach groups of like-minded individuals in your niche. Public communities have given rise to “Slack communities” which operate as a hub for professionals looking to network, chat, and collaborate. 

Want to find out how you can leverage exclusive Slack communities to take your SEO game up a notch? In this article, we’ll dive deep into the benefits of Slack communities and will touch on how you can get started joining them.

Slack: A Digital Marketing Hub

As a digital marketing professional, you know how important it is to keep in touch with your team and your clients throughout the day. However, there are plenty of instant messaging tools available online that can fulfill this need. Only Slack has the features, user base, and plug-in compatibility to offer an all-in-one platform for community building. 

There are currently hundreds of active slack communities, with many more emerging every week. Unlike communities extant on other platforms, such as Facebook, only Slack communities offer the same functionality within a secure, instantaneous, spam-free, and moderated forum.

For example, the Slack community OnlineGeniuses offers a host of well-moderated Slack communities for a variety of niches within the SEO and digital marketing space. Some of the most popular Slack channels for SEOs hosted on OnlineGeniuses include the following:

• #guestposts
• #ecommerce
• #analytics
• #affiliate-marketing
• #ama
• #hangout
• #content_marketing

Members of Slack communities can enter into as many chats as they want, wherein they can instantly share messages, files, emojis, videos, photos, and other media. In these channels, which function as multimedia chat rooms, you can connect with like-minded marketers and share insights within your niche.

Slack is currently the only all-in-one communication solution for digital marketers. As a collaboration tool, it’s the best platform for finding new communities, building your own, and tapping into the creative potential of other brilliant marketers in the SEO field.

The Benefits of Slack Communities for SEO Pros

If you work in the SEO space—or any branch of digital marketing for that matter—and you aren’t leveraging Slack, then you’re missing out. No matter the industry you work in, but especially for SEO professionals, the benefits of Slack communities are many. Still on the fence about whether joining a Slack community is right for you? Check out our review of the top benefits of Slack communities for SEO pros below.

Networking

Digital marketers benefit from Slack communities via new networking opportunities. When you join a professional Slack community, you enter hyper-focused groups of like-minded marketers with whom you can discuss projects, best practices, and collaborate with.

Freelance workers make up over one-third of the US workforce. Most freelancers work mainly on a referral basis, meaning that they are recommended or referred to other colleagues or professional contacts for their services. Slack communities are an excellent way for freelancers and contract workers to build a referral network with leaders in their marketing niche.

If you’re an SEO professional who wants to keep their freelance work flowing, or you want to seek out new clients, joining a Slack community is a great start. There you will find plenty of professionals within your niche with whom you can connect with, trade services, or refer one another to clients when your schedule is full.

Third-Party App Integration

Slack integrates with third-party apps that SEO professionals already use. Using a simple one-click plug-in system, you can add dozens of useless programs to your Slack profile. For instance, with Slack, you can easily integrate your profile with your existing accounts on:

• GitHub: View code check-ins from development teams
• Trello: Master project organization by creating and editing project tasks
• HelpScout: In real-time, view support ticket submissions
• Google Drive: Keep all your files and documents in a collaborative cloud environment

Unlike other platforms, such as Skype or WhatsApp, only Slack allows developer APIs and third-party app integration. These integrative features make it easy to access all your social accounts and productivity tools without having to leave the all-in-one Slack platform. 

In total, Slack offers over 150 third-party app integrations that can be installed at the users’ discretion. This feature allows users to access other essential workflow applications and messaging tools without ever having to leave the Slack interface. In other words, Slack condenses multiple applications and programs into one convenient productivity and messaging hub for SEOs and digital marketers. 

Improving Education and Skills

Slack communities are places where you can hone your skills, build your talents, and take part in informative educational sessions. For example, you can gain actionable, first-hand knowledge from leaders in the SEO niche by taking part in Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions. Popular Slack communities for SEOs, such as OnlineGeniuses, have played host to AMAs with marketing experts such as Gary Vaynerchuck, Christi Olson, Courtland Allen, and Guy Kawasaki.

Slack channels are filled with valuable resources for freelancers and digital marketers looking to up their game. For instance, you can find plenty of insightful articles, guides, how-to manuals, and first-hand success stories from colleagues in the SEO field. Many popular Slack communities also have newsletters and other opt-in subscriptions that inform you of the latest news and trends in the SEO industry.

Landing New Clients

Slack communities such as OnlineGeniuses offer a #hiring channel that brings together clients and freelancers or professionals looking for in-house employment in the SEO field. Joining an active Slack community can put you in touch with industry leaders and employers who might be looking to put your skillset to use. 

Unless you have an existing network of professional contacts in the SEO industry, it can be a challenge to find new prospects and hires. Fortunately, industry-oriented Slack channels provide you with a platform for reaching out to other SEOs, marketers, and business owners. Leveraging these connections can offer you gainful, long-term employment or lucrative short-term projects depending on your needs and preferences.

Making Real-World Connections

When you join a professional Slack community, you aren’t merely interfacing with anonymous characters online. Rather, you’re engaging with an established network of real-world SEO pros, industry leaders, journalists, business owners, and many more respected industry figures. The acquaintances made on Slack communities often transcend the platform and lead to personalized connections on social channels like LinkedIn and Twitter.

If you’re actively searching for real-world business connections, Slack communities are a fantastic resource. Many conferences in the SEO industry, such as the Digital Summit Series, SearchLove San Diego, Pubcon Florida, and the Engage Conference are all well attended by professionals who use Slack communities regularly. You can also find out about upcoming conferences via dedicated Slack channels designed for event-related discussions.  

Self-Promotion

Although some Slack channels may prohibit self-promotion—after all, each channel is independently moderated—others welcome it. Joining an SEO slack channel is an excellent way to boost your public profile and build a following within the SEO space. However, Slack has a strict anti-spam policy, so you should be respectful and selective when promoting your work.

If you’re an SEO freelancer, your personal brand and reputation go a long way in building respect and credibility. Offering other Slack users free information and guidance can help build rapport with other SEO leaders and will signal to others that you can be trusted and sought after for your expertise.

Limit Your Distractions

Although Facebook and LinkedIn groups are great resources for some SEO professionals, they can be distracting and eat into your workflow and productivity. To stay on top of your game without any external distractions, spam, or cute dog videos popping up on your newsfeed, you need a dedicated professional social platform—you know, like a Slack community!

Unlike other social platforms, Slack is focused on work and productivity. In other words, Slack exists to work with you, not against you. When you use Slack, you won’t be inundated with information from your personal life or photos of your neighbor’s wedding anniversary. Instead, you can talk business with other SEO professionals without running into setbacks or annoying distractions.

Link-Building

This benefit is primarily geared toward SEOs and content marketers. For many SEO industry professionals, link-building is the most difficult and uncertain aspect of the job. It can take weeks or even months to generate high-quality backlinks from reputable sites and sometimes you can receive Google penalties merely for being linked to from a disreputable source.

Luckily for you, Slack communities provide an excellent venue for building backlinks to your website without having to worry about getting flagged for spam. Instead, you can manually vet other Slack users to see who might be able to offer you a backlink from a reputable website within your niche. 

In some cases, there are private Slack channels fully dedicated to trading links between website owners or writing guest posts across web properties.

Access It Anywhere

SEO professionals are often on the move. To keep in touch with your professional network, you need access to a communications platform that stays with you no matter where you are. With Slack, you can access your community via a range of mobile devices by downloading their iOS or Android app. 

Both apps feature a minimalist layout that mirrors the desktop experience, making it easy to continue your discussions and chats while on the go.

Have Your Questions Answered

Whether you’re new to the SEO industry or are a grizzled veteran, there’s a good chance you’re going to run into some roadblocks. When you need a question answered quickly, there’s no better place to turn than a Slack community that consists of other established SEOs. Since there are always active users online, you can ask a question whenever one pops up and expect it answered within minutes.

If you need a response as fast as possible, you can even direct message users of the Slack community so they receive a notification in their inbox. Since Slack communities are live chats, they allow you to get the answers you need to take your SEO game to the next level faster than any other forum or online community.

Ready To Get Started?

Slack communities are an SEO professional’s best friend. With OnlineGeniuses, you have access to a membership of over 20,000 vetted users across the globe. 

Tap into an OnlineGeniuses Slack SEO community today to see for yourself how you can connect with some of the most prominent digital marketers in the industry.