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We typically think of social media in a vacuum: get cool, creative content for a month, share, boost, rinse, repeat. We’re churning out content left and right, hoping it catches your eye and makes you click, and then moving on to the next big thing. But, it’s a little depressing when you think about the numbers.

On social media, we've been seeing massive declines in organic reach, which has been resulting in equally massive increases in social posting. But posting more frequently doesn't automatically mean a growth in engagement — in fact, it's almost the opposite. It's time for brands to stop focusing solely on organic reach, and start investing in the things that will actually grow their followings: promoted social.

When you say SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to most folks, they have one thought: Google. And while they wouldn’t exactly be wrong since that is where most of us focus on optimizing, today I want to blow your mind. Or at the very least, expand your thinking beyond just optimizing for Google.

So let’s get started.

Even though Google has the most expansive reach, there is a significant opportunity to add more sources to the mix to increase website traffic and your value as an SEO.

If you’re in marketing, you know that sometimes departments don’t align. This becomes especially true when SEO works on a web development project. As SEOs, we look to search engine guidelines to determine how a site should be constructed. Unfortunately, this typically hasn’t reflected what a developer must keep in mind in terms of building a site off of dazzling creative and excellent UX.

A developer’s job is to bring something to life: to build amazing sites, web apps, and platforms that are remarkable. An SEO is responsible for bringing the user and search engine together to drive traffic to what the developer has built. Traditionally, SEOs leave web development to the developers and then come in to optimize after a site is built.

But development is becoming increasingly important to the SEO process. Search engines are evolving and are beginning to consider user experience in the algorithm, which is incorporated and brought to life by developers. All this means SEOs also have to evolve.

We’re all setting goals to be healthier and happier in 2015, and some of us are also looking for ways to improve our careers. In the ever-changing world of SEO, January can be a great time of year to reevaluate your “SEO best practices”. Here are a few simple goals to accomplish during 2015 to ensure you’re growing in your SEO career and staying on top of the biggest shifts in the industry.