Get Found: SEO, Social Media, and Building an Audience with Matt Diamante
Matt Diamante, founder of Hey Tony digital marketing agency, discusses his journey building an SEO-focused business without paid ads or funding, his social media growth strategy of posting daily content, and how SEO is evolving in the era of AI overviews and conversational search. He emphasizes that successful businesses need to focus on selling a product or service and building human connections rather than gaming algorithms.
Summary
Matt Diamante shares his entrepreneurial journey starting as a freelancer in 2013, gradually building Hey Tony into a full-service digital marketing agency. He initially took on all types of work (web design, Facebook ads, Google ads) before specializing in SEO around 2020. In February 2023, Diamante made a pivotal decision to fire his largest client (worth $250k annually) to pursue a social media growth strategy, posting content daily to build authority and reach. After six months of posting with minimal traction (from 200 to 1,500 followers), he nearly quit but committed to the strategy. By month six, he achieved viral success with a million-view video and by end of 2023 had grown to 100,000 followers, which led to substantial business inquiries without actively selling. He emphasizes the importance of cash flow management, having three months of expenses saved, and using the Profit First methodology to separate business finances. Regarding SEO's evolution, Diamante explains that while traditional SEO still matters, the landscape is shifting toward AI overviews and conversational search. He argues that AI cannot create truly new information, only regurgitate existing content, which means human expertise and authority become more valuable. He advocates against trying to trick algorithms and instead recommends creating genuinely helpful content that demonstrates expertise. On social media strategy, Diamante explains he doesn't batch content because learning from what works requires rapid feedback loops. He critiques AI-generated content replacing human creators, arguing that audiences value authenticity and real human connection. For clients, Hey Tony focuses on creating quality blog content that showcases expertise, optimizing user experience, managing Google Business profiles, building backlinks, and coaching clients to maintain active social presence across multiple platforms. He stresses that businesses should spend two hours weekly on marketing to signal they're active and legitimate. The interview concludes with discussion of how search behavior has changed—people now search for hyper-specific solutions rather than simple keywords, and visible activity across multiple platforms signals business legitimacy to both people and search algorithms.
About this episode
Matt Diamante joins the show to discuss modern SEO, social media growth, and building an audience in the age of AI.
Key Insights
- Diamante argues that successful social media growth requires consistent daily posting for at least 6 months before seeing significant traction, with most people giving up before results appear.
- He claims that AI cannot generate truly new information, only recombine existing content, which means human expertise and original insights will become increasingly valuable in search results.
- Diamante contends that trying to 'game' or trick algorithms (whether on social platforms or search engines) is counterproductive compared to creating content that genuinely solves user problems.
- He maintains that traditional SEO fundamentals like heading hierarchy and content structure still matter even as AI overviews and conversational search change how people find information.
- Diamante argues that businesses without a product or service to sell should not pursue SEO, and that publishing blog content solely to attract ad revenue is no longer viable.
- He claims that visible business activity across multiple platforms (social media, Google Business Profile, website) signals legitimacy to both algorithms and potential customers, particularly important post-AI-overview era.
- Diamante contends that batching content is ineffective because you cannot quickly learn from what resonates with your audience and adjust strategy accordingly.
- He argues that AI-generated avatars and content replacing human creators fundamentally fails because audiences seek human connection and cannot trust whether the information or experience being shared is authentic.
Topics
Transcript
Matt Diamante is today's guest on the show. He is the founder of Hey Tony, a digital marketing agency that helps small businesses get found on Google through SEO and content strategy. He regularly posts helpful insights into the evolving world of SEO to over 600,000 followers. He is also a bestselling author with his book, Get Found, the no fluff guide to ranking higher and becoming your customer's first choice. It's an SEO kind of day. So let's cut to that interview right now. Alrighty, everybody, we have Matt Diamante on the line here. And before we jump into this loaded interview, Matt, what's up, what's going on and how have you been working on? Oh, what's up, what's…
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