Get Found: SEO, Social Media, and Building an Audience with Matt Diamante

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.