Search vs Social Media Marketing
Its been an exciting month for us. We’ve been working with new customers. Some clients are looking to us for SEO (search engine marketing) and some are coming to us for their social media marketing services. While talking to our clients, they oftentimes are puzzled by the best choice for their business. “Should we focus on Social media marketing or should we concentrate on SEO?”, they ask. Driving traffic to your website is a bit more complex than it sounds, but there are a lot of ways to get people to view your pages. It is true, the main two methods people employ to drive organic traffic to their site is via social and search marketing. Oftentimes, businesses simply don’t have the time to invest in these marketing strategies. They know they should, but they are unsure as to where to put the time and resources.
Search marketing and social media marketing each have their own distinct advantages that can work better for certain niche markets over others, however, in some cases, using both tactics in tandem can have more effective results than just using a single strategy.
Search Engine Marketing
To better understand the advantages of search marketing, think about your own personal internet habits. When you are looking for a new product or service, where is the first place you look? If you answered Google, or a similar search engine, then you are just like the majority of internet users out there. Over 60% of consumers utilize search engines to find the items they are looking for, as well as to research a company or service before making a purchase decision.
Choosing your keywords carefully will not only help you get discovered, but it will also help drive more consumer traffic that follows through with a purchase on your site. You also have the option of purchasing sponsored links, or even paid reviews via Amazon and other review sites, all of which show up when a consumer looks up a product or service on the internet (Google Adwords/ PPC / Pay Per Click Advertising).
Social Media Marketing
While search engine marketing has its distinct advantages, social media marketing has risen in popularity as well as in effectiveness, thanks to the explosion of various social networks that consumers use on a regular basis. Not only does social media interaction help increase traffic to your site, but it also has the power to change the perception people have about your brand.
A great number of consumers may search for specific products or services on the internet, while an equal number are introduced to brands, services, and products via their friends, coworkers and through other social media outlets. This trend has increased with the evolution and ease of access to smart devices for all levels of consumers. Embracing social media is vital if you want to interact with a consumer market and not just blast them with impersonal marketing messages.
Engaging the targeted consumer base is essential if you want to showcase your voice as a caring brand that is involved with its customers, and not one that simply seeks to garner a sale from them.
Riding The Mix
While each method has its benefits, a mixture of the two will allow a marketing plan to really shine. When Google first started out, the results from searchers mainly depended on the number of sites and the quality of sites that linked to the target, hence why link building was so popular. Now, search has evolved to ensure that consumers are linked with the right sites that also provide a quality experience. Riding the mix will allow you to target customer searches by thinking about what they are looking for while providing applicable quality information when visitors arrive to the page. By linking searches to the social aspect of the internet, not only are you able to rank higher, but you are also able to spread your brand and services via word of mouth that has been spread via shares, links on social pages, and so on.
