Digital and online marketing is a must if you plan on growing your business. Even if you just plan on surviving in this cutthroat economy, implementing a strong digital marketing strategy is essential. There are plenty of ways to practice digital marketing, the two most common (and most successful) practices being search engine optimization and social media marketing.
Both of these practices are extremely important if you’re hoping to have a strong online presence and cater to consumers in the best possible way. But if you had to choose one, which one should be focused on more? Which is more crucial for business growth, search engine optimization or social media marketing?
Think About Your Target Audience
Before you can effectively determine the right marketing efforts for your business, you need to think about the needs and habits of your target audience. Research shows that reaching a group of people is easier done on social media than it is through organic search results. But you have to think about your audience’s online habit – are they even likely to use social media that often, or is Google their main resource?
60 Second Marketer, a leading source in digital marketing, says that “it’s much easier to use social media to find an ideal audience for your brand. Once you find that ideal audience, you can use SEO to attract that audience using keyword suggestion tools and long-form content.” For finding your audience, social media is better. But for reaching them with valuable content, SEO is the way to go.
Think About the Type of Content You Utilize
Content is a major aspect of both social media and search engine optimization. In fact, both marketing efforts are completely revolved around content. Content comes in many forms, and these many forms are what make up the entire internet. SEO thrives more on long-form content, like blog posts that range from 1,500 to 3,000 words.
Social media, on the other hand, is better suited to short-form content, such as short video clips and image posts. They are typically way less technical than SEO content like what you would find on a company’s official website. It is impossible to say which type of content since they are both extremely important for reaching your target audience. The main thing to keep in mind is that you can use social media content to drive more traffic to your web content.
So what’s the final verdict on social media marketing vs SEO?
“Search engines are starting to rank for engagement so social media marketing can help with your SEO efforts,” says 60 Minute Marketer. “On the other hand, the more people come to your site the more they start engaging with your various social media channels.”
It’s safe to say that neither digital marketing strategy is better than the other. Rather, social media marketing and SEO should be used in accordance with each other. Most marketing experts agree that SEO and social media should both be utilized for the ultimate marketing strategy.