Social Media or SEO – How do I decide which is best for me and my business?

It is time to start planning for your next marketing campaign and you need to decide the best way to proceed. The two basic choices are social media or SEO. To begin, let’s define each process.

Social Media

Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, tweets, pins) in online marketing is building your brand recognition by creating groups of followers. By posting content that will interest your followers, you gain a better reputation. Statistics are showing that more than 70% of purchasers will do so after seeing the product on social networks.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a method of coding or using keywords in your blogs that have a greater chance of being recognized by search engines. This puts your company’s name higher on the list when a user is looking for information. SEO is being ranked by Google as a result of user queries.

There is a concept that social media likes and shares will also rank your company. This includes voting on surveys that have been posted. Social media provides an additional source of traffic and with additional shares increases your chances for exposure to potential customers. Social media builds relationships and recognition.

Any marketing campaign starts with identifying the audience and, in digital marketing, deciding which format potential buyers are more likely to use for information. With SEO, the user has questions to be answered. The more of an expert you are and the accuracy of your answer will help the searcher decide if you are the company they want to use. Google Analytics is a great tool for this purpose. Social media have demographics that are easy to access to help you decide. Purchases increase with influencer remarks and recommendations.

Content

Content created for an SEO post is educational in terms of how-to’s, answers to questions, or listing types of materials for a product. Readers want good information in short spurts. They want it understandable and easy to read. Too long or too many jumps and you have lost their interest. Social media works on emotions. Viewers want to be entertained rather than educated. Visuals are the most effective.

Implementing your plan is great but you need to know whether or not it is the driving force for increased sales. SEO is long-term. It can take months or even years to move close to the top in keyword searches. It can, however, track visitors and their connection to your content. On social media, you can go viral in minutes. However, just as easily, it will be overrun by other content that is posted just minutes later. There are tools available to help you keep on top of placing new posts.

Social Media or SEO

As you can tell, many factors go into your decision to initiate and maintain digital marketing. It is likely that you still have questions.  One of the best sources of assistance is Aliado Marketing Group.  You can access our experts, who have experience in both fields of digital marketing. They will be happy to help you discover the potential in social media or SEO.