When it comes to digital marketing, two things immediately come to mind: Search and Social Media.
It can be overwhelming at first to learn not only the difference between the two, but also how you can use both to your benefit to drive more traffic to your website and ultimately help you grow your business. We’ll give you some insight into the similarity and differences between search and social and some tips on making both work for you.
Search marketing is all about helping your website appear higher in search results. The biggest (and most well known) search engine is Google, followed by Bing and Yahoo. To help your website appear higher in search results, you can use organic techniques called search engine optimization (SEO) or paid advertisements called search engine marketing (SEM).
Social media marketing leverages the power of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to help get your content out in front of your audience. As with search marketing, you can use both organic and paid techniques to give your content a larger boost.
”With search marketing, consumers are using search terms to find your business. With social media marketing, you are pushing your messages out to consumers. With both methods, it is important to make sure your strategy has specific goals and tactics to meet your goals.
Zeus IbarraWebRealSImple - Founder / SEM / PPC Management
Google Search Marketing
SEO is the first step to succeeding on Google. To optimize your website for Google, you first have to understand what Google is looking for.
For example:
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- Does your website include content that is relevant to your business and your customers?
- Do you regularly update your content with new information?
- Is your website optimized for use on mobile phones and tablets, as well as desktop?
- Is your phone number and mailing address information up to date and in line with other sources?
Familiarize yourself with Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide to learn more.
Once your content is ready for the world, you can start looking at opportunities to do some advertising on Google.
With SEM, you’re able to bid for top spots on search results pages for keywords that are related to your business. This type of advertising is also referred to pay-per-click (PPC) since you pay once someone clicks on your advertisement.
The cost per click (CPC) varies based on the competition that you have for a particular keyword. All this is handled through Google Ads (formally Google Adwords), which offers you control over what ads are shown, where they’re placed, and who is targeted.
Learn more from the Google Ads Starter Guide.
Facebook Marketing
Similarly to Google, Facebook offers both organic and paid options to help grow your website traffic and Facebook page. Your business’ Facebook page is your opportunity to show the personality of your business. Have fun with it and share things that your audience will be interested in. Facebook’s algorithm pushes pages that have great engagement, regularly updated content, and videos so prioritize these when creating your content strategies.
Facebook’s advertising platform can help extend the reach and engagement of your content. You can choose PPC types of ads or pay per impression depending on your goals. Facebook advertising also connects to Instagram, so you can promote your images on both platforms simultaneously. Within Facebook’s platform, you have access to various degrees of segmentation, allowing you to whittle down your audience to exactly who you are aiming to target both demographically and geographically.
Learn more about marketing your business on Facebook on the Facebook Business Overview
The Takeaway
No matter how you choose to use search or social media marketing, it’s important to keep these things in mind:
- Your website is home base, so make sure you’re updating the content and directing your audience exactly where you want them to go.
- Before spending money on advertisements, outline your goals and exactly how your advertisements are going to help you reach them.
- Regularly review the data within Google Analytics and Facebook Insights to see how your pages are performing.
- Google and Facebook both regularly update their analytics. So stay up to date on the trends and make changes as necessary.
Remember, you do not have to go into marketing alone! If you have any questions regarding search or social media marketing, contact us, we’re happy to help.
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