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Is Social Media more effective than traditional SEO?
April 6th, 2009 | by alans |This question seems to popping up a lot recently and it’s something that was referred to indirectly at last weeks Search Marketing World conference in Dublin.
The basic premise for an Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign is that if you optimise your website, you’ll get more traffic – eventually. The quality of that traffic will depend on the quality of the keywords you optimised your website for – were they the right keywords? Were they the keywords that your target customers use? The quality of the keywords used will really be a reflection on the effort put into keyword research and PPC testing to find the keywords with the best conversion stats.
SEO is not an exact science, but a lot of the ground work required to optimise a website is very similar, regardless of the website involved. After the keywords are agreed on, the content is optimised with the keywords, the website’s architecture and structure are reviewed and improved as necessary and a link building campaign is started. Over time, as more optimised content is added and more links are built up, the traffic starts to arrive. You then get into the analytics analysis and conversion analysis.
You can outsource most of the tasks required in SEO quite easily and the SEO professional only needs a basic understanding of your business to optimise your website -for the most part – there are exceptions.
So, what’s the difference between this approach to attracting more traffic and a Social Media campaign? What is a social media campaign? How do you define the steps? Where do you start? Again, a question similar to this was posed at the conference last week (it was more along the lines of reputation management, but it still fits the context here) – the answer that was given was that the first thing you need to start doing is — you need to start listening. Listening?
Let’s say you pick the same keywords from the SEO campaign, take them and put them into Google Alerts. Start listening to what people are saying about your business, your products/services/industry. Learn not only what people are saying, but also where the comments are coming from, are they coming from a particular sector, country, blogger, website? Then look at the tone – are they generally positive comments, negative comments – neutral?
Once you know what’s being said and who’s saying it, start to pick a few of the better know social websites, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, set up a profile and start talking. Some social websites suit a particulart target audience, e.g. LinkedIn would be seen as more of a professional networking social website, whereas Bebo is used more by a teenage audience.
Start writing about what you know about, whether you’re writing for yourself or your company – start writing and engaging with fellow social media writers. What can you write about? Anything and everything. You soon start to build a following and soon you begin to see patterns in where posts and comments are coming from, who’s posting a lot, what’s being said.
Nearly as a by product of all this communication, you’ll start to notice that traffic is appearing on your website that is being driven by social media. Traffic arrives either by people checking out your profile or by backlinks from you to your website.
Social media should not be confused though with just another sales channel – it’s more organic SEO than PPC – if the only thing you’re trying to do is sell using social media – well, maybe you should stick to the PPC or more traditional marketing techniques.
Social media is not a perfect science either and generally speaking, people who are great at social media are not great at SEO. SEO is a more technical discipline, more behind the scenes. Social media is all about communication and meeting new people and learning more about them. In this sense, it’s much harder to outsource a social media campaign. Again, as with everything there are exceptions – some of the SEO showbiz types naturally lend themselves to social media – but not all.
If I was drawing up a job spec for an SEO specialist and a Social Media specialist they would be very different profiles.
So, back to the original question – Is a Social Media campaign more effective than an SEO campaign? I’d say no, neither is better than the other – in this case the sum of the parts equals the whole, one without the other is leaving you exposed somewhere.
What about you? Have you tried one without the other? What social media websites are you getting the best results from? Do you just stick to SEO on your website?
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24 Responses to “Is Social Media more effective than traditional SEO?”
By johnmilton on Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Hi..
Nicely differentiated between social media and traditional SEO.I Cant say whether which is more effective among the two,but both are used to increase traffic to a site which indirectly improves business, so i believe if one wants to generate more traffic then both social media and traditional SEO should work in hand.
Thanks..
John..
By Henry on Apr 8, 2009 | Reply
I could not also say that the other is better than the other. Each techniques has its own way of driving traffics and it would be great if you can do both for your campaign. That might be time consuming but you’ll be sure of the results.
By Ruth on Apr 8, 2009 | Reply
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
http://besttoddler.com
By Online Marketing Consultant on Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
This is a great question. To me social media is now part of the optimization process. The more diverse the marketing the greater the long term stability in the big G.
By alans on Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
@john @henry
Do your clients have much insight when it comes to their budget? Do they know the difference between SEO and Social Media? Or do they just leave it all up to you?
By alans on Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
@ Ruth – thanks for reading and commenting…
By Helena on Apr 19, 2009 | Reply
A useful note on SEO and Social Media – both are necessary for all business owners these days. I was recently at a talk by Brad Sugars, Australian entrepreneur with an international business coaching business owners, and he was emphasising with real life stories the benefits of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to business owners.
By Techno Blog on Apr 22, 2009 | Reply
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more articles from you in the future.
- Jack
By Smoke Free Strategies on May 8, 2009 | Reply
I actually tend to stick with the traditional SEO. I base my websites on a keyword and optimize it with those keywords. I have tested Social networking sites with a different blog and I found it didn’t work too well with me.
By ZK@Web Marketing Blog on May 30, 2009 | Reply
In case you didn’t know this, results on Google’s search page break out this way. The listings on the left hand side of the page are there because of proper keyword usage and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Results on the right hand side are listed there because they are paying Google for every “click” on their ad.
By Music Information on May 30, 2009 | Reply
Over the next couple of weeks we’ll discuss the other two tips and how they relate to successfully selling your products and/or services online.
By Lyndon on Jun 13, 2009 | Reply
Great post! I believe that Social media presence is a complimentary platform in a SEO strategy.
By Jim on Aug 20, 2009 | Reply
Excellent post. Every business need is different; but, social media sure helps when someone googles your name prior to an apt. That alone should motivate every small business owner and/or sales and marketing person to check it out!
By Article Marketing Techniques on Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
Great blog just keep up the good work. Social Media is good for building your reputation online.
By Cathy Poturny on Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
Very thought provoking post. Personally & professionally, I find myself preaching both methods equally to my clients. I remember when there was a compromise between the traditional media’s using print & direct mail… In this new electronic age, its all about the experience and the search results. One (social media) can be very intimate and personal, the other SEO is strictly business but together they accomplish the same goal… driving traffic somewhere!
By Mike Johansson on Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
Nice job differentiating here. The one thing I might suggest is that Social Media Marketing also helps in getting more people to sign up for your email notifications. Because people have started to know you and trust you in Social Media they may be more apt to give you an email address. This organic growth in your in-house email list will be invaluable as the combination – in my opinion – of Social Media Marketing and a strong in-house email marketing campaign will be unstoppable.
By Debbie on Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
Very interesting post. I am testing out Social Media at the moment. Still difficult to tell if it will be more effective or as effective as SEO, but willing to give it a try.
By plumber sydney on Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
Great Article. Now when seeking links, it is necessary to get that link to include your address and phone number. Also, if the address or phone number ever changes, it is vital to change it as best you can on all these sites, or the inconsistencies on all these sites might hurt your position in maps.
By Raul Quiroga on Feb 18, 2010 | Reply
Social Media and SEO are two of the most important factors of building a presence on the web. Building relationships and creating a buzz for your business play vital roles in today’s web marketing. As a marketer, you will need to initiate a bond with the people whom you want to do business with.
By Peter Cullen on Feb 23, 2010 | Reply
@Raul, thanks for dropping by, agree that marketing today needs to involve both SEO and Social Media.