SEO versus Social Media

When it comes to establishing visibility or increasing footfalls to a website, marketing teams deliberate whether to spend money on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or on Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Fact is that SEO and Social Media are both different, have different targets and deliver results differently. When done correctly, both result in increased visibility to the website, product(s) or service(s) that are being targeted.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process that results in increased visibility to the website through search engine results. Technically, this is a ‘spider approach’ i.e. it requires a prospective customer to search for a particular product or service that is being sold by the target website. When a prospective customer searches for a particular product or service that is being sold by the target website, good SEO will result in the link to the target website being displayed as near to the top of the search results as possible.

Every link in the search engine results has a description as to the goods or services being provided. Whether or not the prospective customer clicks on the link will depend on how closely the description matches his or her needs.

The SEO Services Orlando strategy works differently and is often called the "Cheese" approach. Social media websites rely on user profiles and tracked user responses to gauge user interest. For example, if a user’s comments and posts contain the word "Camera" it would be deduced that the user has interest in cameras. Similarly, a person who has previously clicked several times on advertisements related to clothes, it would deduce that the person might be interested in buying clothes. Obviously in the first case the social media website will to that user advertisements that sell cameras and in the second case, the user will be displayed advertisements that sell clothes. This is as close to highly targeted advertisement as you can get.

Social Media advertisements usually contain a small picture with an attractive offer related to that picture. So in the example above, a latest model camera might be displayed with an attractive discount or with some FREE accessories such as lenses or memory cards thrown in. For this reason it is referred to the "Cheese" approach i.e. the marketing team offers something that would attract the customers. Remember, that user’s are seeing your advertisement because their posts, comments or previously clicks indicate an interest in that product or service. That being the case, 25% of sales effort is already done. The next 25% is how to create an offer attractive enough to induce the user to click on the advert. The balance 50% is at the target website. The website itself needs to be able to ‘hard sell’ product(s) or service(s) to the customer that has arrived via the social media.

Finally, the biggest difference between the Search Engine Optimization Orlando and Social Media is that the former is a process whereas the later is a targeted advertisement. Both bring customers to the target website but using different strategies. SEO is a must because it is a long-term solution. An advertisement in social media will only deliver as long as the advert is running.

Christopher Visser is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in small business strategies, eBooks, online community outreach and affiliate marketing. With a Bachelors Degree in Business Management.