SEM, SEO and SMM - What are these?

Billboards, TVs, magazines - those are some of the mediums through which companies and businesses advertise. Well, there are pros and cons to them and we're not discussing those here but in the age that we live in, giving a serious thought to using digital advertising media is absolutely essential. With digital marketing, one can have greater level of control on advertising strategy, advertising duration, customer retention and other metrics that otherwise is not really possible while utilizing former means of advertising such as billboards or magazines as stated earlier.

However, everybody is not well versed with digital advertising and this article will give you a brief glimpse to what it is. At WP Adventure - a social media marketing company in Mumbai, we not only help businesses with websites but also provide them with carefully crafted digital marketing campaigns that does wonder to their business.

One need not be repelled by a lot of jargon that gets thrown around when speaking about digital marketing. You've probably heard of SEM, SEO or SMM and we'll stick to these terms and explain a little about each of them.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing): When you don't know the answer to something, you most likely will land up on the search engine and do a quick search. We've all done this and are aware of what a typical search engine page looks like. Speaking about search engines, we'll just stick with Google for now and use that as an example. When you visit Google and search, you'd mostly find a number of ads that show up on top and bottom of the search page with some other listings in between these two spots.

The ads spot is where search engine marketing happens. It is the place where people pay money to appear on the search results page, for queries that a person asks. It is also called as PPC advertising because as soon as a someone clicks on your ad, you will have to pay a certain amount to Google. It is a very effective (but can get costly!) form of advertising.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): In between the paid listings on Google search results page, lie other organic listings that Google shows up by reading the website and the content and then ranking it on the page accordingly. For companies who show up organically, it is free traffic as they don't have to pay a dime to Google when someone clicks on those links. This is all done via SEO. It is a technique that businesses employ to gain higher ranks on the search engine page and it involves a lot of efforts and patience.

SMM (Social Media Marketing): Ah, social media! The platforms that we cannot live without! Whether it be Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram, we have been hooked on to them and how!

These social media platforms are not only great at connecting you with your high school friends but also provide an amazing opportunity for companies and businesses to showcase their products/services to consumers who may be interested in them. It does involve a lot of steps to narrow down to the specific interests and likings, but it is a great way to reach out to potential customers.

This may look and sound very intimidating at first, but with time and practice you will be able to overcome your fear of these terms and start utilizing them on a regular basis.

My name is Kyle and I'm a content writer working for a website development company in Mumbai. I love my work and love the work that the company does!