SMM and SEO promotion

Promoting your products and services on the Internet is quite troublesome, especially for a person who does not understand it. When seeking help from SEO and SMM specialists, the client often receives a list of numerous advantages of one or another option. But this does not allow him to make a choice in any way. What are the similarities and differences between SEO and SMM? How to choose the most optimal type of promotion so that the promotion is effective and the business makes a profit.

SEO: what is it and how to use it?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to a set of site optimization actions designed to increase the position of the resource in the ranking of various search engines. If the site gets to the first page of the search results, then this has a positive effect on the growth of its traffic. After all, more than 85% of people prefer to be content with only the results that they see first. And an increase in the number of visitors to the resource entails an increase in profits, brand awareness.

SEO also helps to increase the conversion of existing traffic. The complex of promotion works includes improving the design of the site, increasing its convenience for visitors, creating interesting content, etc. Improving each parameter by at least a small percentage allows you to promote the resource more efficiently.

SMM: What is it and how to use it?

SMM (Social Media Marketing) is used for promotion through social networks. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are the most popular, with users anywhere in the world. It is attracting the attention of visitors that is the main task of SMM. The target audience is attracted to the community in the right social network through fascinating content, collecting feedback, conducting various activities (games, contests, sweepstakes, voting, etc.), official and informal communication with community members, and targeted advertising is configured.

Social media marketing works with a cold audience, it almost does not stimulate direct sales. Therefore, advertising should not be too intrusive, so as not to scare off a hypothetical target audience that could become a consumer of a company’s service or product. It should attract a potential customer, give him information about the product. An important point is the possibility of using user experience (feedback, exchange of opinions in comments), and communication between community members.

Similarities and Differences between SEO and SMM

The main difference between SMM and SEO promotion is the object of promotion. With the help of SEO, websites are promoted, and SMM helps in promoting the brand on social networks.

The second difference is the main goal of promotion, SMM specialists strive to make the brand recognizable, increase user loyalty, and SEO specialists are aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of website traffic, increasing the necessary actions (subscription, registration, purchase, etc.).

Pumping speed

The speed of progress is one of the leading indicators, especially at the very beginning of the process. The existence of a nascent business often depends on the speed of achieving the first results of an advertising campaign.

SEO digital marketing is a slow process, since even with the full preparation of all processes, it takes time for the site to be checked and indexed by search engines. In combination with other factors (for example, the presence of external links, features of the behavior of the target audience). It is clear that it will not be possible to achieve high traffic figures in a couple of days. And too fast an increase in the reference mass can lead to the opposite effect and blocking in search engines.

At the same time, a competent SMM specialist can lead to the desired result in a few weeks. This is ensured due to the fact that social networks update information at a very fast pace. Accordingly, any information posted in the company’s community may appear before the eyes of a potential client within a few minutes after its publication.

The cost of promotion

Any advertising project is limited by budget possibilities. With a small budget, SMM is an ideal tool, the costs of which consist of creating and designing a company page (group), regularly filling it with content and launching advertising campaigns (paid posts, targeting). Often all this can be handled by one person or a small group (SMM manager, copywriter, targetologist).

For SEO, it is necessary to have a working website, the creation of which requires:

• hosting and domain name rental;
• programmer services;
• design services;
• copywriter services.

All this requires high expenses. In the future, additional costs may arise (purchase of external links, regular replenishment of content, site moderation). An SEO optimizer can work in the company’s staff (additional expenses in the salary fund) or be a freelancer (it is not a fact that such a specialist will delve into all the features of the business). Therefore, most often you have to do it yourself or can just sign a contract with a marketing agency.

Promotion support after launch

If in SEO the most labor-intensive part of the work falls at the time of the launch of the project (external and internal optimization of the site, correction of defects), then its maintenance requires much less time and money injections. In most cases, it remains only a few times a week to make adjustments, track ranking algorithms.

While in the case of SMM promotion, the situation is reversed. The time spent on maintaining the operability of the page (group) requires at least 2-3 hours of work daily (updating content, processing incoming requests, deleting useless information, maintaining activity).

Versatility

From the point of view of this parameter, SEO takes precedence, since regardless of the type of business area, you can create a website for it. While services and consumer goods are well promoted in social networks. Wholesale sales, specific services and products almost do not find their target audience in social networks. With SEO in this case, it is much easier, customers themselves will contact the company through search engines.

What to choose?

If we consider both methods, it becomes clear that a competent strategy should be multidirectional and include the maximum number of options for Internet channels for communication with the target audience.

The ever-growing popularity of social networks does not prevent search engines from taking a leading position in attracting targeted traffic to the desired resource. Search engines also include links to sources in social networks in their search results. Therefore, the most effective strategy is to combine different promotion tools.

In conditions of a limited budget, it makes sense to start promotion through SMM, and subsequently invest in SEO. After all, the main advantage of such promotion is working with a formed interest, since such traffic will be cheaper and more targeted. A well-established website is able to generate a high flow of visitors without large investments in social networks (for example, you can duplicate articles from the site in a social network).

SEO and SMM complement each other, site visitors move to a group, the format of which allows you to communicate, write, share content with friends. There is also a reverse process, when subscribers, after getting acquainted with the company on a social network, go to the site to place an order.

There is no clear answer to the question of which is better – SMM or SEO. It all depends on the situation. Mango-Marketing will help you figure out and find the right answer for your case. Apply for a comprehensive promotion or pumping of one concrete promotion tool!