Grow your business with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), and Social Media Marketing (SMM), they say. The question then arises, “Why diversify your digital marketing efforts and why these three in particular?” Continue reading and you shall find the relationship between them and how they complement one another.
Relationship between SEO, SEM, and SMM
Backlinks received from social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) are NoFollow. NoFollow links do not influence the search engine ranking of the destination URL. Neither does social media engagement (likes, comments, shares, follows, etc.). While SMM does not directly impact SEO, it reaches more target audiences and increases brand awareness. And that potentially earns you some backlinks. Now, pages with more backlinks tend to rank higher in search results – this is how SMM relates to SEO.
Advertising is about reaching the right people at the right time. SMM specialists target ad delivery with audience selection tools. Then, with Audience Insights, they find out the demographics, interests, and behaviors of the audience that did engage with their content. It is these data that they leverage to maximize the Return on Investment (ROI) of their SEM campaign.
How SEO, SEM, and SMM complement one another
“Do not put all your eggs in one basket.” – it is smart to invest in both search and social so that you do not lose traffic entirely when one source starts to fail. That said, fear should not be the sole motivating factor in diversifying your digital marketing efforts. SEO, SEM, and SMM do complement one another in many ways.
Both SEM and SEO drive traffic, and ultimately new leads and conversion to your business. But trust me, you don’t want to stop there. Companies are now recognizing the pressing need to build closer relationships with their customers, for Customer Engagement (CE) elevates brand experience and increases customer loyalty. And what better way to boost CE than by SMM? SMM gives businesses the unique opportunity to interact with customers, cultivating close and long-term relationships. You see, SEM and SEO invite people to your door, and SMM prompts them to stay a little longer.
Both SMM and SEO connect you to a wider target audience but they take time. From defining brand voice to executing content plan, an SMM campaign requires much commitment and effort. The same applies to SEO. You optimize your website in every way possible to enhance its Search Engine Friendliness. With hard work comes great rewards – they both bring sustainable traffic. SEM, on the other hand, gives an instant boost of traffic. So, it is smart to do SEM as you slowly build your presence on social media platforms and work your way towards the top of organic search results.
With the right SEM bid and bidding strategy, your business enjoys free exposure on search engines and you only have to pay every time someone clicks on the ad and visits the landing page. You also have control over your Google Ads budget and the average amount of money you want to spend each day. That said, the effectiveness of an SEM campaign is going to be limited by the marketing budget. Let’s say the CPC of a keyword is $30. If you have a monthly SEM budget of $1000, you’ll only be able to get 33 clicks before your budget is depleted. SEO, on the other hand, charges you $0 no matter how many clicks you receive. Target low CPC keywords in your SEM campaign and high CPC ones in your SEO campaign (given that their “search volume”, “clicks”, “traffic potential”, and “keyword difficulty” metrics also look good) – now you get the best of both worlds.
Final Thoughts
SEO, SEM, and SMM complement one another perfectly. As an award-winning digital marketing agency that has won 120+ awards and launched 95K+ campaigns over the years, New iMedia is here to help you monopolize search results while dominating the social media landscape. Contact us for a free consultation and kick-start your digital marketing campaign now!