SEO VS. SMM – Which Technique Should You Adopt For Your New Business

Search engine optimization (SEO) was once as easy as stuffing keywords everywhere on a specific webpage. And surprisingly, you’d rank. Before social media marketing (SMM) was discovered, SEO was probably the only digital marketing technique to generate traffic and leads. However, as SMM came into limelight, B2C and B2B marketers found a new and better way of connecting with their audience. Unlike SEO, SMM can be used by an organization merely to develop strong relationships with their target audience.

Nowadays, SMM and SEO both are known as digital marketing techniques. As an expert digital marketer who has experience working for a worldwide B2B marketplace, I’d like you to have a closer look at each of them to find out which strategy new businesses should invest in.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is basically the process of making your web pages accessible to read and crawl for SERPs. In addition, it also makes it easier for your target audience to find you through these search engines. Over the years, this strategy has evolved from keyword stuffing to a much more complex system which involves both off-page and on-page techniques.

Off-page refers to everything you do to boost your rank with an external approach. That means it doesn’t affect anything on your website. Over the years, people believe that simple link building is the only thing you are supposed to do. However, there is a lot more to it. On-page is everything you do that happens directly on your website. For example, your meta title, meta description, and the right keyword density are crucial elements here.

Social Media

Social media marketing (SMM) is an off-page technique that is quite effective these days. Due to the rise in social media users, you have the opportunity of targeting vast segments of the international population. By sharing content and engaging your followers, you can generate immense traffic.

Backlinks

Backlinks are an excellent ranking factor that Google considers. Every time you get a link to your website from another site, that’s a backlink. You can generate such links in various ways. From requesting other websites for link exchanges to publishing guest posts with such links, you can try it all.

Review Websites

If you really want your new business to prosper in an early age, then reviews will play a crucial role in it. Due to high competition, consumers have started getting confused with all the marketing tricks being used. Therefore, a generic review is what they look for first. Make sure that your store’s reviews are posted on Google reviews and other similar networks. These reviews can help you become recognized instantly.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

SMM refers to how you promote and advertise your business through social platforms. With a business page on some of the top platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you can boost your social presence and generate many followers. As astonishing as it sounds, the management of various networks at the same time can be tricky. Therefore, we advise that you stick to the basic ones while going through the initial stage of your business.

It is estimated that in 2019, over 2.77 billion people will use at least one social platform. That’s around one-third of the global population. That clearly signifies that if you wish to generate traffic and gain an online presence, you can ignore SMM.

SEO vs SMM: The Verdict

Having considered both strategies, I’m pretty sure that you are aware of the importance each will play in helping you grow your business. Therefore, according to my experience, I can emphatically state that one without the other is pointless. As you notice that I listed SMM as a part of SEO, which means, that if your goal of using SEO is lead and traffic generation, then SMM can’t be ignored. Similarity, while using SMM, without adequate keyword research, you’ll never know which topic or phrase to focus on while promoting your content.

Therefore, as a new business, you should opt for a diversified marketing approach. This campaign should involve both SEO and SMM. By lining both these B2C and B2B digital marketing technique, I’m pretty sure you’ll experience growth and more lead generation which will help your new business climb towards success.

Author Bio

Beatrice McGraw is a digital marketing expert who works for ExportHub – An Online B2B Marketplace specialized in connecting Chinese suppliers. She just loves to share her knowledge with the world in the form of blogs, videos and various other types of content. In her free time, she is an active gamer and a TouchWiz who adores researching innovative solutions that emerge in the digital world.