Is SEO or Social Media a More Important Marketing Priority?

Clearly, this is the age of social media. Many believe that SEO is already a thing of the past, with its outmoded schemes and mechanisms for driving traffic to your website. In fact, many believe social media has an upper hand when it comes to being considered a marketing priority? Is this true?

Well, in our opinion, Search beats Social even to this day and will continue to do so in the times to come. Any business that seeks to invest its time and money into a handsome marketing strategy through an SEO agency for rapid and authentic growth must first look at strengthening its SEO game for more driven results. Wonder why? Let’s find out. 

Search Engines Generate More Traffic than Social Media Sites

More people are looking up businesses on search engines than they are on social media platforms. A cursory glance over the world’s most visited websites will tell you that Google is the most preferred, while Facebook – the top social media site on the list – is at number 7. 

Search engines are where people are looking for all kinds of answers – food, design, fashion, technology, travel, parenting, sports, news, and everything else under the sun. It is also the place they are looking to engage with businesses for “business”, such as contacting them, reading reviews about them, placing an order or booking an appointment, and so on. 

Social media platforms are certainly the place where the same people network and share and discuss, and these platforms have come to shape marketing initiatives heavily. However, if you could choose to invest only in one, the priority would have to be SEO. 

People will Always Turn to Search Engines for Purchasing

While social media has penetrated almost every walk of life today, it continues to be associated more with entertainment and networking than with business transactions. In fact, most social media users would make it a point to check out the business’ website on Google before making a purchase, in hopes to find a flourishing and authentic website, multiple buyer reviews, further details on the process, and so on.

Therefore, SEO has an advantage over social media here as well. Since people are more likely to use search engines when intending to purchase a product or service, heightening your SEO game  and choosing the right SEO company could land you in the top results and before the eye of the customer. More than 81% of buyers conduct an online search before making a purchase, and optimising your content, product listing or website for such a query could reap more benefits than promoting them on social media. 

Understanding Search Queries is More Helpful on Search Engines

The amount of data and resources available on search engine queries, results and performances, is way higher and way more fruitful than that on social media performance. You can really dwell into such details as what people are exactly searching for, which keyword you ranked the best for, what tricks in tweaking keywords worked in your favour, what your competitor is doing right or wrong, and so on.

For a sound marketing strategy, the more information you have, the merrier. It is possible to shape your content, strategy and marketing initiatives based on these insights, with a focus on performing better and better over time. Such detailed and resourceful data is missing from social media networking sites, which are more focused on select performance metrics. 

Social Media Content comes with a Short Expiry Date

Social media is all about the present – only the most trending and latest content can be expected to appear in the audience’s newsfeed, which is super dynamic and ever-changing. Compare this with Search Engine results, which stays more or less constant over long periods if your SEO game is strong. 

This is also the reason why investing in SEO marketing could turn out to be a smarter choice. Search engines will reward your page if your tactics and content are relevant and optimised. Social media results, however, are so dynamic that you cannot expect to rank high always, thus drifting away from the user’s eye. Also, social media results are all about trends, while search engine content is all about website performance. 

You can always Buy Your Way into Search Engine Results

While it is good to have ranked higher organically, search engines allow you to purchase sponsored links sections on Google’s SERP using Google AdWords. This feature allows you to place your website advertisement at the top of the search results pages whenever users search for a certain query. Thus, you are more likely to catch many, many more eyes by paying a little extra. 

While social media also allows you to promote your content – posts and stories – it cannot beat Google AdWords in terms of relevance, the extent of customisation and the hefty outcomes in terms of the number of clicks. Again, if you could pick only one between social media content promotion and Google AdWords, you know where your bet would be wiser. 

Is it Wise to Invest in SEO alone?

The answer would be no. Though the above points make it clear that SEO continues to be a wiser investment in marketing strategies, the reality is that no one should put all their eggs in one basket. The more diversified and trendier your marketing approach, the better results you can expect in terms of user response and website performance. 

However, if you are just starting out or do not have the resources to pitch in for both, you can always start with a sound SEO marketing strategy at your disposal. Social media following and recognition is great for any business, but it will fail to have an impact unless your website is optimised in terms of high-action keywords, localised impact, internal and external linking, and so on. 

Therefore, it would be a good idea to use SEO marketing as a stepping stone towards establishing your business’ potential, followed by digging deep into social media marketing for the best results.