Every so often, online professionals discuss whether to aim for Social Media or SEO as their main means of generating traffic in regards to online marketing.
The general consensus seems to be that Social Media is the most effective method of generating traffic, and I tend to agree. However, it really does depend on what one is aiming for: quantity or quality.
I think it is safe to say that Social Media has proven its worth in regards to generating massive amounts of traffic to a site in no time. Anyone that has witnessed a tweet go viral, will have experienced this: Traffic in the hundreds of thousands appears out of nowhere.
So this should just be a matter of generating the correct tweets, making them go viral, right?
Well, it depends. Social Media does have an advantage, in that it is an excellent way of “getting your stuff out there”, however, the traffic generated tends to be purely quantitative.
If one is aiming at boosting the qualitative traffic, then it is essential to look into SEO. This simply due to the fact that SEO targets a different segment compared to Social Media.
The Social Media segment:
- Wants to be entertained
- Is curious, but not in the purchasing mode
- Is quick to leave once lack of interest is apparent
The SEO segment:
- Desires the product or content available
- Will be closer to taking action (i.e. purchasing a product)
- Will stick around longer since the interest is already there
It can be boiled down to the simple fact that with Social Media the message is pushed at any and all users, whereas with SEO, the user is “pulled” to the site (has to proactively search for content of interest).
So should one concentrate solely on SEO instead of Social Media then?
In my opinion, no. If one looks at the AIDA model, then both methods absolutely have their place. Social Media is excellent for creating attention and interest about a product, whereas SEO takes the cup when it comes to the desire and action points. Social Media and SEO should co-exist in any only strategy.
However, bear in mind that diving into Social Media without having a sound long-term strategy can be risky at best. More on this in a later subject.
Your thoughts?
Very interesting, thanks. You’re raising a valid point that I meet every day, people need to get it straight that both together work the best.
Kind regards