Why You Can’t Ignore Search Marketing in Favour of Social Media

As companies become ever more reliant upon social media marketing as a means of fuelling engagement and connecting with their customers at source, it’s important that marketers don’t forget the enduring and crucial role of search engine marketing to driving both business growth and all-important profits. Here are a few reasons not to disregard the power of search:

What is Search Marketing?

Search marketing, or search engine marketing, can refer to a broad range of different methods and processes designed to help improve your company’s presence on search engines. Some refer to search marketing only as those paid means of scoring higher search rankings, such as PPC (pay per click) and paid search ads, but most marketers define search marketing as anything relating to SEO, whether paid or organic.

Why does Search Marketing Matter?

Think of the last time you typed a search query into a search engine. Millions of us use platforms like Google every single day to search for a whole host of different products and services, and we select webpages which seem most likely to answer our queries as a result of the search engine optimisation activities going on behind the scenes. Ranking well in search engines is crucial in order for companies to gain new interest, maintain existing customer bases and grow their companies.

How does Search Marketing compare to Social Media Marketing?

In recent years, social media marketing has been growing in popularity as a popular tool for companies of all sizes and across a broad range of industries.  This is understandable, given the wide audience available to marketers via social platforms. However, there are numerous ways in which search marketing continues to beat social media marketing, most notably:

A report conducted by Econsultancy discovered 61% of consumers rely on search engines to conduct product research prior to making a purchase.

Whilst search engine marketing can leave marketers flying blind in an effort to appeal to customers, the results of chosen keywords in search marketing leave no doubt as to what works, and what doesn’t.

That isn’t to suggest that social marketing isn’t without its benefits – as a tool for engaging with customers and responding to their needs in real time, it can be utterly invaluable. But when it comes to trying to boost profits and enhance your profile, search marketing is still king.