Before getting into it, its important to first understand your marketing goal...
- Are you looking to achieve a specific goal or is this a branding exercise?
- Do you offer a business to business service, or could anyone use your service?
- Do you have the time to spend managing social accounts or are you prepared to pay someone else to do this for you?
- Do you have a marketing budget? Let's face it, everyone starts somewhere...
Realistically, I could go on forever, but it really doesn't have to be difficult.
The main difference with social and search;
When someone does a google search for a product or service, they're actively seeking out what it is you offer now. If you sell products or services, this is by far the most efficient way to bring new customers into your funnel and convert them into paying customers.
Search marketing done properly relies heavily on actual data so while there are no guarantees with any legitimate marketing campaign, at least you know before you start what you should expect.
Social media on the other hand is a little different. This can be a great place to build awareness, interact with potential customers and sell products, however, people on social sites aren't there because they're looking for your products or services. They're often just there to kill time... you may get an ad/post in front of the right audience here and there, but ultimately, that funny cat video will end up with all the clicks unless you're sharing something of significant value.
This doesn't mean you can't generate a tonne of business through sites like facebook, it just means search marketing is a more direct way to get customers right now.
We created a quick tool that helps determine what is right for you...
Typically it only takes a few minutes to determine whether or not you should focus on Search Marketing or Social Media, so we created this nifty tool that helps point you in the right direction. Click here access now...
