SMM vs SEO – What should you choose?

Once there was Organic SEO (search engine optimization). Programmers and site owners alike spend hours, months and years to raise their website index rank in Google, Yahoo, Bing and the likes, particularly “SERP” (search engine results page). As everyone knows, the higher the SERP you have (the target is to be on top 10 of SERP based on targetted keywords), the higher the possibility of sales.

The above SEO refers to organic method. The other SEO type is the SEM or Search Engine Marketing like Google Adwords (pay-per-click) wherein your ads are displayed on the sponsored area (either on top or on the right) of a SERP, bumping your site up and on top of the organic SERP. SEM is most effective for ecommerce sites on peak seasons, like Christmas.

With the success of social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, and others like YouTube, and Google+ among others, SMM (social media marketing) came to life.  The process is to create content (posts or tweets) on relevant social network page that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. The result is an electronic word of mouth (eWoM) that spreads from user to user and resonates. This form of marketing results in very high possibility of traffic towards your site that could easily be converted into sales. Well, sales conversion depends on the UI/UX effectiveness of your site, really, and that’s another story.

So, the question is, what you should choose, SEO or SMM? Our answer is both.

SMM helps you bring-in clients towards your site as early as the public launching of your website. SMM can give you immediate traffic. And that daily traffic (from SMM) can help induce positive effects on your long-term SE ranking. Hence, the success of your organic SEO can also be attributed to your SMM campaign. SMM complements organic SEO.

While organic SEO is very good for long-term SE ranking, SEM can also help in bringing in immediate traffic towards your site. However, the advantage of SMM, as compared to SEM, is that it focuses on the social networks – exactly where the people are. SEM focuses on search engine’s sponsored area.

Your company should have a good short-term and long-term plans for your SE ranking. For your short-term SE, SMM can definitely help you alot. SEM can bump up your site and increase your visibility. Organic SEO on the other hand is good for your long-term ranking.