Pavel Shulga
Content:
- What is SEO and SMM
- SEO and SMM: what's the difference and what's best for starting a campaign
- Summing up
What is SEO and SMM
Having decided to promote our own business on the Internet, we inevitably become puzzled with the question: what is better - SEO or SMM. Seeking help from specialists, each of whom is engaged in a specific type of promotion, we get an impressive list of its advantages, but not the answer to the main question. We suggest that you understand what is best to choose at the start and which way of promotion is the most effective and profitable.
Before comparing the effectiveness of methods and choosing the best, it would be nice to clearly understand what SEO and SMM promotion are. Of course, most likely, regular visitors to our site are well aware of what we are talking about. But still remind, just to understand that we are talking about the same thing.
SEO promotion implies measures aimed at growth of positions in search engine output. In other words, SEO is a set of actions for external and internal optimization of the site, the nature and quality of which affects the ranking of sites by search engines.
SMM - marketing system and social networking.
Thus, in both cases, we are dealing with promotion. The main thing that SM differs from SEO is the object to which it is directed. SEO specialists promote sites on search engines, and SMM specialists promote pages and communities on social networks. The difference between SEO and SMM is also determined by the target. So, promotion in search engines is aimed at attracting visitors and increasing the number of targeted actions (purchase, subscription, etc.). SMM helps increase brand awareness and forms a loyal attitude on the part of subscribers.
Having understood the concepts, we go directly to the comparison of ways to advance on the Internet and choose a development strategy.
SEO and SMM: what's the difference and what's best for starting a campaign
It’s actually hard to compare the incomparable. Ideally, only competent integrated promotion of the brand, products or company both in search engines and on social networks helps to achieve the best results. In addition, we know how serious social networks influence SEO promotion and the growth of positions in search engine output. But our task today is to determine which strategy should be chosen at the start of activity, when a shortage of finance, time and personnel is commonplace.
- The differences between SEO and SMM in the speed of "rolling"
One of the most important indicators for starting an activity. How quickly the desired result is achieved often depends on whether the project will exist or curl up due to a long wait for profit.
SEO-movement - the process is rather sparse. Even if on the first day it is possible to implement all possible measures for promotion (which in itself seems utopian), for verification and search engine indexing may take several days or even weeks. In addition, the growth of the site’s position is affected not only by internal optimization and content quality, but also by a number of other indicators, for example: external links and behavioral factors. Obviously, in one day traffic is unlikely to achieve high rates, and a quick build-up of the reference mass can lead to negative consequences.
SMM-admission with competent specialist actions allows achieve what you want in a couple of weeks. Firstly, on social networks every second a large number of users get acquainted with the information, who are more open and prepared for the appearance of different offers in the tape, and they don’t even need to look for something for this. Secondly, the created post appears on the wall immediately after clicking on the “Publish” button, which means that after a second many users can see it, some of which will certainly be interested in your offer.
- Difference in financial costs for SEO and SM
Another problem that is especially acute for a novice businessman is that maximum opportunities are needed at minimal cost. If the budget is very limited, it is better to choose an SMM extension at first. As can be seen from our article on creating a business page on Facebook, does it quite simply and quickly. To start, just create an account, prepare an interesting offer, some useful posts and start publishing them on your own page or in thematic communities. In SMM, financial investments will be required to prepare content, place paid posts, targeting and targetologist services.
To do SEO promotion first you need to create a site: pay domain, hosting, services of a programmer, designer, copywriter, etc. This, of course, requires financial investments, but after that they will pay off in full.
You can also hire seo specialist on freelance or company, but his services are very expensive, and not always a freelance employee can completely immerse himself in your subject. Therefore, we recommend that you undergo training on SEO promotion in order to either independently implement the acquired knowledge on your website or to control the work of the contractor.
In addition, additional costs may be required, for example, the purchase of external links.
- How time differs on SEO and SMM promotion after launching a project
By creating and bringing to mind a site or page on social networks, it is necessary to at least support the result achieved, and ideally, to develop a well-developed channel for reaching the target audience. And here, relative to the time factor, SMM and SEO are swapped.
So that subscribers on social networks do not get bored and ensure a constant influx of new users and activity, to the page owner you need to regularly devote a lot of time to publish interesting articles, organize games, hold actions, etc. If users do not receive quick feedback, they will no longer contact you. On average, 2 - 3 hours daily are required to maintain the healthy life of a twisted group on a social network.
Once you have done a full-fledged work on SEO site optimization, you only a few hours a week will be required, to check whether everything works as it should, analyze the results of using marketing tools, make adjustments and take additional actions to maintain and develop the effect. The services of a designer and programmer will be rarely required, from time to time, so at this stage you can agree on payment for the work actually performed. But there will be a regular need for the services of a copywriter and content manager. In any case, the trouble with a spun site is usually much less than with a business page or group on social networks, the promotion of which requires maximum presence.
- Universality
What SEO is definitely better than SMM is its almost absolute universality. Whatever business you do and whatever product you promote to the masses, you can always create a website for it, which means that choosing a SEO-propulsion will be relevant for development.
In social networks, not all goods and services can be effectively promoted. This limitation is due to the fact that social media were originally created for communication between people united by common ideas, interests, place of residence and other factors due to which they find common ground. Socialists are primarily suitable for communication and entertainment. However you can supplement your business site with a page, on which useful and interesting content will be published, popularizing not the business itself, but the brand or a specific person in the company.
Summing up
In fact, choosing a strategy for promoting the Internet at the dawn of the foundation of the business is based on what goals and for how long you want to achieve. It is also important to take into account the nature of the product and the characteristics of the market in which the company operates.
I want to emphasize once again that best results can be achieved by combining SEO and SM. They complement each other perfectly, bringing site visitors to a group where you can subscribe, leave comments and share information with friends, as well as sending subscribers after studying a useful post to the site page for placing an order.
And what did you choose to start your business - SEO or SMM - and how satisfied are you with the result?
