Social Media Beating Seo!

[adventurelife]

I think I have found a business where social media is out performing SEO. I do not say that lightly as I am a very strong supporter of SEO and have built all my businesses on the back of it but it is becoming less important each year.

I am just back from Mongolia after conducting the 2nd part of research before launching the business in the next month or so

The business is " 1000 mile Journeys " these are conducted on foot, bike, ski, or by paddle in challenging and stunning global environments.

There is virtually no search volume for such a niche business but social media with marketing cost apart from time produced 147 enquires willing to spend $6500 each plus flights and hotels etc for the 1000 mile Gobi Desert trek I have just returned from.

Of course such a niche niche business is very different from main stream where SEO will still be top dog but interesting all the same that SM can be used in this way don't you agree?

 

[Eagle]

My business has always outperformed SEO with social media.

 

[RadiusBPO]

Very interesting. Care to share some Social Media secrets??

 

[adventurelife]

Very interesting. Care to share some Social Media secrets??

Not got any I am afraid and I am convinced their are none. To me SM is just talking to people via various online channels. As always to many gurus selling BS in the sector when it really is very straight forward.

I do think the approach does have to be unique to each business and very very real

 

[jamesmarks]

For me social media & SEO both are important. As from my experience, SEO is hard-work and you have to weigh the amount of work involved and the amount of upside and compare it with another method of promoting the site.

It depends what is your target (Traffic or Rankings), if it’s just traffic than SMO would be the best practice as it would generate instant traffic. However SEO is a long term process and competition is increasing day by day on search engines. So you have to keep patience and do a smart work as per the latest algorithms by search engines. SEO process with get organic ranking which would be effective for along term business product or services marketing.

Every process completely depends on your goal; the clearer you are about your goals. More Specific way of marketing you can choose.

 

[Gedge]

I personally group social media and SEO together. Maybe is just me trying to move my boundaries but often when I begin an SEO project I will explain the benefit of social media and my client will ask me to 'sort it out'.

I feel that they are closely linked, for example, a client may have a FB/Twit etc account and I may decide to make an 'SEO Video', this video embed on FB, links to twit and embed in about 20 web 2.0's. At the end of the day the traffic pushed from FB/Twit is from social media how by embedding the video in article submissions I have gained considerable link juice to both money site and video hosting site.

Gedge

 

[zigojacko]

There are no hidden secrets with social media... It's not really anything new, it's all what we were doing before 'social' and 'network' formed in web space.

Any business prepared to learn about social media online, familiarise themselves with networks, apps and tools and built social media marketing and engagement into their daily routine will succeed.

Make it easier for your fans/customers to monitor and follow you on social media, allow your content to be easily shareable, create contests/competitions to encourage viral growth, utilise everything readily available to you - Use social media to talk with your customers, listen to their feedback, obtain their opinions. As soon as they see you listening, the relationship strengthens, they feel values, they recommend you to friends, your brand exposure develops.

It's basic principle, but often needs explaining in different ways for many businesses to understand fully.

 

[mlaing]

Both SEO and SM are great, and they're a match made in Heaven. Which is more effective will depend on the sector of business you're in. As the original thread said, in very niche marketing, SM is more effective, and SEO is pretty much done for you..

 

[jaytechmagnate]

hi
i think
seo, increase your page rank.
smo increase your site traffic.

 

[VinceSamios]

seo, increase your page rank.
smo increase your site traffic.

May I suggest you refrain from thinking ;-)

Its a very very rare case when social media outperforms seo/ppc - and it takes a very very passionate client base. 1000 mile trek sounds like a really interesting case study and I'd be keen to see a few more details.

 

[SEO Positive]

you are right with what you say VinceSamios.

Although social media is good, and on many cases a very storng way to build a massive amount of traffic to a site, in no way does social media today match up with the amount of business you can get from SEO or PPC.

However saying that, social media is growing fast, and moving quickly (google are a massive driver of this by bringing out +1 & google + socail platform).

now google have stepped up, other social media platforms are looking to push to the next level.

SEO & PPC watch out, SMO is right behind you. We see the importance of this, and ahve recently taken on another SMO to push our own and our clients social media optimisation.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Although social media is good, and on many cases a very storng way to build a massive amount of traffic to a site, in no way does social media today match up with the amount of business you can get from SEO or PPC.

It depends on the business.

Not every business is suited to search engine marketing.

Steve

 

[SEO Positive]

It depends on the business.

Not every business is suited to search engine marketing.

Steve

not sure i could name many businesses that would not benefit from search engine marketing, but would benefit more from social media????

 

[MASSEY]

If a business is not suited to search engine marketing then it must be a not for profit company, in that case yes social media is great for that

 

[directmarketingadvice]

If a business is not suited to search engine marketing then it must be a not for profit company

Isn't that like someone in 1994 saying, "If a business isn't suited to the Yellow Pages, it can't be a profitable business?".

After all, search engine marketing and the Yellow Pages are both media that are designed to advertise to someone that's already looking.

Steve

 

[ScottB]

Hands up who Googled "1000 mile journeys" after reading this?

It's an interesting business idea - is it a charity fundraising thing? I've seen a few do Kilimanjaro hikes or Lapland dog sled raises, etc. Can either raise £3500ish or pay £2500 of your own money and anything else raised goes to the charity. Might be worth hooking up with charities if you aren't already.

There's a load of more interest in extended adventure type holidays these days - nice market to be in! I'm working on my own plan for next year (did 4 months in Latin America last year - only doing the West Highland Way this year - bit of difference lol!).

Re: SM v SEO - apples n oranges really. If the market is new then SM will be more effective because it's more akin to traditional marketing / PR (which IMO would be even more effective for new concept launches ), but in the long term I do think SEO will still return more. In a few years if the 1000 miles concept is well established, a number 1 ranking for the term would be more profitable than a bunch of Facebook friends or Twitter followers IMO. Seed with SM / trad marketing, reap with SEO / PPC.

 

[SillyJokes]

Social media works with aspirational things like the dream of world travel at the edge, but I doubt if it works for athletes' foot powder and the like.

 

[adventurelife]

Thanks for interesting debate.

Just to be clear I am not saying SM out performs SEO for all businesses. I just happen to have an example of where it has for a very niche business one with no search volume.

@ Scott B no it is not targeted at charity fundraising although that is a sector my other businesses have involvement in. I tend to ensure the business if viable on straightforward commercial means first and then the charity stuff tends to find us rather than us going after it. ie I have over 500 people taking part in charity driven adventure over the next 2 months and I did not chase it.

As I launch 1000 Mile Journeys all the marketing effort will go into SM rather than SEO as it will be easy to rank anyway in such a niche business it will be interesting to see the results. I currently have no idea how many people there are out there who are willing to pit themselves against 1000 miles by foot , bike, ski or paddle in challenging environments but the live research is proving very very interesting

 

[adventurelife]

May I suggest you refrain from thinking ;-)

Its a very very rare case when social media outperforms seo/ppc - and it takes a very very passionate client base. 1000 mile trek sounds like a really interesting case study and I'd be keen to see a few more details.

I tend to agree, but the evidence is in a tiny niche such as this it has just done so. Just under $1m of potential revenue at the enquiry level with zero from websites. All from social networking sites. That was just for one 1000 mile expedition.

I suspect and hope it will stay a niche business as that is where I like to play but when I think of the size of global adventure seeking population I can also see the potential to take an awful lot more clients than I am intending to.

Although I am not brand driven I also see potential of the brand with several options already available.

 

[Jeff FV]

If a business is not suited to search engine marketing then it must be a not for profit company, in that case yes social media is great for that

not sure i could name many businesses that would not benefit from search engine marketing, but would benefit more from social media????

SEO is not that important to our business, but Social Media has been very helpful.

Our core business is supplying our products (quality cards, gift wrap, gifts etc) to High end, design led gift & card shops. Those shop owners do not find the products they sell by googling, so other than being at the top when someone searches us by brand we come top of the page, SEO brings us little.

However, using social media has created a real buzz, interacting with both the public and shop owners through facebook, twitter & our blog. Lots of our target shop owners move in the same social media circles and so engaging with them through this method has generated lots of business for us.

Whilst for many businesses SEO may be the best thing, as others have pointed out, for some things its just not appropriate.

Jeff

 

[jhardy2008]

no.. both are different from each other. SEO is totally depends of branding and back linkings of website and Social Media is depend on Networking

 

[mikegerrish]

it's really good information.