A couple of months ago I had a meeting with a client who had done his Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) research – he knew what keywords were and that it was important to chose the right ones, he understood the value of links, anchor text, title tags etc.

Normally this is great because many of the clients that approach us have no idea of any of these things. This means you end-up spending just as much time (if not more) educating and explaining the SEO process and terminology as you do actually optimising the site.

But for this particular client, it simply confused the matter. See, after reviewing his goals and doing a little research into his industry (the outdoor adventure / travel industry), I felt he would gain greater success through Social Media Marketing (SMM) instead of conventional SEO.

What’s the difference between SEO and SMM?

Both SEO and SMM will drive traffic to your site (if done correctly) and both techniques are very popular forms of online marketing, but that’s about where the similarities end. The two methods are so different, it’s like comparing Gridiron / American Football to European Football / Soccer – sure they might share the name ‘football’ but really they are two totally different sports.

For instance, an SEO campaign would consist of keyword targeting, on-site optimising title tags, headings and link building. The ultimate goal of all this is to reach the top of Google’s search results as a means of pushing your products in front of as many people as possible, hoping they’ll make a purchase.

SMM on the other hand is more about connecting with people through posts and articles – instead of keywords you’re more focused on tags and categories, instead of on-site optimisation you find yourself working on killer headlines and pillar posts and the manual process of link building is replaced with linkbait.

The goal of an SMM campaign is to get your site noticed by the major social networks, connect with other bloggers and the Linkerati which will ultimately attract clients by forming relationships/friendships through conversations. The idea is that by openly communicating with people you build trust and rapport.

So back to my client… Why did I think SMM was better for him?

Brand-name products sell themselves – if you want a new TV you probably already have a fair idea which brands are good and which ones to avoid. If you want a new dress, you’ll often have a set style, colour and maybe even fabric in mind so you’ll know as soon as you see what you’re looking for.

Product-based websites are usually perfectly placed for traditional SEO because people have an idea of the product, brand, design, make or model they want and if you are at the top of their local search results (and you’re pricing is good) you’ve just secured a sale.

Service-based industries are different because most potential clients will want to know what makes your services better than the next guy. The best way to demonstrate this and make them feel comfortable with your business is through communication. This is where tools like blogs, forums and other social sites can really help, making them the perfect candidates for SMM.

Our suggested solution

As this client had never managed a blog before, we steered him in the direction of a few prominent blogs and a forum within his niche. Tasks were set for him to regularly follow the posts and threads and start commenting as soon as he was comfortable with it.

Once the client understood the importance of keeping a blog updated regularly, we helped him setup a blog of his own. Since he was already commenting and engaging with other bloggers, it didn’t take much work to attract a few regular readers – and those readers increased after we helped the client submit two guest posts on other industry specific blogs.

While the client was blogging, commenting and guest posting, we submitted some of his articles to a few niche social media sites which helped the guys traffic increase even further. Our next step will be to teach him about linkbait

The most important thing to remember with social media

Social media is about connecting with others, creating online conversations, building relationships and networking. If you take this approach, you will see the benefits such as links and traffic (all of which can convert into sales and improved organic search rankings).

But if you start a campaign purely with the intention of links and traffic and you have no interest in connecting with others, then you should stick with a pure SEO campaign because social media will only work if you are SOCIAL!

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