One out of every five Facebook users has purchased a product after seeing an ad on Facebook or by reading a friend’s comment about it. Almost 40% of people with smartphones use their devices to compare prices while shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. And even though over $6.3 billion was spent on advertising in 2011, over 75% of searchers still favor organic search results over paid listings.
Individually, any one of those facts is impressive. Taken as a whole, they point to the use of social media and new SEO techniques as a massive online marketing trend that will define the way we do business now and in the future.
Companies have products and services that they hope to get in front of people who will buy them. The most efficient way to do that is to find the people who are most likely to need those products and services. In effect, these companies are trying to say, “You seem like someone who’d be interested in Product A. Here’s more information on it.” Since social media is a way for people with similar interests and ideas to connect, social media marketing can be an invaluable tool, since a satisfied customer is likely to share their experience with their friends, making each marketing dollar go even further.
As far as a search engine is concerned, social media links are not as important as they used to be. Recent updates to the Google algorithm has labeled many of these links as “no follow” links, affording them little-to-no consideration when ranking a page for search results. But the intrinsic marketing value of social media goes beyond search results. If the purpose of using SEO techniques is to drive traffic to your site, then social media fits the bill nicely, whether or not the search engine deems it “relevant” enough.
Social media consultants know how to use social media tips and tricks to create a buzz about a particular company or product, enabling them to meet customers halfway. Another of the basic SEO techniques, pay-per-click advertising, has a lower cost-per-conversion rate than television, radio, and print media precisely because it finds consumers who are further along in their purchasing journey. Pay-per-click and social media can combine to not just drive traffic to your site, but to drive traffic that is already interested in buying. And that can do great things for your bottom line. Read more like this.
