To get the best results online, it is now essential that companies fully integrate their search and social media campaigns, says Donal Langan
Consumer behaviour online already makes a very strong case for companies to integrate these key online marketing channels. Indeed, people today are increasingly using a combination of search and social when making decisions online. And as a result, companies need to understand how their audience interacts with the two channels if they are to successfully target them online.
What’s more, through social media companies can gain unrivalled insight into who their target audience really is, which is like gold dust when it comes to setting up effective search campaigns.
Key trends we have seen this year such as the rise of smartphones and of course the launch of Google+ have only served to cement this need.
People use Search and Social to make their online decisions
Research earlier this year by ComScore showed that some 86% of online consumers use search as part of their purchase process, with nearly half using a combination of search and social media to inform their decision(s). Meanwhile, just 24% use a company website as part of their online purchase process.
You can easily imagine people using search for initial research and social media (reviews, blogs, forums, etc) to validate that decision, all before the actual purchase. It is therefore no longer enough just to have your products and site visible in the search results for relevant keywords and phrases. You also need to ensure a strong presence on the related blogs, forums, and especially, review sites (with positive comments), if you are to really engage with your target market.
Word of mouth drives search traffic
But where social media really connects with search marketing is in brand awareness. If people ‘hear’ about your brand on Twitter, Facebook or blogs, they will naturally want to search for it to check out what the buzz is all about. This means it is now essential for you to know what the buzz is about your company, so that you can accurately optimise your website for the search terms these interested people are likely to use to find you.
What’s more, social media is really the only legitimate way to rapidly increase the number of inbound links to your site, generating traffic but also boosting your SEO and Google rankings. For example, if someone includes a link to your site on their Facebook page this then appears on all their friends’ walls and could the be reposted or tweeted so creating a flood of legitimate inbound links directed at your site. Social media should therefore be at the centre of any link-building element of a search campaign.
The exponential rise of the smartphone has also played a key role in driving people’sfluid use of search and social. And this, combined with the improvements in mobile search and people’s propensity to download social media apps – 250 million people globally have downloaded the Facebook app for example – means this online behviour is only set to become even more commonplace.
Get to know your audience
Beyond people using a combination of search and social to find what they want online, one of the most useful aspectsof social is just how well it allows you to get to know your audience.
Any marketer knows that the more you can find out about your potential audience the easier it is to connect with them.Sites such as Facebook and Twitter give you great insight into the people who are engaging with your brand – not just their gender and age, but also their interests, their likes and dislikes, their location and more. And this is invaluable insight when it comes to search marketing.
By using a social marketing strategy along with your search marketing strategy you will be able to create much more targeted and relevant content based on the information you know to be true about your audience – rather than what you assume to be true. This will encourage better targeted traffic to your website who as a result will be more likely to convert.
Ultimately, search and social should be viewed as the perfect way to create those ideal two-way conversations with your most engaged audience, where the end destination is your website.
Is Google+ a game-changer?
But a discussion about integrating search and social would not be complete without a closer look at the launch of Google+.
The introduction of Google+ means that the world’s most powerful search company now has a potentially winning social platform and, if it is successful, companies will have no choice but to integrate their search and social if they’re to survive.
Once Google+ goes beyond its beta stage and reaches critical mass, there is little doubt that the number of times your site has been Google+-ed will start to affect your Google search page rankings, so on a very basic level, your site needs a Google+ tab.
Beyond this, Google+ will undoubtedly be built into Google’s Adwords platform, which still generates over 90% of its revenue, so taking behavioural targeting one step further. This will allow any advertiser to follow consumers through Google’s ‘search’, ‘display network’ and then onto ‘social’ when they visit Google+. Without integrating the social element, advertisers will miss out on a vital part of the consumer journey.
Any online marketing strategy needs to know about their target market, what that market is saying about them and what it wants from them; combining search and social can achieve this goal. Google has made it very clear that integrating search and social is where they want to head, so can companies really afford not to follow suit?
Donal Langan, Senior Consultant, Stream:20
www.stream20.com/