SEM, SEO, SMM, SMO… what? In this article, we’ll examine and ultimately make sense of the four major digital marketing terms; and their influence on the economics of the growing industry.
SEM: What is Search Engine Marketing?
Search engine marketing (SEM) is an expansive term that describes two forms of marketing: pay-per-click (PPC) and organic SEO.
PPC in its most simple form: It is the user who is responsible for how they see the ads in search engine PPC. The user will eventually find the ad through their search queries.
To find an answer to their question, a user will enter specific keywords into Google. The first link they see will be an ad that is paid for by a company in the hope that it will bring potential customers to their website.
Google AdWords
Google AdWords is the most popular, common ,and widely used form of PPC paid search. An effective pay-per-click strategy should involve the utilization of Google AdWords – Google’s paid click the program that will direct traffic to a paying business’s website.
What is Google AdWords? Google AdWords or Google Ads appear in Google’s SERPs after a relevant search query. It happens in the following way:
- Advertisers bid on keywords
- Google searches the bidding pool
- CPC ad bid and quality score is taken into account
- The winners are selected for the ad space
SEO: What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization describes the process a website owner will take to improve their website’s ranking in Google’s search engine results page (SERP).
A higher page ranking will drive more traffic to your website – as case studies have shown results on the first page of Google receive almost 95% of clicks. Organic SEO is worth more to a company’s website than a pay-per-click advertisement – as it will directly contribute to page ranking and be free of charge.
To improve your SEO: Implement the following :
- Conduct Analysis of Website, Niche, and Competitors
- Keyword Research
- Extensive Structuring of the Site
- On-page SEO Optimization
- Setting up internal site linking
- Optimize the crawling budget
- Improving the website usability
- Utilize Off-Page SEO
- Increase Your Conversion Rates
SMM: What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing involves two forms of online marketing: social media optimization (SMO) and pay-per-click advertisings (PPC).
Social media pay per click advertising (PPC) is a form of advertising you’ll find exclusively throughout the various social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube… If you’re a regular social media user, then you’re likely to have seen one or more PPC advertisement on any of the major platforms daily.
In social media PPC, the advertiser is responsible for who sees the ad. They determine which demographic is best suited to the ad and will act accordingly.
Studies have shown that minutes spent daily on social media are increasing annually. To generate interest in your ads, schedule them by looking at when people are more likely to go online and use social media.
An effective social media marketing strategy will result in an interested user going directly to your site via the provided link, or organically searching for your product or service after seeing the advertisement, and ultimately be led to your website in the relevant search query.
SMO: What is Social Media Optimization?
SMO functions similar to SEO, as they both play an important role in the success of a website or brand.
SMO takes the same principle of SEO and combines it with the optimization of social media content through the various social media platforms.
Like SEO, It’s important to remember that SMO can’t be neglected. It’s an ongoing process that will eventually lead to the establishment of your social media presence and brand.
- Set up and improve existing accounts
- Your user name, profile picture ,and biography should remain consistent and relevant to your business.
- Visitors should immediately recognize what product or service your business provides.
- Learn about your target audience
- Use website analytics and competitor analysis to understand who is buying from you and within your niche.
- Keywords are important – use them in your posts!
- When possible, use keywords in your social media posts to maximize exposure; remember, randomly spamming keywords will have the opposite effect on your SEO.
- It will help your website or social media rank better in search engine keyword searches.
- Create a content calendar
- Produce a posting schedule to maximize user engagement and interaction.
- It’s cost-effective in the long run to produce content that people will actually see.
- Be social on social media
- Being active on your social networks will build trust and relationships with customers and followers.
- Search engines use your interaction and posting frequency as a metric toward your SEO and page ranking.
- Integrate social media onto your website
- Your website should include direct links to your social media account(s).
- This will improve your website’s ranking, as social media sites boast a strong level of web authority.
SEM, SEO, SMM, and SMO – these terms are the keys of any digital marketing strategy. Anyone interested in the industry must keep up to date with these terms.