The cornerstone of Search (both SEO (Organic) and SEM (Paid)) is relevant keywords; the cornerstone for Social Media is relevant content. Together, they make for a relationship of interactivity and interdependence, a yin and yang if ever there was one.
If you do business online, shouldn’t you use them together? Here are 21 stats + 5 charts that say: Don’t do SEO/SEM without Social Media and visa versa.
- 94% increase in CTR (Click-Thru-Rate) when search and social media are used together (eMarketer)
- 50% of consumers use a combination of search and social media to make purchase decisions (Inc)
- 46% who start with social media, then turn to search to help make their decision
- 40% who start with search then turn to social media (yin and yang?)
- 45% use search throughout the buying cycle
- 31% use social media during the purchase process to get other people’s opinions (GroupM)
- 30% say they use social media to eliminate brands from contention
- 28% say social media sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook help them learn more about new brands and product
- At a ratio of 2-to-1, consumers cite quality and depth of information as reason they use search and social media together
- 30% of consumers rely on user reviews to aid in their purchase decision (eMarketer)
- 17% use Facebook
- 9% use Twitter
- 74% of consumers use a Facebook brand page as the desired format for following a brand for future engagement (Search Engine Land)
- Consumers exposed to branded social media are 2.4 times more likely to click on an organic listing (comScore)
- Consumers exposed to a brand’s social media and paid search are 2.8x more likely to search for that brand’s products
- Consumers who use social media (vs. people who don’t) are 50% more likely to use search (srcibd)
- 50% CTR increase in paid search when consumers were exposed to both influenced social media and paid search
- Websites with a Google+ business page yield a 15% rise in search rank (Open Forum)
- 70 Facebook shares plus 50 “likes,” give rise to 7% rise in search ranking for websites
- 45% of consumers have no specific brand or business in mind when they begin their search on their desktop or smart phone (GroupM)
- “Once, it was a newspaper. It arrived neatly on your doorstep to satisfy information needs. Now, it is a web of information from the internet but with much deeper insights as to why we make the brand and buying decisions we do. Marketers are going to want these insights – Chris Copeland, CEO GroupM)
A valuable resource is the Group M and comScore study: The Virtuous Cycle: The role of search and social media in the purchase pathway (pdf).
Since pictures tell a 1000 words, some great picture have been created to show how search and social media work together. Here are 5, beginning with one of the most prolific advocates on this topic, Lee Odden and Top Rank Blog.
Would you ever do SEO/SEM without Social Media or visa versa?
Superb insights and enlightening for everyone wondering how to expand their business!!
Thank you Jay. Appreciate the feedback and consider it high praise coming from you.
Rob,
All of your blogs are helpful, this one is especially robust with content and useable facts. Bravo and thanks for the good work!
Thank you Lee Anne. Glad the information is helpful.
Great stats and charts. It is obvious that social media and SEO cannot be successful alone. Both need each other for a successful online marketing.
[…] Con la primera parte de este título, seguro llamo la atención a mis amigos SEOs pero en realidad mi punto de vista es que ningún área de Internet es más importante que la otra. En realidad son diferentes canales para llegar al usuario y además se tratan de áreas complementarias. Con las actualizaciones de Google, no es posible evitar que el Social Media esté involucrado en la estrategia que permita aumentar la popularidad en nuestra página web. Facilitar las interacciones sociales en nuestro site, es una responsabilidad del responsable de Social Media, y que contribuye a aumentar la confianza hacia nuestra página web. Identificar tendencias, encontrar usuarios influyentes, son algunas de las labores que ambas área deben de trabajar en conjunto. Estas son algunas estadísticas que demuestran cómo no se puede hacer SEO sin Social Media y viceversa. […]
[…] of social media versus SEO, only one made any sense to me after weighing them all in the balance. 21 Stats/5 Charts: Don’t do SEO/SEM without social media or vice versa started out like this: The cornerstone of Search (both SEO (Organic) and SEM (Paid)) is relevant […]
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Fantastic information! This is the actual blog that i was looking. Right Same like SEO, SMO is also important for a website promotion but only when you are doing it all in the natural way not with the point of promotion. Thanks for such useful article. I would to bookmark you for future use.
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