Search marketing vs Social Media Marketing

Dan says...

There's an awful lot of talk about Social Media Marketing at the moment and I have to be honest, I just don't think it's anywhere near as important or cost effective as search marketing for many businesses - especially B2B.

Firstly I think Social Media is a misleading term - it's more about Conversation Marketing. The whole idea of forcing advertising down consumers necks in a social environment just doesn't seem right to me - that's how print and TV works (worked?) - I have issues with that sort of marketing. Yes, yes I know there's more to Social Media Marketing than that but some agencies are being extremely clumsy in the way they're reaching out to audiences in the social space and it's annoying.

Search marketing is, as Seth Godin would say, Permission Marketing. Consumers are actively searching for an answer so we have implied permission to communicate with them - our job is that if you're the answer to their question, your products and services are presented to the user in the best light possible.

Surely being in front of those people is more important that trying to hijack conversations or force commercial communications into a space that doesn't want or need it?

I'm not suggesting that Social Media Marketing is a waste of time or money - it isn't and it absolutely has a place in the marketing mix. My view is that once the website is right, search campaign in place and customer service geared up accordingly then it's worth looking at Social and how it might work.

There's little doubt that that, broadly speaking, it suits some businesses (B2C) more than many others (B2B) but with some creative thinking there are some great ways to deploy Conversation Marketing.