If you have ever spent even a few hours in the digital marketing crowd, you are well aware of the eternal SEO vs. social media debate. While some praise search engine optimization as the holy grail for success, others insist that social media is key. Yet, simply comparing the two won’t give you all the right answers. Instead, we should take a practical approach, see how both work for different use cases, and check the real-life data.

But why choose in the first place? That’s right! There's no reason for that. So, a little spoiler alert right away – today, we will guide you through the process of merging both SEO and SMM tactics to achieve sustainable growth for any business or even a personal brand. But where should you start your journey, and what challenges to look out for? That’s exactly what we will cover in this article.

SEO vs. Social Media Strategy: Stats You Should Know

Say you just built a new website. It can be hard to figure out which of the two strategies (SEO or SMM) to focus more on. Almost every startup founder or CEO swears by content marketing as their hidden gem. So, is SEO our winner? It’s too early to jump to conclusions. Before you rush into buying backlink packages and creating your SEO posting plan, let’s see what the numbers have to say about that:

  • Brand awareness. 52% of potential customers discover a brand for the first time on social media, which makes it a powerful tool for brand exposure. Still, another 50% of people report using Google to find new brands, and 87% of consumers use it to search for local businesses.
  • Traffic. While social media marketing is a popular strategy for driving traffic, reports showed that even the brands that are most active in SMM drive only around 5% of their total traffic from it. On the other hand, SEO drives over 1000%+ more traffic than social media.
  • Customer acquisition costs (CAC). Comparing the CAC on SEO vs. social media marketing, it’s clear that one is far more expensive than the other, but it also yields more ROI. Depending on the SMM platform, CAC can range from a few cents to a couple of dollars. For SEO, it could be from a couple of hundred dollars to as high as thousands, but this amount varies by industry. Keep in mind that SEO, when well planned, can actually reduce customer acquisition costs by 60%.
  • Brand credibility and trust. 81% of people only consider buying from brands they trust, and 77% of them believe SEO has to involve a social media presence as well. But when it comes to building trust and credibility, SMM tactics are hardly enough without strong SEO strategies that back them up.

The Best Practices to Drive Traffic Through Social Media Marketing

Still confused about which side to take in the SEO vs. social media online debate? Let’s first focus on social media and check some of the best practices to help you get juicy results from using SM for your online marketing efforts.

#1 Work With Influencers and Collaborate With Others

Did you know that 4 out of 10 people admit that content creators and influencers impact their buying decisions? Sounds great, but there is a trick. It only works if you find the right influencers for your brand: someone who aligns with your values and brand message while also being charismatic and creative. Often, micro-influencers with a specific audience are much more effective than celebrities with millions of subscribers. So, paying more doesn’t always mean getting the best results.

By collaborating with influencers, industry experts, and other brands within your niche, you will be able to tap into a new audience, boost your credibility, and attract even more leads. People tend to trust influencers because it is like the good old word-of-mouth that (almost) everyone finds credible. This kind of collaboration is also one area where SEO and SMM really complement each other.

#2 Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)

If we go back a couple of decades ago, could anyone then think that users would create selling content by themself? Hardly. Still, now, it’s our reality. And the best part is that UGC can influence consumer behavior in 90% of cases. Isn’t that crazy?

It makes sense if you think about it. Naturally, people are more likely to trust other regular customers' opinions than blindly believe the ads. They know that marketers sometimes skip the nuances of what the service or product can offer and instead promise to take you to the moon and back.

Yet, UGC is completely the opposite. It is this authenticity that makes it so appealing and persuasive. Besides, humans love to be a part of the tribe. So why not tap into this innate desire by encouraging user-generated content? This is an amazing way to give your followers a chance to feel like a part of the brand’s family.

#3 Engage With Your Audience Through Live Streams and Constant Communication

Nowadays, everywhere you turn, it looks like there's someone going live and trying to sell you something. It can be anything, from makeup to car parts and everything else in between. You have a wide range of platforms for streaming, whether it’s TikTok, Amazon Live, Instagram, YouTube, or even Twitch. Live streaming gives businesses one of the most effective ways to engage with their customers and build stronger bonds. Thus, it’s a powerful tactic for your SEO and social media digital strategy.

Today, over 80% of businesses are leveraging livestream sales to drive better conversion rates and improve customer engagement rates as well. Potential customers can ask questions directly in the comment sections and get immediate feedback. This helps enhance satisfaction rates and strengthens the connection between the brand and the customer.

The Best Practices to Get Traffic With SEO

Long ago, it used to be enough to have quality content crammed with as many keywords as possible to get the visibility and traffic you desire. But today, the situation is different, extremely different. To achieve success, you have to push harder than most. What can you do in practice? Let’s take a look at some efficient best practices.

#1 Be Smart About the Search Intent

There are many people searching for products and services like yours at any given time. It’s kind of hard to think of an effective online digital marketing strategy for SEO and SMM purposes that does not require you to know your audience’s search intent. After all, people use both search engines and social media to discover new brands every single day. How well you are able to understand the search intent behind their queries will determine your ability to rank for the keywords they are using and generate leads.

Search intent determines what kind of content you create, how it will be structured, and even the approach or style you adopt. It’s just as important as keywords. How so? Well, you can have the right keywords, but if your content doesn’t align with the search intent, chances are that most visitors will quickly leave your page. As a result, you will face a high bounce rate, and we all know how that impacts search rankings. When more people interact or engage with your content, this signals that your content is a good fit. Consequently, the webpage will rank even higher for that search query.

But don’t limit search intent to just content. It depends on where the person is in their sales journey. So, optimize your page for each stage of the funnel, whether it is a purchasing intent or simply a search for general information about that product.

#2 Nail Your Technical SEO

The top page on Google gets most of the clicks, but it takes more than quality content to snag that spot. In fact, the only way to get there is to get both your on-page and off-page SEO game on fleek, with technical SEO getting just as much love as the rest. Your content is no good if the search engine crawlers can not easily navigate your site or users are having trouble with your web page. Keep in mind that with Google planning to turn off websites made with Business Profiles, you need to be more inventive to beat the competition. So what should you do?

You want to use a good SEO tool to audit your site, find issues that may be affecting user experience, and reduce the bounce rates. By taking simple steps to fix your mobile usability, navigation, load times, and fixing your URL structure, you will be able to see a huge difference in how quickly your content gets indexed. Throw in canonical tags, sitemaps, and robots.txt for even better web performance.

#3 Make Your Content So Good That It Hurts to Share It for Free

Perhaps content is one example where the SEO vs. social media conflict is truly pointless. How so? 76% of marketers say that content helps them generate leads and does so much more. SM is a great way to get more eyes on that great article of yours. Clearly, content still rules the digital marketing world, yet not all content is created equal. This shows how different people can write on the same topic but get very different responses from the same type of audience. So, what will it take to make sure yours stands out?

Well, you already know how to cover the basics, like keywords and search intent, ensuring that the structure of your content is clean and readable. But beyond these, Google wants you to demonstrate expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness (EEAT). This means you have to back your claims with credible quotes and hard data (numbers don’t lie), share the relevant real experience that supports your message, and anything else that shows you have actual knowledge of what you are writing about.

The result is content that delivers real value to readers who can relate to your shared experiences and opinions. This is also the kind of content that gets a lot of interest from other blogs, who can then reference yours and link to your web page. All of this buzz ends up in your content landing somewhere on the front of the search results pages for your keywords.

Why Merging SEO and Social Media Is Essential for Online Growth?

SEO and SMM are both great for drawing attention to your brand while helping you reduce costs. But bringing the customer in is one thing, and getting them to stick with you for longer (if possible a lifetime) is another challenge entirely. Here’s how merging both can help you accomplish this purpose:

  • Get more eyes on your brand. Both SEO and social media are great for creating a buzz about your new product launch, brand event, etc. Instagram reels or TikToks, for example, can attract users while useful content (paired with quality service) can get them to stay.
  • Gain social proof and credibility. Trust is almost the only thing you can’t buy. But the good news is – you can build it. Sure, it takes a lot of time. But it is so worth it. As more people interact with and share your posts, your credibility and trustworthiness will keep rising. How do you do that? Set clear objectives for being trustworthy. This should be visible in everything from your onboarding and customer support to the content quality (whether it is a helpful copy or even the right SM image size). All of these will eventually create a positive feedback loop, leading to higher search rankings and, most importantly, loyalty.
  • Use raw data for targeted marketing strategies. You can take full advantage of both SEO and social media channels like X (formerly Twitter) for new content ideas, research, tips to refine your brand marketing strategies, and more. This makes it easier for you to create a more targeted or personalized marketing strategy that drives even more growth.

Conclusion

The verdict is out on the SEO vs. social media battle, and it’s clear that both have their strengths. Instead of picking just one, the best solution would be to leverage each of them and enjoy the best of both worlds. Any website that ignores one of these tactics for the sake of the other will probably run out of steam or see a reduction in traffic volume, engagements, and, eventually, conversions. So, it’s time to integrate both social media and SEO to see the boost you’ve been looking for.