A Sproutsocial study states that as of 2024, there are 5.17 billion social media users globally and that an average person is using 6.7 various social networking platforms every month. That may seem awe-inspiring! Well, but is social media marketing (SMM) the “be-all and end-all” of digital marketing? Hell, no! Here starts the SEO vs SMM battle.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is something that most businesses will fall flat without. The significance of SEO can be gauged by the fact that less than 1% of users all over the world go to the second page of their online search results (as stated by a Forbes article). To be precise, just 0.44% of Google users go beyond the first page of their search results.

This means that whether you’re searching for a guitar for your son’s birthday or a plumber to fix your bathroom fittings, you are bound to click on the sites that rank higher up on your Google search results. Thus, optimizing your online content is crucial if you wish to reach out to the right market. And measuring ROI in digital marketing definitely fails without SEO.

So, what’s the best strategy for your business? Does SEM be included in a digital marketing plan for startups? Should you opt for SEO or SMM if you wish to hit your sales targets in the next quarter? What’s the right balance of SEO vs SMM for local businesses? Fret not! We have all the answers…

What is SEO?

Before we dive into the SEO vs SMM scene, let’s find out what SEO is. Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, seems to have become the lifeblood of most businesses these days, when it comes to online marketing. According to a BrightEdge report, SEO drives over 1000% more traffic on the web than organic social media channels. A Hubspot report too, while affirming the growing influence of SEO, stated that 60% of marketers believed SEO was one of their key sources of leads.

So, what exactly is SEO and how does it work? The broader definition of SEO describes it as a strategic process that streamlines the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search engine results page (SERP) rankings. In other words, SEO is the process of optimizing your website/online content and its reliability to catch the most eyeballs in your target market. Before we delve deeper into the SEO vs SMM comparison, let’s take a quick look at the various types of SEO.

Types of SEO

SEO, again, is a broad category that has under its aegis two major types: On-page and off-page SEO. On-page SEO uses tools and techniques that appear on the website to improve its rankings, whereas off-page SEO defines all the elements outside a website that boost its rankings. So, while on-page SEO focuses on the content and the visual elements of a website, off-page SEO focuses on building its reliability, popularity, and authority. Let’s look at a few core elements of both:

On-page SEO elements

SEO is no magic that transforms your content overnight or makes you popular on Google all of a sudden. It takes a lot of work and a streamlined strategy to reach out to your target client base. Below, we have listed the top elements of on-page SEO that work wonders for your business:

Headings: Headings and subheadings are the best place to position your keywords, as they are the first things that strike the eyes of the reader. Thus, they should be on top of your website optimization list.
Meta titles and descriptions: Meta titles are the best way to catch the eyes of search engine bots. They are what appear when people search for particular keywords on a search engine. Meta descriptions, on the other hand, describe the summary of your website’s content. They too appear just below the meta title on the SERP.
Keywords: The very pillar on which SEO stands is made up of keywords. The choice of keywords and keyword combinations (primary and secondary keywords, long-tail keywords, NLPs, and keyword clusters) can make or break your website. Needless to say, you need to spruce up your keyword research game with the help of online tools.
Infographics, videos, and other visual elements: With the growing trend of visual elements in the online marketing world, you are definitely at an advantage if you have relevant infographics, images, videos, and interactive visual content such as polls and quizzes, which support your content.
URLs: A great idea to increase the number of views is to add target keywords in your website/blog URL.
Alt texts: The alternative text, or alt text, appears when the element which it is associated with isn’t displayed for some reason. For instance, when your site faces an issue and an image fails to load, it’s the alt text (that describes the image) that’s displayed.
Anchors: These are pages on your site that you can link to other pages of the same site. Internal linking, or anchoring, as it is better known, can be used to create keyword clusters strategically. This makes search engine bots recognize the relevance of your content.
Off-page SEO elements

How do you make your customers/clients believe that you’re credible? Simple! You can do so by flaunting your association with other clients or showcasing positive reviews and testimonials on your website. The same strategy is true for SEO too. How do search engine bots realize your page is relevant and offers quality content? Well, they track how well-connected you are with good quality sites in your arena. That’s why you need to step up on your off-page SEO game when it comes to website optimization. Here are some elements that might work for you:

Backlinks: These are links from other websites that lead to your website or one of its pages. Search engine bots track the quality and relevance of the content that’s associated with these backlinks. Thus, link building should be an essential part of off-page SEO.

Social media content: Reels, contests, discussions, notes, music – you can use a variety of social media content relevant to your business, thus growing your reach and drawing more traffic to your site. The more your content is shared across social media, the more views it gets.

Social bookmarking: Links of sites that encourage online bookmarks, such as Reddit, Scoop.it, and Delicious, help your website gain more eyeballs.

Online reviews: Apart from Google, a host of review websites, such as Tripadvisor, Glassdoor, and Foursquare, showcase genuine reviews from people who have used your products/services. Search engines don’t just go by positive reviews but also the source of those reviews, to weed out spam and fake reviews.

What is SMM?

Ever wondered how Netflix’s Wednesday surpassed the popularity of all their earlier series when it was released on the OTT platform? Shortly before the release of the series, Netflix invested in an intensive marketing campaign, utilizing the dark humor theme of the series. The streaming giant created a whole YouTube campaign, showcasing the reactions of startled passersby as they stared at The Thing, a prominent character from the series, featuring a severed hand.

This is how beautifully social media marketing (SMM) works if you cater to a target market effectively. It is nothing but using chosen social media platforms to reach out to the right market with your message. It relies on visual elements, engagement, and interactive content. Social media also allows for content that is customized for each of our market segments and for extensive brand visibility.

Be it Twitter (now X), LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook, social media channels are being used widely by both B2C and B2B businesses. The growth of their user base too has been phenomenal, with the number of social media users worldwide rising by 320 million from January 2023 to January 2024.

Likewise, it is projected that by 2028, $255.8 billion of the total social media ad spending will be generated through mobile. So, what makes SMM so popular? Let’s look at a few types of SMM that can transform your digital marketing strategy:

Types of SMM

Building social networks: Whether you own a social media page or moderate a social media group/community, you have a goldmine of leads in the form of followers/friends on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can post relevant content, share it across accounts, and generate social media engagement by starting an interactive discussion. Apart from brand visibility, these platforms allow for extensive quality lead generation.
Sharing images/memes: Overlapping with social media platforms are those that are meant exclusively for images, such as Instagram (which has now diversified to videos and notes) and Pinterest. Apart from promoting your product/service through visual elements, you can also encourage user-generated content on these platforms.
Sharing videos: Apart from the quintessential video site YouTube, you can also use Dailymotion, Vimeo, and other such sites. Be it short-form videos (reels) or long-form videos (product descriptions, reviews, or documentaries), video-sharing platforms are highly informative. Close on the heels of such sites are live-streaming platforms such as Twitch, which are highly effective in terms of social media engagement.
Blogging: Blogging sites/platforms such as WordPress, Medium, and Tumblr help you connect with consumers/clients who may or may not be too social media savvy. A bit old-school, blogging is still a major way to reach out to potential leads.
Influencer marketing for brand awareness: The latest of all digital marketing trends and the most glamorous form of social media marketing that works across platforms is influencer marketing. Both paid content and barter collaborations work wonders when it comes to influencer marketing for brand awareness. For niche audiences, you can try focusing on micro-influencers.

SEO vs SMM: A Comparative Analysis

Which is The Right Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Business?

Okay, so are you now confused about which strategy will suit your business better? Who wins the battle of SEO vs SMM for local businesses? You may be spoilt for choices when it comes to your digital marketing strategy, but one wrong move, and you’re bound to lose out on a lot of quality leads. So, tread carefully. A few things you need to consider while deciding on SEO or SMM as your chosen strategy are:

Your business type and budget
Your target audience
Your target results/goals

Here are our suggestions:

Choose SEO

You should go for a streamlined SEO strategy if:

You have long-term digital marketing plans.
You’re ready to invest in terms of resources and budget when it comes to quality content (SEO-optimized blogs, etc.). Yes, SEO may in itself be free, but building SEO-optimized content is not.
Your website caters to the e-commerce sector (travel solutions such as e-ticketing, food delivery, etc.) or an industry that requires content-heavy websites (education).

Choose SMM

You should definitely opt for SMM if:
You’re looking to create quick brand awareness by relying on current digital marketing trends.
You have a shoe-string budget.
You rely on customer engagement.
You are a budding startup looking to create online visibility.

Choose SEO and SMM

The best digital marketing strategy for most businesses is however a synergistic and comprehensive blend of SEO and SMM.

SMM offers the opportunity to create personalized posts/content customized to cater to specific users, creates a strong and credible brand presence, and results in quick lead generation. On the other hand, SEO is more useful for reaching out to the right user profiles over time.

A digital marketing plan for startups that have created a niche in the market and yet look forward to gaining more brand value amid their chosen market segments should definitely have a balanced concoction of SEO and SMM. Likewise, just because SEO suits e-commerce platforms and SMM is more suited to small businesses, it doesn’t mean SMM strategies for e-commerce websites don’t exist… or that there aren’t effective SEO techniques for small businesses.

Go ahead and create profiles on the social media platforms that cater to your target market, and continue playing with keywords and other elements for that perfect SEO strategy too.

Key Pointers

SEO is the process of optimizing content organically to reach out to the right market
SMM is the process of using various social media tools and channels to primarily improve brand visibility and engagement
SEO is apt for a long-term marketing strategy that aims at creating informative or valuable digital content for those that are looking for the product/service on offer
SMM is apt for startups and small businesses which want quick online visibility
Measuring ROI in digital marketing can be a holistic and comprehensive process if one includes both SEO and SMM

Final Thoughts

Now that you’re aware of how both SEO and SMM are beneficial to your digital marketing plan, don’t waste time on the SEO vs SMM debate. Sit and jot down your key business goals and your budget for online marketing, and align them with your digital marketing strategy. Don’t hesitate to invest in both SEO and SMM if you feel you need a more well-rounded strategy to fulfil your business targets.

SEO vs SMM: What is the Right Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Company?