Search engine optimization (SEO) beats social media marketing when it comes to increasing sales, generating traffic, increasing leads and increasing brand and product awareness. Social media marketing, on the other hand, is better than SEO for improving brand or product reputation, and improving public relations.

That’s the consensus of 2,194 search marketers surveyed by MarketingSherpa, which has detailed its findings in the firm’s 2011 Search Marketing Benchmark Report.

Nearly 7 out of 10 (67 percent of) search marketers regard SEO as very effective in increasing website traffic, while 33 percent regard social media as very effective in generating web traffic. Over a third (35 percent) of Internet marketers regard SEO as very effective in generating leads, while 18 percent regard social media marketing as very effective in generating leads.

In terms of increasing online sales, the difference is even starker, with 26 percent of search marketers regarding SEO as increasing online sales revenue compared with only 9 percent of marketers who see social media as very effective.

More search marketers see social media as very effective in improving brand or product reputation (37 percent) and in improving public relations (36 percent) than those who regard SEO as very effective in achieving these marketing objectives (29 percent and 27 percent respectively).

Here are the percentages of search marketers who rank SEO and social media marketing as very effective in achieving various marketing objectives:

1. Increasing online sales

• SEO: 26 percent
• Social media marketing: 9 percent

2. Increasing offline sales

• SEO: 17 percent
• Social media: 10 percent

3. Increasing website traffic

• SEO: 57 percent
• Social media: 33 percent

4. Increasing leads

• SEO: 35 percent
• Social media: 18 percent

5. Increasing brand or product awareness

• SEO: 42 percent
• Social media: 37 percent

6. Improving brand or product reputation

• SEO: 29 percent
• Social media: 37 percent

7. Improving public relations

• SEO: 27 percent
• Social media: 36 percent

Note that the comparison between SEO and social media marketing is not entirely fair. SEO has been around a lot longer than social media marketing, giving marketers much more experience in determining appropriate objectives and in devising and executing appropriate strategies to achieve those objectives.

Also, just because more Internet marketers rate SEO as very effective, the results still show that significant numbers of marketers also regard social media marketing as very effective in many areas.

Related Articles:

• Only 5 Out of 10 Marketers Say SEO is Very Effective For Increasing Web Traffic
• SEO That Integrates Social Media Delivers Higher Conversions
• Search Engine Marketing, Blogs and Social Media More Cost Effective Than Traditional ‘Outbound’ Marketing
• Why SEO Beats PPC Advertising: Most Search Engine Users Ignore PPC Ads
• SEO: How Your ‘Average Position’ in Google Really Affects Your Search Engine Traffic

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Kikabink Lab, Market Research, Search Marketing, Social Media, Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.