For a long period, many marketers have always believed that they either can use paid search or a paid social strategy to grow their business – but rarely have they used both.
The fact of the matter is that both approaches are not only valid but complimentary to each other and neither needs to be implemented exclusively.
Indeed, you can combine paid search and social strategy in your content strategy to create a very effective ‘hybrid’ digital marketing campaign.
An integrated marketing strategy is not only a good investment that helps your business to grow but it also helps you in gaining credibility.
An important aspect to keep in mind when implementing a paid social and paid search integration program is that each provides different benefits.
You should, therefore, leverage their respective strengths rather trying to get the two to deliver results which they are not suited for.
Gather Information
This should obviously be your starting point as it informs your strategy. Social media insights can feed your PPC, and the opposite is also true.
Both social media and PPC are valuable and you should leverage the information that is already out there.
The key to strategy integration is to deeply look into all aspects of your data. It will not only point you where your performance is good or failing but also to gaps in your approach.
Dig up the kind of topics that look like they are already resonating with users and use such insights in fine-tuning your campaign.
Check what the competition is doing. However, don’t steal their headlines or content, probe what insights and trends they are using that you could adopt o boost both your own success.
Social Media-Influenced Paid Search Campaigns
Pay close attention to and keenly analyze the topics as well as discussions that are taking place around your different social media campaigns.
Then use those discussions to mine for new keywords to be used in your paid search campaigns. Whatever is being talked about by the people, bid on keywords that are going to reflect those conversations!
As always, make sure you measure the campaign performance to help in pruning non-performing ads and boost resources on terms and keywords that are more effective.
Ensure Brand Consistency
Your campaign messages must be consistent on both platforms because any conflict might undermine all the marketing efforts you are making.
Even when there is no conflict, failure to align your paid search and social media efforts may end up being a waste of opportunity, time, and marketing dollars.
The ultimate purpose of integrating paid social and paid search strategies is so that they can compliment and also feed off each other. That will not be possible if your campaigns look like they are from different companies.
You need not just a strong brand but consistent brand presence if you are to build awareness and trust.
Final thoughts
Paid search and social media must not be viewed as if they come from different dimensions.
With the above ideas, it’s possible to leverage the two channels in a complimentary, hybrid way that will boost site visits and boost sales.
Integration can help your website generate more social media amplification and increase your Return-On-Investment.
