Hey A is a Q&A series for reader’s digital marketing and social media questions. Occasionally I’ll allow AMA-type question, but tread carefully friends. Have a question you’d like answered? Tap here!

Hey A!

Facebook is a total scam, right? No matter what I do, I’m not seeing the ROI and really questioning why I’m doing it at all. People are clicking my ads, but there’s little conversion. I’d much rather use the ad budget for an SEO expert. Also my weekly newsletter that shares new products and sales is much more profitable.

I’m tired of Facebook’s games and trying to think of witty posts for Instagram. I can leave the platforms and just use my newsletter to grow, right?

Sincerely,
So Over Social
Seattle, WA

Dear SOS,

I hear your frustration loud and clear, especially after 2020’s social media users’ bumpy patterns. I’m not surprised you feel like your newsletter has better traction compared to the platforms - and while I’m all about brands implementing a newsletter to help a brand grow’s community, it cannot be the sole strategy (more on that in a bit).

Ready to dig in to the social platform vs SEO convo?

First, a tough-love question: Are you putting the same effort toward the social platforms as your newsletter?

Follow-up TLQs: Are you putting the same effort into your site as the newsletter? Aside from making the front-end visitor ready, have you made sure all the backend items are updated and linked to tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixels? Are you tracking where visitors came from aside the newsletter? What pages they’re visiting? How long they’re visiting? Are you seeing any patterns?

While you think about and visit your site analytics for answers, let’s get to the heart of the issue by looking at how the three primary digital marketing elements - Social Platforms, Google Ads & Keywords, and SEO - have different tasks yet work together to build brand awareness, show value while earning trust, and ultimately can *help* with sales.

Yes; I purposefully said “help”. Once an individual is on a brand’s site, it’s not up to the post, ad, or search result to get someone to spend their hard-earned money there. It’s up to the brand to show value and earn the individual’s trust in order to make a sale or book a service inquiry. Sometimes this happens over several visits - or in one.

Social Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, et al - and their ads - are like giant neon arrows pointing to, or are a billboard above, your brand’s digital front door. They lead potential audiences and customers to your brand through posts, boosts, and ads; while keeping your brand top of mind for the current community. Paid and organic campaigns on social platforms are the widest net you’ll cast to reach audiences that may or may not know your brand exists. The ultimate goal of social platforms: build awareness while creating a community of engaged followers, all in hopes they’ll move from the platform to the brand’s site (same goes for newsletters).

An example: a platform ad campaign for a local farmers market will combine geographic, general interests, and other demographic information, to basically say “Hi! We noticed in you’re in Seattle and like to cook. Come visit our Farmers Market in downtown for fresh produce!”

We go to a farmers market to get food and support local farmers and producers; not to buy an airline ticket. Same goes for when we use a browser - we have a general idea of what we’re looking for or a question we’d like answered.

Google Ads & Keywords: By running Google Ads and wisely using keywords, a brand is proactively working to reach the top of related searches. The key difference from the platforms: we ‘google’ with an idea of what we want or need, or have a question we’d like answered. Think of Google Ads and Keywords like setting up a sample table in a store’s aisle that is specific to your brand’s products or services. We don’t go to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook asking “locally caught fish market?” unless we want to crowd-source an answer from friends.

“Even if your brand is solely online, it doesn’t mean you should ignore visitors as they wander around your site. ”

SEO: Working in tandem with Google Ads & Keywords, SEO’s two key functions are to optimize a website for searches while making sure it’s user friendly for visitors. Think of it as a producer’s stall neatly laid out with well-stocked with produce and the bins are clearly labeled.

For your brand this means keywords are optimized in headers, sub-headers, images, and content to help make your site a top hit for searches, while the front-facing content will also create a positive user-experience (UX) to build trust by showing value; this can include an insightful blog or resources (ahem) and a seamless experience between desktop and mobile. Think about sites you’ve visited that are clunky; an endless, one-page scroll; or just really confusing - you may spend 15 seconds trying to navigate it, but ultimately leave, most likely never returning. Now think about the sites you love to visit: chances are they load quickly, include a combination of valuable information and smart imagery use (or helpful graphics), or they’re simply laid out in a way that’s both easy to understand and navigate.

Even if your brand is solely online, it doesn’t mean you can ignore visitors as they wander around your site. Think back to your favorite sites: there’s a chance the site somehow interacted with you to ensure it was a good visit: maybe by offering recommendations based on the current item you’re looking at, customer support chats, or even sending a savvy follow-up email noting your shop’s abandoned cart policy. In short: they made sure the user-interface (UI) shined while transitioning visitors into repeat users.

Pro Tip: never-ever keyword stuff a site. It makes the site unreadable, unrelatable, and unbearable for your site visitors.

SEO is like a producer having all the produce neatly stacked, signs with prices, the space is clean, and branded bags are ready for customers to take their purchases home. Your brand’s site is no different. Once an individual finds a brand’s website consistently has great product (or has value by solving a problem), top-notch customer service, and within budget, they’re more likely to return, build a relationship by following your platforms and subscribing to the newsletter, and - most important - tell others about it.

As for your newsletter doing better than the platforms; why do you think your newsletter gets better results? Here are three top-of-mind reasons:

The newsletter is going to a very loyal segment of the brand’s audience, including current customers and ambassadors (yet missing the larger non-subscribed community).
The subscribers may not rely on posts or ads to learn more about the brand because… see #1 (however since there’s no follow-up on social, the brand may not be top of mind for them or seen as a valuable resource).
This audience wants to be in-the-know so they subscribed to the newsletter (but this means, again, the brand is only engaging with a specific segment of its audience).

With this in mind, how can you help your newsletter grow aside from encouraging others to share it and having a pop-up on your site? By creating a platform ad campaign working alongside a thoughtful, strategic set of posts to reach and encourage potential subscribers to sign up, while reminding current followers the value of your newsletter.

If you’re struggling to create content, look at your newsletters and site’s resources - blog, FAQ and About Us pages, etc - for ideas. I notice business owners with a great newsletter often forget it’s a social media content treasure trove. Chances are you can break a newsletter down, or the FAQ page, and create two or three (or 10!) posts from it. Still need some content creation inspiration? Check this out.

Make the tech work for you, SOS; not the other way around. And let me know how it goes as you research the TLQ answers.
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BTW: hiring an SEO expert, or paying for an online SEO service to review you site, is a solid idea if you can find a trustworthy resource. It is absolutely one of those projects worth every penny paid - so my advice: don’t skimp on it. Find someone or online service, within your budget, that prioritizes creating a relationship with your community while helping your brand grow.

bottom line:

Depending solely on one element means your brand will miss out on various opportunities to introduce your brand to potential customers. Using Social Platforms, Google Ads, and SEO strategically will produce better results for your brand while keeping your brand top-of-mind for your current community.

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