The world of E-commerce has changed, and the battle for consumer attention is fiercer than ever. How we shop has changed and is changing constantly. Your mom used to cut out outfits in magazines, and now #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has been mentioned 1.1B times.
E-commerce business owners are constantly seeking the most effective ways to reach their audience and drive conversions. While paid social media advertising is a popular choice, and doing it with Ditly is a great way to ensure your Digital marketing decisions are backed by data, an omnichannel approach to digital marketing is the way to go.
Combining paid social with SEO and leveraging multiple touchpoints can propel your brand to new heights.
The Synergy of Paid Social and SEO
Paid social media advertising and search engine optimisation (SEO) are often seen as distinct entities in digital marketing. SEO can take time to reap the rewards and is crucial for long-term growth; the immediacy and flexibility of paid social make it a better option for brands that need a rapid ROI.
However, when used together, they create a powerful synergy that amplifies your brand’s reach and effectiveness and here is why:
Passive and Active: Paid social allows precise targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviours. You can outline your perfect ICP (Ideal Client Persona) and let experts like some of the wonderful people we have at Ditly create look-a-like audiences and precisely promote your products to your future customers. On the other hand, SEO targets users actively searching for your products; if you were one of the 11 thousand people who searched for “best washing machine” last month in the UK, the chances are you were or are in the market to buy a washing machine – the intent to take action is higher which is often why SEO can have a higher conversion rate than the top of funnel paid social efforts. By combining SEO and paid social, you capture a broader audience: those passively browsing social media and those actively seeking your excellent products.
Data-Driven Insights: Paid social provides valuable data on audience behaviour and preferences, which can inform your SEO strategy. For example, by understanding that your ICP is 60+-year-old men who like cricket, you can ensure your SEO strategy targets those cheeky chaps. Your blogs won’t contain hashtags or the latest slang but more conventional language (and maybe larger text). Conversely, SEO insights can help refine your paid social targeting, shedding light on the keywords your audience uses when searching for your products, and should inform the copy you use in your paid social ads. But wait, there is more; SEO can also help you determine the intent of search terms (informational, navigational, or transactional); top tip: use informational and navigational search terms in your top-of-funnel ads and transactional terms in your bottom-of-funnel ads. Ensuring your ads reach users at the right stage of their buying journey. This cross-channel data sharing enhances the effectiveness of both strategies.
For now and later: Paid social campaigns can quickly generate traffic, sales and brand awareness. SEO builds long-term, sustainable visibility by improving your website’s ranking on search engines. SEO is no silver bullet, and we wouldn’t advise any e-commerce brand to do SEO alone. SEO and paid social ensure your brand is seen by the right audience at the right time through multiple channels. Your customers live busy lives; they are rushing to get the kids from school, they are packing for that vacation to France. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but no matter how unique your creative is, it is very unlikely that they will take action the first time they see you. There is a rule called the “marketing rule of 7’s”, a potential customer must see a message at least 7 times before being provoked to take action, which brings me to my next point.
The Extended Buyer Journey and Multiple Touchpoints
The modern buyer’s journey is more complex from awareness to purchase than it has ever been before. What used to be a short linear process is now a loopy rollercoaster. Today, the buyer’s journey is a complex, multi-step process that can span days, weeks, or even months. Your customers interact with brands (including your competitors) across various touchpoints, from TikTok to snail mail, podcast mentions to OOH (Out of Home) advertising on their commute home, from Google to email and everything in between, never review sites.
But don’t let this overwhelm you. Each touchpoint is an opportunity to build trust, delight, and establish credibility with potential customers. A consistent omnichannel presence reassures consumers that your brand is reliable and always available, no matter where they encounter you. Furthermore, it can help promote customers to become evangelists. Keeping your brand top-of-mind will lead to higher conversion rates and customer loyalty, keeping those pesky competitors out of sight.
Practical Tips for Implementing an Omnichannel Strategy
Here are 4 steps you can take right now:
- Create a Unified Brand Message: Ensure your brand message is consistent across all channels. Your ads should look similar across multiple platforms. If you sell lounges in your ads, don’t use terms like “couch” or “sofa” in your blogs. Staying consistent helps build trust and recognition.
- Leverage Customer Data: Use the data from your paid social campaigns to inform your SEO strategy and visa versa. Identify which keywords and content resonate most with your audience and optimise your website accordingly.
- Invest in Quality Content: Quality content is critical to SEO and social media success. Create engaging, informative content that addresses your audience’s needs and interests. When writing your blogs, ensure you are researching the “people also ask” sections of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) to identify what questions your customers are asking. Answer those questions in your blogs by providing relevant and helpful information.
- Utilise Retargeting: Re-engage visitors who have interacted with your brand on social media or your website. This keeps your brand top-of-mind and encourages repeat visits and conversions. Remember the marketing rule of 7’s: One touch point and a 5% coupon just does not cut it anymore.
Relying solely on paid social or SEO can be risky. Each channel has its limitations.
If you over rely on paid social media, your visibility is tied to your advertising budget. Once the budget is exhausted, your visibility plummets, and if your customer comes looking for your products after that, you won’t be there. Furthermore, changes in social media algorithms can dramatically impact your campaign’s effectiveness, so it’s really important to keep a sharp eye on your CPL (Cost Per Conversion).
Solely focusing on SEO means slower results, Google is slow to trust and building organic traffic takes time (the length of time is dependent on the competitiveness of your niche and how long your competitors have been doing SEO). Like paid social, search engine algorithm updates happen a lot and can significantly affect your rankings, leading to sudden drops in visibility and traffic. If you are looking for some help with your SEO, we recommend working with an SEO agency like Viaduct Generation who are organic e-commerce specialists.
Adopting an omnichannel approach mitigates these risks and offers numerous benefits.
Dont put all your eggs in one basket: By spreading your efforts across multiple channels, you reduce the risk of over-dependence on a single traffic source. This diversification makes your business more resilient to algorithm changes and market conditions.
Higher ROI: Combining paid social with SEO and other digital marketing channels results in a higher return on investment and a more data-driven approach. Each channel complements the other, maximising the impact of your marketing efforts and driving more conversions at a lower cost.
To summarise, while paid social media advertising is a valuable tool in your digital marketing arsenal, and we at Diply are experts in this space, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket; paid social or any digital marketing practice should not stand alone. An omnichannel approach integrating paid social with SEO and other marketing channels offers a more robust, resilient, and effective strategy for long-term, consistent growth. By leveraging multiple touchpoints and engaging consumers throughout their extended buyer’s journey, your brand can achieve greater visibility, trust, and, ultimately, higher conversions.