Marketing heaven : Search and social media
Businesses are always looking for new ways to generate sales online and the perpetual growth of the internet and the platforms that influence it allow for fresh approaches to be adopted regularly.
Paid search advertising and SEO are tried and tested tools of internet marketing, while social media has emerged as an important but ultimately distinct platform for consumer engagement in recent years.
But now the worlds of search and social media are being drawn closer together than ever before following the announcement that Twitter and Google have partnered to bring tweets to SERPs with unprecedented immediacy.
This means that rather than having to head to Twitter’s site or use its dedicated app to find out about what is trending, people will be able to see this content clawed up for them by Google’s search algorithms.
So is the closer connection being forged between search engines and social media sites a positive step for online marketing, or will it present new challenges for companies that want to generate traffic for their sites and convert window shoppers into paying customers?
Going for Growth
From Twitter’s point of view the deal is immensely valuable, since it grants its site greater exposure and should help to boost user numbers at a time when its own growth has reached something of a plateau.
Businesses which use Twitter to raise the profile of their brand, interact with customers and run paid campaigns will also be better placed to increase the visibility of tweets, especially if they are targeted towards topical events.
The integration allows users to search for hashtags that are trending using Google’s SERPs as a sounding board for the hot topics of the day. And so companies which piggyback on a popular story or trend will be able to attract engagement from outside of Twitter’s closed platform.
Since allowing embedded ads to appear on other sites and apps earlier this year, Twitter’s efforts to monetise its service have blossomed, as have the opportunities available to businesses that are keen to exploit the diversification of this social media giant.
Combating Clutter
The downside of the partnership between Twitter and Google is that yet another alternation to the way SERPs are displays on desktop and mobile devices may cause problems for those chasing organic SEO visibility or PPC prowess.
If you’re a business is based in Cheltenham then why not ring a PR Cheltenham company found on sites like headonpr.co.uk/ that also offers digital marketing advice.
Businesses can take comfort from the fact that the search market is not static and changes made to the layout of SERPs today can be changed in an instant if they prove not to be effective, or if they overcomplicate the interface to the point that users are turned off by them. The fact that Google and Twitter are taking a mobile-first approach with this matching of search and social media shows they know which way the wind is blowing.
