Facebook or SEO: Which One is Best For Your Local Business?

Does Facebook or SEO offer your business a higher ROI

Social media marketing and Search Engine Optimization are great ways to promote your business online. However, if your budget is limited, you would probably prefer to spend your marketing dollars on activities that offer the best ROI. No wonder many small business owners ask us if they should do Facebook marketing or Search Engine Optimization. It is a question that not only small businesses wrestle with. Large companies also need to allocate marketing dollars efficiently. They want to know where they should put their time, money and effort? Which one, Facebook or SEO, is the best fit for their business and budget? Let us try to find the answer.

Before we start comparing Facebook marketing and SEO, let us have a look at some key statistics.

Facebook Statistics

·         2.79 billion people globally use Facebook

·         86% of internet users with $100k+ income use Facebook

·         More than 1.4 billion people are using Facebook Groups every month

·         Approximately 74% of Facebook users visit the site at least once daily.

·         Facebook reaches 59% of the world’s social networking population

·         63% of the U.S. population over age 12 uses Facebook

·         Two thirds of Facebook users visit a local business Page at least once a week

·         Facebook has a total of 90 million Pages for SMBs

These statistics clearly show that Facebook is a force to reckon with if you want to succeed with online marketing. However, whether or not it is better than SEO is yet to be seen. We will come back to it in a short while. Check out some SEO statistics first.

SEO statistics

• On the first search engine results page, the first five organic results account for 60% of all the clicks
• 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine
• According to 61% of marketers, improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority
• 68% of all trackable website traffic is sourced from Organic and Paid Search, vastly exceeding all other channels, including Display and social media
• 60% of marketers say that inbound (SEO, blog content, etc.) is their highest quality source of leads.
• SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate.
• The average monthly amount a local businesses can expect to spend on SEO is $500.

Clearly, more marketers trust search engine optimization. It generates more traffic, leads and conversions compared to other channels. Does that mean SEO alone deserves all your online marketing dollars? Let is find out.

How soon can you get the results?

SEO does not produce instant results. It takes time to build a campaign and it may take a few months before you can see valuable results. However, the more you invest (time, money and effort) on your campaign, the better results you will see. It has a cumulative effect. It is like earning compound interest on your savings account.  Facebook ads can get you quicker (almost instant) results. The more money you are willing you spend, better results you can expect.

What costs more Facebook or SEO?

If plan to use Facebook ads to promote your business, be prepared to spend money. While Facebook ads are not the most expensive ones, you still need to shell out money for as long as you want to see a result. SEO on the other hand will cost nothing if you decide to do everything on your own. However, managing your SEO campaign on your own takes a lot of effort, time and also technical knowledge. Not every business owner can run a DIY SEO campaign. In most cases, they need to hire a professional and that costs money. However, as long as you have chosen the right SEO professional, you can stay assured that you will get good, long term results.

Which one offers better conversions?

As shown by the statistic, SEO has a better conversion rate. When someone reaches your website after searching for a product, service or information on Google, they are more likely to make a purchase. They are obviously more interested in your content or offering. On the other hand, Facebook gives you cold leads. It may take a lot of effort to turn a Facebook page visitor into a paying customer.

Overall, SEO is a better investment than Facebook if you have to choose only one to spend your marketing dollars. However, a better approach is to use a combination of SEO and Facebook marketing, if you can afford the expense.

Are looking for an online marketing consultant to kickstart your SEO or social media campaign? Need honest advice on how to spend your marketing dollars? Get in touch with our team now.