Mixin' It Up - Integrating Search and Social Media into your Marketing Mix

Marketing has grown leaps and bounds with the onset of search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (SMM). Gone are the times of relying solely on traditional marketing methods. For those outside of the marketing realm, Kent Lewis, of Anvil Media, Inc., describes traditional marketing as “corporate and agency-driven messaging, broadcast in a one-to-many fashion, over long-lead, expensive and difficult-to-measure media.”

For comparison purposes, he states, “online/interactive marketing may utilize a collaborative message development platform with two-way conversations, and provides a real-time, cost-effective and measurable media format.”

The question now is how does one incorporate SEM and SMM into the traditional marketing mix? The five areas looked into include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), social media marketing (SMM), online reputation management (ORM) and measurement/analytics. For further enlightenment, read the full article here.

Now that you're all squared away with the concept of social media and its advantages, my guess is you're wondering how to take those elements and create a successful social media marketing campaign. Never fear! Lewis has gathered some pointers for interested parties. In his article he mentions how 3 steps, 1) Monitor & Measure, 2) Create & Communicate and 3) Engage & Empower, can ensure your social media marketing efforts stay focused and relevant.