This article describes how Social Media is only the tip of Digital Marketing and like an Iceberg the majority of Digital Marketing happens below the surface.

Social Media – ‘likes’ no longer a metric of success.

A person described as a Digital Marketer might convince many people that their role was just in social media. Hemingway created the ‘Iceberg Theory’ which can be used to describe Digital Marketing – majority of the elements are invisible. Many marketers describe social media as the tip of the Iceberg of Digital Marketing. Beneath the surface of search engines lies the analytics that allow organisations to measure their consumer’s behaviour online. In the past, organisations used ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ as a measure of consumer engagement.

However, it is clear that an organisations should measure their success by how their consumer engagement turns into leads and conversions. Furthermore, many people using social media pay very little attention to what happens beneath the surface of Digital Marketing.

What happens beneath the surface of Digital Marketing?

Social media is considered an important element of Digital Marketing, as organisations can communicate with their consumers. Additionally, they build brand awareness and engage with their followers. However, many Digital Marketers can rely on social media to continue engagement with their users, but they turn to Google to raise awareness of a brand.

Through analytics and a strong bidding strategy, organisations can get their brand in front of potential consumers, using ads and through Google’s search engines and partnership sites. ‘Email Marketing’ has also risen in popularity as a method for organisations to communicate directly with their consumers. By encouraging leads through effective ‘Content Marketing’ and discount promotions organisations can improve their conversion rates. In addition, ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ as come to the forefront of many organisation’s metric of success.

SEO – replaces Social Media as the metric of success

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is considered the ‘behind the scenes’ of websites. Through keywords an organisation can optimise its relevancy, and quality. Many people who use search engines would never look into the keyword they’ve chosen to find a particular result. However, an organisation must choose their keywords carefully to ensure their business appears in the search results. SEO requires a lot of patience, but is highly rewarding as it increases leads and traffic to an organisation’s website.

An organisation should put time and effort into keyword research to benefit from sales later on. Lean more about how to optimise SEO here. When ranked high in relevance an organisation should obtain a high ‘Pay Per Click’ quality score, making advertising more cost effective.

“While social media marketing is important, SEO should not be put on the back burner.”

SEO Digital Group, 2019

Moreover, SEO is not considered a replacement of an organisation’s ‘Social Media Marketing’ but instead it is encouraged that they incorporate both into their Digital Marketing strategy. Furthermore, many organisations have relied on social media marketing as their primary method of creating leads and conversions in the past. However, while social media is effective in engaging with consumers, it should not be their only means of Digital Marketing.

Conclusion

Social Media lies on the surface of Digital Marketing – the part that is most visible. But it is clear that the important elements of Digital Marketing run much deeper. Elements such as SEO, bidding and content marketing show that there is so much more than meets the eye. It is important that organisations understand the depths of Digital Marketing if they are to survive.