I’ve heard of many people pulling their hair out because they don’t know where to focus their energies: paid searches or social media? But why do you have to pick just one? They both have different benefits that can strengthen your campaign.

Paid searches are mostly for driving leads, conversions, and sales. Unless the person that clicks on your ad takes the time to search through your site to see what you’re about, you probably won’t be doing much brand-building with your pay-per-click campaigns.

Social media, on the other hand, is where a lot of the brand-building can take place. It’s a great supplement to any campaign for nearly any brand that can promote discussion and interaction as a primary goal, and ideally, generate sales as a secondary goal. However, social media has a bit more to it than people let on.

The more interaction a potential customer has with your brand through social media, the more likely they are to make more specific searches that are related to your brand. In turn, your paid search positions come up more consistently, and this high click-through rate helps your page gain ground on the organic searches. A win-win, if you ask me.  Also, social media helps you generate keywords that are more effective for your paid searches, because you can dig out words and phrases that are used heavily by your followers/fans anyway.

In conclusion, don’t focus all of your attention at one point of marketing. Here’s a video that shows you some fun facts about social media. You know, just for the fun of learning:

Did You Know: Social Media – Watch more Funny Videos

The union of savvy merchandising and comprehensive content needed to give customers the confidence to buy online has never been more critical.

• Category merchandising

Merchandising should always start at the category level. Conversion rates slowed in 2008, with consumers likely researching products more, including through comparison shopping, as a result of the tough economic times.

Several online features can improve conversion rates;  keyword search, sales and specials, cross-sells, and e-mail as a merchandising vehicle.

• Promote everywhere

From the product page to the shopping cart and post-order communication pages, all web site locations are fair game for promotional selling. (Example: Survival Kits by SurvivalSimon.com)

• Customer engagement tools

More and more merchants are using tools and tactics that build community and foster brand loyalty. These kinds of tactics are particularly effective in enthusiast categories where consumers want to connect with a brand.