Comparing SEO, SEM and Social Media for Lead Generation in China

Last month I attended an AmCham meeting in Shanghai where I heard TR Harrington of Darwin Marketing present about using SEM (search engine marketing) to promote your company in China, and it has started me thinking about what is the best way for SME’s to market themselves on the Internet.

The AmCham event was part of a series that has covered first SEO, then SEM and soon will look at using social media to promote your company on the Internet.

Of course all of these can be effective ways to build a brand and promote sales, but not every approach fits every company, and you have to be prepared to use these tools properly.

Here’s where I think many SME owners and managers will hit the wall with SEO and SEM, and how social media can provide a cost effective means for promoting your company on the Internet — provided you focus on ROI.

SEO

If you are a typical small business, you have a 16 page website that was built by someone hired by your admin manager and it hasn’t been updated since you finished that very painful project in 2007 and you never want to speak to that web developer guy ever again.

You can install Google Analytics on it. You can tweak the SEO on it. But your chances of building the traffic levels necessary to drive meaningful revenue for your company are only slightly better than the odds of finding an available cab on Huaihai Lu during the week before Chinese New Year.

SEM

Google Ads are great, and in China, Baidu ads may be even better. But most SMEs are not doing eCommerce, and if you are not doing eCommerce then usually it is hard to achieve the kind of conversion ratios necessary to achieve optimal returns on your investment. Yes, there are agencies that can show you how to achieve better SEM results, but not too many of them are going to be interested in your RMB 3000/month ad budget, and if they say they are, then you should run away. Quickly.

Use the Tools You Already Have

As a manager at an SME in China you are most likely involved in selling your knowledge in some way or another.

• Your knowledge of sourcing
• Your knowledge of markets
• Your knowledge of something going on that most people don’t understand as well as you do

So you have your brain and your experience — we just need to put them to work on social media.

The best strategy for using social media to promote your business is to follow a simple five step process toward ensuring a return on your investment of time and resources.

1. Create
2. Share
3. Syndicate
4. Measure
5. Repeat

Let’s look at Step 1: Creating Content