The role of Social Media, SEO & PPC

Without the use of SEO, paid search and social media there is very little chance that your online presence will be noticed.  In fact without a lot of time, effort and know how the chances are your website will simply be lost in the sea of under performing sites which drown in the Internet.
It is surprising then to discover that rather than hiring in house SEO, paid search and social media experts companies are choosing to outsource.  The 2011 State of Search Marketing Report by SEMPO and Econsultancy has showed that that the in-house SEO figures had actually dropped by 7% to just 44% in 2011. And in-house PPC had also dropped to 38%, a fall of 9% from 2010. As for the rapidly growing social media market the in-house figures dropped from 62% in 2010 to just 55% in 2011.

Why Increase Outsourcing for SEO Rather than Use Your Current Workforce?

So why is this happening?  There is no denying the importance that these roles play in marketing for any business so why are employers not asking their full time workers to take on these vital tasks?  The 2011 State of Search Marketing report released data recording the reasons why outsourcing was growing in popularity.
When considering PPC and social media 45% of the company owners stated the main reason to outsource was simply because their employees lacked the skills required.  This meant it was necessary to find experts in the field to carry out the work on their behalf.  Although for Social Media alone the biggest reason that received 37% was the fact that the job was far too time consuming.
Other reasons included the lack of technology in house which stood for 34%, the economic benefits of outsourcing at 31% and that it was hard to stay fully up to date with the latest practises which accounted for 26%.  Finally 17% stated that it was too difficult to track the progress in house and 14% said that the service providers came with good industry contacts.  This left just 8% simply put ‘other’.

So Is this Good News for your SEO?

Obviously this is excellent news for service providers who are finding that their hard work and commitment is being rewarded.  The amount of time it takes to organise, run and monitor SEO, PPC and social media marketing is being recognised, and so is the need to have someone working hard to ensure your company is able to keep up with modern techniques.
As social media becomes more valuable to customers it is very unlikely that these trends are going to fall.  Seeing as businesses were finding it more financially viable to outsource it is suspected that it will be a while before companies find themselves in the position to create in-house positions.
After the JC Penny debacle which saw the involvement with black hat SEO consultants there is a good reason why companies should be paying more attention into who they are putting their trust in.  To find out more about our SEO consulting, SEO, PPC and Social Media services call our team of experts on 0800 84 999 33 today, or email us on sales@seotrafficlab.com.