As an online marketing strategist I am always conscious of, yet fascinated with, the effect specific tactics have on one another. Some call it the ripple effect; I prefer to call it integrated marketing.

In theory I think it would be safe to assume that search traffic would ultimately increase as social media traffic increases. Using the SpyderTrap.com site for my mini-study, I consulted our Google Analytics account. Overwhelmingly, website traffic from search was almost always half of our overall traffic, compared to traffic from social media. In other words, as social media traffic increased, search traffic increased proportionately as well. Roughly 40 percent of search traffic was caused by Spyder Trap-related (Brand Name) searches, 56 percent of which were new visits.

Although this finding is neither shocking nor overwhelming, what is interesting is considering the factors that influenced this spike in traffic. What it does is partially answer some questions surrounding: “what role does social media have in online marketing integration?” In my opinion (speaking specifically to search marketing and social media marketing) it plays a major role for the following reasons:

1. Brand Awareness – Social media can be a great source of brand awareness, and social media marketing can drive direct leads. With increased brand awareness comes increased searches, clicks and eventually conversions.

2. Brand Recognition – In a world of competitive rankings, brand recognition is key! People are in general more likely to click on an organic and paid placement when they are aware of the brand and/or URL.

3. Marketing Reach – If done correctly and evident in the results above, social media marketing is a great tactic for attracting new interest in your brand, product, etc. Along with increased reach comes increased search volume, meaning more traffic and more conversions.

4. Loyalty and Quality – I have experienced first hand with clients and our own Spyder Trap site that website traffic associated with social media tends to have a dramatically reduced bounce rate, a drastically higher pages per visit ratio along with an increase in time spent on site. No kidding!

My point is that, much like traditional media, we need to look at online marketing with a holistic approach rather than tactical in order to optimize for every penny spent. We need to understand how social media fits into our marketing mix, not how our marketing mix can fit in social media.

The next question is what does social media integration look like and how should it be deployed? I have a few thoughts of my own, but I’d love to hear from you too. Any thoughts, ideas or examples? Stay tuned. More to come…

Note – Per a request via Twitter from Nathan Eide @nathaneide regarding the Minnesota Wild’s new 3rd jerseys. I think they are very “Minnesotan” and old school which is very cool, but they do remind me a bit of most college and All Star game jerseys. Overall I don’t mind them. Just my take? Any additional thoughts and or feedback on that topic?