What is the difference between SEO and SEM.

As a digital marketer student, I usually use these two terms SEO and SEM interchangeably. However, I found my self using them wrong. In fact, these two terms are not the same. There is a difference between them in terms of optimizing your website.

Search engaging optimization(SEO) is defined as the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.(1) SEO includes two different activities which are on-page optimization such as keywords in a website's title, HTML tags, Alt attribution and off-page optimization such as social sharing tools and bookmarking tools.

 Search engaging marketing (SEM) is defined as a form of Internet marketing that involved the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPS) through optimization and advertising(2).

If you look deeply at these two definitions, you will find the clue that SEM is comprised of SEO tactics and other search marketing tactics such as pay per click (ppc) and advertisements as well. As I mentioned above that SEM is to promote a website by increasing its visibility in search engine results, so that means to increase your website visibility on the search results, you need to use SEO first and then you use SEM to promote your website through paid search marketing.

Read more on SEO and SEM at https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/seo-sem-faqs

How to use Hashtags for a powerful marketing.

The main purpose that most companies use social media for is either popularity or profits. For-profits, companies use Hashtags for viral marketing which is described as an advertising strategy in which a controversial topic or issue is presented in a very exciting or interesting way that thousands of others will immediately share and repost the information. However, it is not easy for a starting brand to be popular on social media and to get a lot of followers and engagements. Therefore, the best way to make money of your social media account is to learn how to use hashtags for marketing your social media account and your marketing campaign. But, before I jump to the right use of hashtags, remember that hashtags are a sword with two edges. You all remember what happened with MacDonald in 2014 when they fault using hashtags on Twitter and response to a tweet on their chicken nuggets saying “please stop saying bad things on our good food”.

So, this example shows you how hashtags can destroy a trust that you may spend years to build between you and your customers. Another example of using hashtags successfully for the marketing campaign is Red Bull #PutACanOnIt. Though the hashtag was created by Red Bull, it was inspired by a photo the company found on Twitter wherein the photographer is seen holding a Red Bull can above a Mini Cooper to make it look as though it was a trademarked Red Bull car. The trend exploded as people around the world began creating their own images with Red Bull cans placed in unique positions.

Now, Let’s learn how to use hashtags successfully for your marketing campaign.

1. Keep your brand hashtag consistent and unique, and use it on all of your social sites.
2. Make campaign hashtags for your social contests and promotions, to generate more engagement and awareness of your marketing efforts.
3. Keep your business hashtags relatively short, so they’re easy to remember (and spell) for your consumers.
4. Monitor your brand and campaign hashtags to respond to people using them.

Read more on how to use hashtags for your marketing.

https://www.slideshare.net/TPG_Direct/how-to-create-a-successful-hashtag-marketing-campaign 

How to run a social media campaign successfully?

Many companies use social media channels as their main platform for marketing and CMR. Social media has been used as a medium for a marketing campaign. However, running a campaign on social media can be a quite challenging. To have a successful campaign on social media take a look at these steps.

Focus on one platform.

Marketers will try so hard to reach audience or consumers as much as they can so they will use more than one platform to spread their campaign message. However, the idea of reaching consumers on social media and gain their engagements is not using your all social media platforms to spread the campaign message. Instead, you should focus on one platform that is compatible with your campaign content. For example, if your campaign is visual such as a video or photos you could use YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat as your main platform. Otherwise, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter should work as well.

Encourage your audience to create and share content.

A good way to have a successful marketing campaign on social media is to ask your audience for their engagement. A lot of companies have used this strategy with their marketing campaign on social media. Take this example:

Kylie cosmetics ask their consumers for their engagement.

Choose the right time.

Your social media campaign will not be as successful as you want it to be if you do not run it at the right time. Always keep your campaign on social media around relevant event or occasion so your target audience will be more likely to engage and share your content. Keep it related to a topic that is being talked about on social media (1). Also, Kylie cosmetics used this strategy for their marketing campaign. The company launched Valentine's collection on the Valentine day. 

These are the three steps that I found important to keep in mind with running a campaign on social media but there are four more if you want to take a look. Click here to find more tips for successful social media marketing campaign.
 https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-campaigns#focus