A problem many marketers have is how to merge their Paid Search Engine Advertising with their Social Media presence. These two channels work differently and need completely different strategies. Matt Lawson, director of marketing for Marin Software, wrote a great How-To article on Mashable about this subject.

The first thing you need to realize is that Paid Search and Social Media should be used together, not as separate channels that do not communicate. Both have different strengths and weaknesses, so you must leverage each one’s strengths to optimize your marketing campaign. Most marketers agree that the main goal of social media is to build an online presence, communicate with customers, and build brand value. The main goal of Paid Search is to drive sales.

Lawson gives a few tips to optimize the usage of your Paid Search Advertising and Social Media:

Make your Social Media Campaigns Search Friendly. Your social media programs, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc, need to be properly tagged and the metadata for your pages include your top keywords. Along with your natural and paid search results, you also want people to find your social media easily.

Experiment With Keyword Advertising on Social Media Sites. Facebook and YouTube both offer keyword advertising programs that are vastly different from Google. Facebook allows you to target users through the preferences and items they put on their profile. YouTube allows you to target search queries. Although, unlike Google, YouTube’s search queries do not usually include a specifc product but rather general content. Make sure you target your ads correctly.

Create Social Media-Influenced Paid Search Campaigns. Take what you learn from your social media, through conversations with your customers and general discussions that are happening around your campaigns, and bid on keywords that reflect this information on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Remember to measure the performance of your ads and capitalize on keywords that are more effective.

By integrating your social media and paid search campaigns correctly you will not only build a better brand presence, but you will improve the effectiveness of both campaigns.