Mike Moran wrote an interesting post in his blog, Biznology. He argues that the importance of search engines as a marketing platform is likely to decline as new technologies, like social networks, give people new ways to find information.

This got me thinking about two related issues.  What are the advantages and disadvantages of search engine marketing compared to social network marketing? And what will be the impact of new niche search engines?

The main advantage of a Social Network is that marketers have access to a lot of information about each user, like age, gender, interests, likes, and dislikes.  This gold mine of information can be used to target marketing campaigns to the most receptive audience.  Even information about the user's social group can potentially be used to tailor marketing messages.

The irony is that much of this information is rendered moot by the nascent state of social networking as a whole.  The simple fact that someone uses Facebook tells you an awful lot about who they are.  However, as new social networks emerge and existing social networks mature they will certainly reach a larger and more diverse audience.

Search engines collect less information about who the user is and more information about what the user wants.  Users see marketing messages driven by the search terms they entered.  While marketers might not know much about who the user is, they do know what the user is interested in at the moment; something social networks cannot do as well.

New niche search engines are attempting to provide marketers with information about the user and the user's intent.  One such search engine is Rushmore Drive.  It attempts to return results of interest to African Americans.  It does so by using an algorithm that emphasizes links from sites known to be popular with African Americans. 

The concept can be applied to any number of groups; kids between the ages of 10 and 13; men between the ages of 18 and 34, soccer moms, or Nascar Dads.  Marketers can potentially place a message in front of the right person (target audience) at the right time (when they are looking to buy). 

An important unresolved question is how best to make use of each marketing method.    That's a subject that will have to wait for a future post.  For now, I'd like to hear your thoughts.