The big internet marketing discussion over the last few years has been whether social media marketing or search engine marketing provides the greatest ROI. The debate is a certainly a good one and one which has become more difficult in 2012.

Search Vs. Social – Who is the real Winner?

In the past search engine marketing provided a greater ROI than social media. However the digital landscape has changed greatly in the past year and in 2012 it is nearly impossible to have a social or search strategy without the other. Social signals, local citations, and online reviews have gained tremendous importance in ranking algorithms and will continue to play a major role in your inbound marketing efforts.

Today, Google factors in video, Yelp reviews, and your social network before returning search results. Therefore your search engine optimization strategy must include video production, video distribution to Youtube, as well as brand management over sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Yelp.

Although the video above shows search and social to be rather even as far as total marketing value, which do you feel provides a better ROI for your business?