The Difference You Need to Know about Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing
When we start getting into the nuances of social media marketing and digital marketing, it's easy to get bogged down by the details.
Some might even say, "it's all marketing, what does it
matter?"
But, as we'll soon see, it's critical for marketers and
business executives to differentiate between "digital marketing vs. social
media."
Are you ready to know more? Here's what will be covered in
this blog post:
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is the use of digital devices to promote a
brand or its products.
It includes both online and offline channels such as
television, podcasts, billboards, commercials, text messages, and many more.
Internet marketing is a big part of digital marketing. When
you think about Search Engine Marketing (SEM), content marketing, and email
marketing, it's all part of digital marketing as a whole.
Magazine ads, direct mail, and printed billboards are giving
way to paid advertising (PPC), marketing emails, and electronic billboards.
Marketing has always been about putting brands and products
in front of the most eyes.
Digital marketing does this very effectively with the
billions upon billions of electronic devices we have today.
Offline Digital Marketing
Offline digital marketing is often dismissed as traditional
or ineffective.
However, some of the biggest brands today, such as Coca-Cola
and Mcdonald's, still spend millions on billboard and TV ads every year, and for
good reason.
Examples include:
- - Online radio ads and radio show ads (radio)
- - LED billboards in high-traffic areas (enhanced offline advertising)
- - Cable TV commercials and streaming services like Netflix (TV)
- - Telephone marketing through cold calling, texting, and in-app advertisements (Telephone marketing)
These tactics are often very effective, but they can be
expensive. That's why many startups and small businesses choose online
marketing instead.
Online Digital Marketing
Online marketing revolves around any kind of digital
marketing that works off the internet.
There are many categories of network marketing, but we will
only cover the 6 most important ones.
Search Engine Marketing
The use of paid strategies to increase the visibility of
websites and brands online. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one tool used
in SEM.
Content Marketing
The use of online content such as blogs and videos to
promote a brand or product indirectly. It is a huge part of Inbound Marketing.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Involves advertising on platforms like Google and paying
each time someone clicks on the ad or makes an impression (eg, downloads a
guide, buys a product, or signs up for a demo).
Email Marketing
The art of sending promotional emails to prospects; it is a
big part of Outbound Marketing.
Affiliate Marketing
This is when brands pay third parties a commission when they
sell their products. Influencers, bloggers, and resellers are all big parts of
affiliate marketing.
Social Media Marketing
Digital marketing through social channels, as we will see in
more detail in the next section.
Key Benefits of Digital Marketing
All in all, digital marketing gets the attention of more
people than any other form.
As of 2021, 85% of Americans own a smartphone as well as a
variety of other online devices. This gives digital marketing some incredible
benefits:
Wide Reach
Digital marketing has the potential to have a global reach.
As marketers, we can use anything from local radio stations to Google Ads to
control the size of the audience we want to reach.
Cost-effectiveness
A well-executed digital marketing strategy will cost
significantly less than traditional marketing methods. It does this by giving
access to a much wider audience.
Accessibility and Versatility
More brands can use digital platforms for marketing than
with any other traditional channel.
Today, tons of small businesses built on platforms like
Amazon and Shopify can promote their niche products and services effectively
and efficiently using online channels.
Quantifiable Conversions
Digital marketing is highly measurable.
Brands can often accurately approximate new customer
acquisition numbers by monitoring various marketing campaigns and metrics such
as email open rates, homepage visits, and direct purchases.
Targeting and personalization
Modern technology makes it very easy to customize marketing
campaigns based on the target audience.
Using customer data, it is possible to create highly
specific marketing content based on customer profiles.
Rocking Lead Generation
What is Social Media Marketing?
As part of online digital marketing, social media marketing
relies on the use of social channels and forums to reach prospects.
Some of the biggest social media platforms used include
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and Pinterest.
Online forums like Reddit and Quora are also fertile grounds
for social media marketing.
However, SMM is not about selling. Brands also use online
communities to monitor customer sentiment, analyze brand awareness and keep
track of market trends.
These tactics were collectively known as social media
management.
What is the Purpose of Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is a large and complex field.
It's also constantly evolving as platforms change and brands
discover new ways to market to their customers. However, there are some main
goals that brands like to achieve with SMM:
Advertising
One of the main uses of social media is to push products and
services through paid advertisements; this is how social media companies make
their money.
Content promotion
SMM is often used to push website and blog content. This
drives visits and creates brand loyalty, a great way to build brand authority
and visibility.
Track competition
Social media platforms are information goldmines. They are
perfect for finding insights into competitors' marketing strategies, target
markets, and even keyword research.
Build brand image
Social media channels allow customers to engage with the
brand on a more personal level. This is possible by building and maintaining a
consistent brand voice, e.g. friendly, helpful, reliable, or professional.
Marketing sentiment
tracking SMM is incredibly powerful. It can be used to track
comments, shares, mentions, and tone of social posts to gauge how the brand is
perceived by customers.
Data collection
Brands gain significant insights into the minds and lives of
their key customers through social media. This, in turn, helps them tailor
their products, services, and marketing efforts to better serve the same
customers.
MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Essential Pillars of Social Media Marketing
With such a versatile tool as SMM, it's important to have
solid principles that can help guide how we use social media for marketing.
We would suggest the following:
-
Have a solid strategy
-
A detailed social media
strategy is paramount to success.
Each social platform used needs guidelines on what business
goals to target, the type of content to publish, and the type of brand persona to
use.
Be consistent with publishing
Consistency is key when it comes to social media engagement.
Daily, weekly, or even monthly publishing calendars are
needed, often with the help of automation tools.
Engagement monitoring
Various high-tech software tools are needed to keep track of
how a brand is performing on social media.
We need these tools to tell us what customers are saying
about us so we can manage and stay ahead of market sentiments and trends.
Use of analytics
Social media platforms provide a depth of analytics tools.
We take the information provided seriously to help measure
and quantify brand awareness, the success of social media campaigns, and more.
Commercial advertisements
Paid social media ads can be a very successful investment if
done right.
However, we must invest in high-quality campaigns with
highly customized ads to ensure a good return on investment.
Increase your ad performance
Digital vs Social Media Marketing: Key Differences
If digital marketing were a cake, social media marketing would
be a big slice full of ice cream and cherries.
|
DIGITAL MARKETING |
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING |
|
Marketing done on all kinds of digital platforms, online and offline. |
A form of online digital marketing that uses social networking
platforms, channels and forums. |
|
Usually aimed at reaching the audience at different touch points and
raising awareness. |
Used to reach a wide audience on social channels and engage them with
the brand. |
|
It only requires investing in powerful advertisements in prime
locations such as billboards or TV commercials. |
A lot depends on content strategy for success. |
|
An umbrella term for all modern, electronic-based advertising. |
Specific to marketing based on social engagement channels. |
|
Mostly used to drive sales. |
Can be used for all kinds of business purposes such as brand
awareness, competitor research and more. |
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