The Basics of Social Marketing

Let us make it clear at the very onset the difference between social marketing and social media marketing. While the former deals with marketing a cause for the common good, social media marketing is about using platforms like Twitter or Facebook to promote your products and services. In this post we are going to talk only about social marketing and how you can spread out your word online. Because you are selling an idea here through social marketing and not tangible products and services, your approach has to be a little different from the run-of-the-mill online campaigns.

The basic idea of social marketing dates back to the words of G. D. Wiebe in 1952: “Why can’t you sell brotherhood like you sell soap?” These words are essentially the crux of social marketing as we know it in the modern times as well. Suppose you work for a charity institution and want people to support your cause, financially and otherwise. Now, there are others in this same arena as well! How will you convince the global audience out there that your cause deserves their attention, and money? You have to build up a campaign to promote your idea in a way that grabs their eyeballs and also touches the core of their hearts.

This is where social marketing blends with social media marketing. Writing blog posts and articles about your cause and publishing them online will only take you to a certain extent. The real power of social marketing lies in unleashing your ideas on the social media platforms. That is where you can go full-on in talking about your cause and getting like-minded people on board. Social media networks, especially Facebook, have avenues that will lead you to the correct group of people who will do more for your cause than misdirected marketing messages strewn across digital pathways.

To make your social marketing venture a success, you need crackling content. Ideas, if they need to be put across, must be wrapped in a package of infotainment. Your content must have the power to cut through the layers of cynicism in people today and make an impact. It helps to address people who you know are sympathetic about the cause that you are looking to uphold. You get that added advantage on social media platforms where you know your target readers better.