Social media and social marketing sound the same, however, both the terms have an altogether different meaning. Social media is a platform for social interaction.
And it is used to create effective social marketing campaigns. Social marketing is the marketing of brands and products. Social marketing also helps in social awareness.
Key Takeaways
- Social media refers to online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that facilitate user-generated content sharing, communication, and networking.
- Social marketing uses marketing principles to promote behavior change for social good, focusing on the target audience’s needs and values.
- Companies can use social media for social marketing campaigns to raise awareness, engage with the audience, and inspire positive action.
Social Media vs Social Marketing
The difference between social media and social marketing is that social media is an online platform at which people make a profile as an individual to connect. While on the other hand, social marketing is to promotes awareness and brings a change in a person’s behaviour for the community’s betterment.
Internet and social media are today’s virtual world to be connected with everyone. Social media is an online world of messaging, calls, and posts.
Social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp are used by individuals, they make their profiles and can share their pictures and opinions through it.
Social marketing is the marketing of social awareness issues to bring a change in the community. Social marketing is also known as behaviour change marketing.
It is done so that the public will get the right information about health issues. Issues like anti-smoking, anti-drinking, No drinking and driving, etc are promoted.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Social Media | Social Marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Social media is an online platform to connect with one another. | Social marketing is the marketing of social issues to promote awareness about social issues. |
| Via | It is done via the internet. | Via newspapers, billboards, and social media sites. |
| Impact on individual | Social media can have a positive as well as negative impact on an individual. | Social marketing has a positive impact on people. |
| Impact on Society | Social media is for opinions of people as a community which can be totally different. | Social marketing is for social awareness. It will bring a positive change in society. |
| Examples | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. | Anti-smoking campaigns, fundraisers for NGOs, etc. |
What is Social Media?
Social Media is an online platform where people interact socially with each other. You can keep up in contact with your friends and family and the whole world.
The social media platform allows the exchange of information, ideas, interests, and feelings as well.
The most famous social media platforms these days are Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Linked In, and Twitter. Different social media platforms provide different features.
From a normal poor person to the biggest celebrity, have a social media platform account. Celebrities, from actors to entrepreneurs, from sportspersons to politicians, everyone uses social media.
They post and announce their shows, interests, and about themselves through social media.
There are apps and websites as well, which you can access through smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers. The users have to create their profile on a particular social media app to be a part of it.
You can message, call, or connect with anyone through these social media platforms.
There have been a lot of effects of social media these days on lives. There have been both positive and negative effects. These days social media is a big part of life, especially social life.
Mostly when an accident happens, people use social media to share their opinions.
What is Social Marketing?
Social marketing is marketing about social issues to promote awareness via social media. Social marketing is considered as the good done by marketing, like raising social awareness and promoting general health.
It promotes structure change which is relevant to social issues.
Social marketing is about marketing for social changes, campaigns like anti-smoking, etc. The aim is to influence people and their behaviour for the greater good of society.
Social marketing has been done by newspapers, billboards, and pamphlets, etc. With time social marketing has also caught up with technology, and now it is done through social media sites.
The marketing is done by understanding the targeted audience and understanding the behaviour that needs to be changed and how to be changed.
The message has to be developed with the motivation that can encourage behaviour change. The outreach to the audience and the evaluation are important.
The first time social marketing was used to address a social issue was in 1963. KT Chandy from IIM, Calcutta, India, led a program on reproductive health.
Social marketing is not commercial marketing. Commercial marketers aim to sell their products for their profits. Social marketing is purely for social transformation without a secondary outcome.
Main Differences Between Social Media And Social Marketing
- Social media is a digital platform to connect, while social marketing is marketing to promote social awareness.
- Social media is an online platform, and it requires the Internet. Social marketing is done via newspapers, billboards, and now with social media platforms as well.
- Social media is a tool to share the opinions of people, while social marketing is a process to bring change.
- Individual persons use Social Media sites to make profiles, while social marketing is for the whole community, which is done for the betterment of the community.
- Via social media, you interact with people, while social marketing aims to change or maintain a person’s behaviour for the benefit of the individual as well as the community.
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1524839911432009
- https://indianstrategicknowledgeonline.com/web/mayfield_strat_for_soc_media.pdf
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SO6VDouFcbEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Social+Marketing+&ots=QSMlD-_-ef&sig=zpIJVlCRJukpxHRAkFVwHanaBrE
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=V4v1WTiFmIYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Social+Marketing+&ots=SYdisUcD58&sig=QHxQ_C35TXDnHZ3PXZYi3jC9uh8
Last Updated : 09 August, 2023
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Chara Yadav holds MBA in Finance. Her goal is to simplify finance-related topics. She has worked in finance for about 25 years. She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities. Read more at her bio page.
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