Social Marketing: Transforming Behavior
Social marketing aims to alter, or maintain the way people behave in society. The focus of social marketers is to choose a target audience and apply the necessary techniques to alter, or maintain the behavior of their audience, which they then expect to ultimately affect the greater good of society. This approach creates a long-term relationship with the targeted audience, which for businesses, are their customers.
This marketing tool seeks to integrate techniques that best benefit the greater good. These techniques tend to end in secured and maintained customer engagement. Although social marketing uses social science as the driving force behind its technique, the ultimate goal of marketing techniques is always to create tools that increase customer engagement; this one is no different.
The History and Meaning of Social Marketing:
G.D Wiebe and Phillip Kolter are accredited as influencing and creating the term social marketing. Although not officially a concept for the first 20 years, the term social marketing has been around for over six decades! Social marketing began as a marketing technique applied to healthcare, but has extended to numerous industries over the years. Numerous journal publications have been published about the term within this time frame.
Often social marketing is confused with the term social media marketing, but the two have major differences. Many people overlap the two definitions because, on the surface, they seem to represent the same thing. I addressed a few of those differences in the social marketing vs social media marketing section of this article.
It’s important to know the difference so that you know which technique best applies to your developing marketing strategy. With the booming social media industry, people often turn to social media marketing, but for some industries social marketing is another option to explore.
Social Marketing Vs Social Media Marketing:
Social Marketing:
Social marketing mixes commercial marketing, with social sciences.
It changes, or maintains the target audience and society’s behavior, for the long term.
It benefits the target audience and society.
It also develops services or products based on needs of the target audience, and also
aims to improve the behavior of individuals for the benefit of the greater good.
This list represents complete dedication to the “target audience,” “society,” and “the greater good.”
Social Media Marketing:
Social media marketing utilizes social media for content promotions,
benefits the company or business
social media platform choice based on business type
Pinterest or Instagram: visual marketing tool
Works well for E-commerce companies
Twitter or Facebook:
Works well for business-to-business and marketing company
Attempts to persuade customers to purchase products or services
This list focuses on the benefit of businesses and companies.
Both social and social media marketing techniques continue to boost customer engagement, but the underlying intentions and actions towards that goal are different. Remember to use the technique that works best for your service; every company is different. One major difference with social marketing is that it’s used to create long term behavior changes.
When aiming to create anything long term, the task is different and the way to approach that goal is different. It’s a difficult task to successfully use social marketing. I want to help you overcome those difficulties by helping you begin this technique with the proper tools of success on your side!
How To Successfully Use Social Marketing:
After taking the steps to understand the people that are in your target audience, you begin a journey towards successfully using social marketing. These steps include research, developed strategies based on that research, and applying those strategies to create the environment necessary to influence your audience’s behavior.
Approaching this technique with a selfless attitude will help you develop the attitude needed to keep a “customer oriented” focus when applying the tools necessary for social marketing. Providing opportunities of convenience for your service or product to your target audience is one of the top tools in this process.
When you provide those types of opportunities, your target audience will develop voluntary behavior towards your brand because their behaviors will be influenced by the opportunities you have laid before them.
Look to organizations, that relate to your service or product, to fund your strategies. These organizations will support your mission and understand the importance behind it. After focusing on your audience and the funding of your service, all your tools should extend to transforming or maintaining the positive, beneficial behavior of all of society.
Ultimately, these tools should influence positive individual behaviors to benefit the greater good. Then, and only then, will you have successfully applied social marketing. Social marketing could create a ripple effect into creating the necessary attention towards your service because society will recognize how it benefits them.
If your looking for a legit work online opportunity, to focus your social networking content on, please don’t hesitate check out Wealthy Affiliate.
Share Your Thoughts:
Do you have something to say about Social Marketing? Maybe Something to add about your success or failures with incorporating this technique? If you do, please take the time and leave your comment at the bottom. I would love to hear it! Thanks for reading my post, and good luck with your success!
If you enjoyed this article on social marketing, please don’t limit yourself. Feel free to learn “all about” a different type of marketing/top list, like:
“All About” Sharpening Your People Skills For Marketing
“All About” Lead Capture Pages
And Much More…
Hi Hassan and thanks for your describing the differences between social marketing and social media marketing. I never really thought about there being a difference before now. And I certainly never thought of it being in existence so long. I always just think of social marketing being Facebook and such.
I’m new at online marketing but want to utilize some of these social sites for my campaigns. I promote a service. Which platforms do you think would be the best for me?
Thanks so much,
Suzanne
Hey Suzanne and thank you for commenting. It doesn’t really matter which platform you use. What matters is all the platforms work. Its up to us to learn how to use them properly.
I think you should play around with all of them, as you might find Facebook for example, or Twitter, or Facebook and Twitter, to be easy to use. Yes the water’s, you know. Hope this helps but let me know if you have any other questions. I’ll definitely do everything I can to help ?. Take care Suzzane and good luck with your success.
Thank you, Hassan, for a very informative post.
I run an affiliate marketing business. However, I haven’t done much training in marketing.
Your post on social marketing has come just at the right time.
Thanks for clarifying the difference between social marketing and social media marketing.
Also, the reminder about using techniques that work best for my business.
No problem, my pleasure ZEGU. I’m so glad I could help out. Let me know if you need to know anything else. I have more informative post coming soon, so be on the look out!! Peace and blessings, and I wish you nothing but the best towards your success.