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Content Marketing vs. Marketing for Social Media: What's the Difference?

Sarah Feldman4140 09-Aug-2017

Anyone who deals with technology, develops innovative business models, acts in the digital market or in the communications industry often has difficulty explaining to friends and family what they do to make a living. Okay, we agree that the term content marketing is not yet familiar to many companies - and it may sound like new even to marketing managers, journalists and even to those who work with content generation. But when we try to explain a little more what we do, a lot of people respond like this: "Ah, okay, you do marketing for social media." But that's not quite it.

Content marketing really involves social networks. But while there is some overlap, content marketing and social media marketing are two distinct entities with different focal points, goals and processes. To help clear up the confusion, let's look at the main ways in which they differ.

Point Of Gravity

In social media marketing, the center of gravity, the focus, is located within the social networks themselves. When they operate social media campaigns, professionals are operating within Facebook, within Twitter, within Google+. Once they produce the content, they make it available within those networks.

In contrast, content marketing's focus is a brand site - whether it's the primary URL, the corporate blog, or some micro site created for a particular product. Social networks are vital to the success of Content Marketing efforts. But in that case, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are used primarily as distributors of links to content on the brand site - not as recipients of the content itself.

Content Types

In social media marketing, content is built to fit the context of the chosen social platform: short messages in the 140-character Twitter banner, polls, quizzes and quizzes for Facebook, etc. In this case, the brands have as a model the behavior that individuals assume in social networks.

In content marketing, the context of websites and blogs allows longer and more worked forms of content. Brands can publish posts, videos, infographics and eBooks, just to name a few formats. In this case, the brands use the behavior of publishers of communication vehicles.

Goals

While both social media marketing and content marketing can be used for a myriad of purposes, the former usually tends to focus on two main goals:

1. It is used for brand recognition: The main activity is to generate discussion around the brand.

2. It is used for customer retention and satisfaction: Companies can use social channels as open forums for direct dialogues with customers, often around questions or doubts that consumers have. Content marketing is centered on the company's website and acts as a generator of demand. Because quality content brings potential customers to the company website, brands can develop a relationship with prospects and feed them toward a conversion or purchase.

Evolution Of Digital Marketing

Social media marketing easily comes to mind of people who work in the marketing department of companies. Content marketing is a relatively new term and a new practice for many. However, the two strategies are more like interconnected parts concerning the continuous evolution of marketing. The internet has unleashed a revolutionary ability for every brand to communicate directly with its customers - without the need for middleware.

It seems that social media marketing has a way of being more accessible: access to users is straightforward (as we all spend more and more time on social networks) and content is often short, which makes the publishing process relatively easy.

But as companies become more familiar with their new role as publishers, the natural progression will be toward content marketing. Yes, the challenge here is a bit bigger: content marketing requires the production and formatting of quality content, the attraction and the building of an audience on the site itself. But the rewards and results are undoubtedly more powerful. Companies can engage more deeply with their customers through content marketing efforts. And by driving consumers to their own site, the brand has a better chance of winning leads and moving them toward the tip of the sales funnel.

In a nutshell, we can say that content marketing is a digital marketing tool that consists of creating and sharing content, such as texts, news, videos or images, to acquire and / or educate clients with the main idea of creating a relationship. It is one of the main techniques of digital marketing in Dubai to engage and activate opinion formers and followers, offering compelling information on a consistent basis. Social media marketing is the set of actions and techniques of digital marketing to promote the positioning of brands, products or services in social networks, being nowadays considered one of the main components of the marketing strategy of a company. Marketing in social media privileges the involvement and relevance of content, generating involvement and interaction in social networks, where communication is bilateral, which broadens the reach of final consumers.


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