This week, I got an e-mail from a colleague who wanted to discuss ‘social marketing’ such as Facebook outreach to enhance our health communication project. This reminded me of a graphic I received not long ago from Neil Thornley from Thornley & Hill UK who’s also concerned about the conflation of social marketing and social media marketing. Below is a graphic he designed to help explain the two concepts.
In Neil’s word:
Well, simply put:
Social marketing is designed to lead to changes in behaviour, changes in policy or changes in environment to benefit the social good. Social media is a tool (alongside direct marketing, advertising etc.) which utilises social networks to drive sales (in accordance with a marketing plan), create positive PR and/or drive brand awareness.
Both represent a shift towards consumer orientation to realize organizational (social) goals and tailoring the product to the customer.
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