Recently, I came across a photo of green tea macarons on my feed. The carefully crafted image looked good enough to click. The link leads to a website with the complete how to and a complete list of ingredients including where to purchase Macha (green tea) powder. This is what the journey from my newsfeed to the website has told me:

• What the product is
• How I can use it
• Where and how to buy the product

Social media has become a part of our daily lives. We download them as apps on our phones to make sure we stay connected. As a result content marketing finds its way to us by the links we click and the content that we consume. Many marketers interchange social media and content marketing. A few even think that they are the same. Understanding the difference between these two and recognising where they meet helps us better utilise them.

Difference in Focus

Social media marketing and content marketing operate in different spheres. Social media occurs within social sites such as facebook, twitter or Instagram. Marketers use statuses, posts, tweets, or pins and these activities all occur inside the social media channels. Social media marketing, while maintaining the company’s persona, uses the language that is native to each platform such the use of catchy, humorous one-liners on Twitter.

The focus of content marketing is the website. The content is tailored for the target audience. The language used is consistent with the company’s persona and tailored to the type of audience or buyer persona that the business want to attract.

Difference in Objectives

With social media marketing, businesses are able to be present on their customers newsfeed. Brand messages appear alongside posts from their friends. Because of this, they are able to:

• Increase brand awareness and reach
• Increase website traffic and search ranking

The content marketing activities are centered on producing different pieces of content that speak to the website’s target audience. Content marketing objectives are:

• Lead generation
• Lead conversion
• Build authority
• Nurture customer relationships and build trust
• Encourage brand advocates

On your social media platforms, your call to action should be towards your audience learning more about you. Your content marketing call to action is about building the brand and customer relationship.

Where two meet

Since new social media platforms are rapidly being added to the market and more users flock their way, many marketers tend to gravitate more on social media marketing as their primary strategy. Social media is a great and low-cost tool to make a brand known to an audience; and since they are posted along those from family and friends, they are often less threatening than a paid commercial or a pop-up ad. Online marketing has evolved wherein instead of just introducing a product and encouraging a purchase, brands are now creating deeper and lasting relationships with their audience.

In the example above social media was effectively used as a medium where a business can have access to their customers. In social media, posts are packaged into smaller chunks such as attention-grabbing headlines, descriptive hashtags or attractive images. Where the two meet is in the transition between having an audience who is aware of the brand to someone who is on their way to making a buying decision.

As brands become more than just products and take on the role of publishers, the audience is engaged further, with helpful posts and relatable stories. This helps take the customer into a relationship with the brand, someone who is actively using a product or service. As trust is built and the relationship is nurtured through consistent, quality content, the customer can become an advocate who will in turn share their experience with the product on their own social media channel.

Let’s take a look at your website and see if it is easy for them to find the content that they are looking for. Send us a message here.

About the Author

 

About Angelica Manlunas

Angelica lives off of coffee and pizza. She spends her time online tinkering on social media, watching short films and poetry slams. Her offline time is devoted to trips to the beach or spending lazy days indoors with a book in her hand. Also, she writes at least 1000 words every day. Email Angelica at angelica.manlunas@transeo.com.au and follow Angelica @ang_transeo.