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The terms social media and social marketing are often used interchangeably, and while its easy to see how it happens, its important to understand that these two terms mean very different things. Certainly, social media and social marketing can work together, but grasping their differences will save you from having egg on your face in any marketing discussion.

Social media, by its simplest definition, is a communications platform. The most popular are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Its where you converse and network with friends, family, and others. Its a common tactic used by marketers and can also be used to help execute social marketing campaigns. But in and of itself, social media is simply a tool one that requires a strategy behind it to be used effectively. Thats where social marketing comes in.

Also referred to as behavior change marketing, social marketing aims to change or maintain a persons behavior for the benefit of the individual or community as a whole. Most people will remember click it or ticket campaigns for seatbelt use. Believe it or not there was a time when using a seat belt was not automatic. A national social marketing campaign conducted in the late 70s helped encourage generations of car drivers and riders to buckle up. That campaign used television, billboards, and the potential for a costly ticket as interventions. Today, social marketing campaigns continue to use a variety of communication channels that now include social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others.

Social marketing campaigns are typically organized into four stages: (1) deepening the understanding of the target audience including the barriers to change behavior and the motivations that can encourage behavior change; (2) message development and testing; (3) outreach and interventions; and (4) evaluation. During the target audience understanding phase, the goal is to identify with as much specificity as possible the demographic and psychographic characteristics of the target audience. Where do they live? What do they buy? How do they consume news, or media? What stands in the way of the behavior change? What might be motivational to change behavior? This information (whether inferred, or determined through research and focus groups) is used to build personas, or fictional character representations of the target audience. Often, these personas are given a name like Social Smoker Sally or Trying to Quit Tricia.

After the personas have been developed, the next step is to create and test messaging so you know what is going to resonate with the target audience. To make sure the messaging you use is on target and also appeals to your audience, focus groups are critical. When creating the messaging consider the barriers your target audience faces when trying to make the desired change. Your messaging should help them to lower those barriers. Another approach we use to develop campaign messaging is to frame the desired change as fun, easy and popular. Research in human psychology shows that people are more likely to adopt behaviors that they perceive to be fun (i.e. beneficial to them whats in it for me?), easy to accomplish (break it down into smaller steps) and popular (other people are doing it too). Using this information, we can create messaging that is more likely to change behavior.

Once the messaging has been tested and approved, its time to develop a plan to get the word out. Different audiences are reached in different ways. Tactics we commonly use are social media, traditional media (radio, television, print ads), environmental or experiential advertising, as well as events, media relations or public relations, and influencers.

While the final step in campaign development is evaluation the evaluation process should really be ongoing throughout the entire campaign. Ultimately, you will evaluate overall performance (i.e. how many people took the desired action) after the campaign concludes, or has had time to make an impact but you should measure smaller milestones as you go. For example, how many impressions and engagements are you getting on social media? Are people signing up for email or calling to inquire about services? Evaluating these intermediary steps or actions early and often will help you to further fine tune messaging and outreach methods and allow you to optimize your overall results.

While social media and social marketing sound the same, the tools and processes they refer to are distinctly different. However, by using social media to create effective social marketing campaigns your brand or organization can make a big difference in peoples lives, and the communities in which they live.

About Ethos

Ethos is amultiplatform branding agencythat develops and executes integrated marketing campaigns across multiple channels for companies inside and outside of Maine.

At Ethos, we believe that the most effective wayto set a companys marketing course is by findingitscore truth its ethos. We know that once wediscoverand communicatethat core truth,we can truly make a difference for each clients unique marketing and business objectives.

With Ethos, you get more than a behavior change marketing agency. You get a long-term partner whose goals are your goals.

Learn more about theEthos approachandthe workweve done for our clients. Want to have a conversation about your brands core truth?Contact us!

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Social Marketing vs. Social Media: Whats the Difference and Why It ...

Jan 7, 2020| by Lauren Hunt | Social Marketing

Civilian opened its doors in 1999. Back then, we called ourselves AdEase. We promoted local restaurant chains, residential developments, and insurance firms.

But soon our focus shifted. We began to use our marketing, advertising, and community outreach tools to promote public health, conservation, transportation equity and economic development. With the shift came a renewed passion for the work and a shared commitment to positive change. In 2015 we made the change official with a new brand and a strategic focus on prioritizing social change work for the common good.

We often get asked how were different from commercial marketing agencies and their in-house counterparts. Its tough to tell sometimes because social marketers use many of the same tools as commercial marketers. But social marketing is an inherently different discipline and must be approached in a unique way.

Commercial marketing and social marketing differ fundamentally in their purpose. Commercial marketers seek to influence purchasing decisions most often for financial gain. Social marketers seek to influence behavior usually for the good of community or society. (And yes we realize commercial marketing can have positive social effects, too, and Civilian helps businesses invest in corporate social marketing.)

Commercial and social marketing also differ in the way they approach their audiences. Commercial marketers target consumers while social marketers focus on people likely to make, influence, or encourage behavior change. Often the people who most need to change are the least likely to want to do it, as in the case of an anti-smoking campaigns. For this reason, social marketings intended audiences are typically broader, more diverse, and harder to reach.

Commercial and social marketers also have different priorities. Commercial marketers prioritize efficiency and time-to-impact measured by leads, sales or cost per acquisition. Social marketers must account for the often slower pace of behavior change and plan for social equity. A socially just campaign must work equally well for multiethnic, multilingual, low-income, or otherwise underserved audiences and success is often measured months or years later using metrics such as mortality rates, increased transit access and family-level economic impact to understand whether actual and sustainable change has occurred.

Another important difference relates to funding and the sharing of information. Commercial marketing campaigns are privately funded. Their strategies and results are proprietary. Most social marketing campaigns, however, are publicly funded, which leads to sharing of best practices and published results. Social marketers can benefit from this access to in-depth research but are also compelled to publicly share results of both their successes and failures.

Finally, although social marketing targets specific individuals, its highest aim is to effect a level of social change that transcends any single contribution. Achieving this goal often requires patience and the application of more marketing tools including community education, public advocacy, influencer engagement, and partnership building. Their success is often highly dependent upon cultural and political circumstances making it crucial for social marketing campaigns to have a realistic timeline, a multifaceted approach, political momentum, and the right partners to make lasting change.

These distinctions may seem subtle or abstract and we are in no way suggesting one is more valuable than the other. Social marketing is the work that gets us the most fired up and our specific focus continues to attract like-minded people. As social marketers who are equally fluent in commercial marketing, the Civilian team truly thrives tackling the most complex issues affecting our communities, determined to make a difference by doing work that matters.

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How Social Marketing Differs from Commercial Marketing - Civilian

Job Description

The Social Media Marketing Specialist is responsible for day-to-day management of the companys national and local social media platforms. The applicant should be an organized, creative type with an understanding of, and appreciation for, effective marketing and advertising. In this role, you will have the opportunity to create engaging social media strategies that turn followers into ambassadors. You will ensure the content is representative of a best-in-class healthcare provider to each of its unique audiences, including medical partners, job seekers, patients, families, and volunteers. You will collaborate with team members across our Employee Communications and Brand, Business Development, Recruitment, Field programs, and external agencies to identify business objectives and implement creative social campaigns to achieve those goals through compelling stories, videos, photos, infographics, polls, and more.

Experience:

Education:

Bachelors degree in communications, marketing, business or related field from an accredited college or university or the international equivalent required.

Certification & Licensure:

None required for this position.

Physical Requirements:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

About Us

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Spec Social Media Marketing Job in Cincinnati, OH - VITAS | CareerBuilder

Brands often use social media for marketing because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up getting them exposed to a wide range of consumers and boost engagement to higher levels. But are they really using social media to the fullest extent? Marketing is just one of the many things that brands can use social media for, and sometimes just reading what their customers are posting about them can be useful.

This process is known as social listening, and with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that it can be a great way for brands to get free consumer data. Customers often share opinions and perspectives on brands they recently worked with eagerly on social media, but in spite of the fact that this is the case around 39% of businesses currently dont use social media listening as part of their overall marketing strategy.

This data comes from a report released by Meltwater in collaboration with Social Media Today. The findings of this report revealed that while only 61% of brands currently use social listening, about 82% said that they felt it was important and useful with all things having been considered and taken into account. That indicates that brands are maturing in their understanding of what they can get from social media, because this is a treasure trove of data that they would have otherwise had to pay a lot of money for.

As for what brands use social listening to understand, there are a lot of points of focus here. Around 21% of brands use social media listening to get an idea of how aware consumers are of their brand. An even greater number, or 32% to be precise, say that they use it to understand the sentiments that consumers have regarding them. The third most common use for social media listening is to understand current trends in the industry, with around 20% of brands using it for that purpose because that might help them create better products.

There are some problems that brands might face in their pursuit of social listening, though. The most widely cited obstacle by brands is time, with around 42% of brands agreeing that this was an issue. Other issues are almost equally troublesome though, including employee bandwidth which was cited by 40% of brands. Employees are overworked as it is, and adding social media listening to their list of tasks might push them over the edge. 39% of brands also cited data restrictions by platforms as an obstacle, with 32% also referring to cost related issues. 30% of brands felt that they lacked the necessary tools, and surprising 15% of brands said that they didnt have enough system knowledge.

Read next:Digital Content Marketing Sees An Exponential Rise During And After The Pandemic

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Social Media Listening is an Incredible Marketing Resource, But Are Brands Taking Advantage of It? - Digital Information World

Social media platforms drastically altered the way we socialise. But in recent years their role has expanded beyond that of connecting us with our friends.

Consumers are now exploiting these platforms for other use cases - like keeping up with news on Twitter, getting product reviews on YouTube or gaining an inside view of celebrity and influencer lives on Instagram.

In fact, a study by US influencer marketing intelligence platform Sideqik revealed that 50% of millennials feel that they know the influencers they follow on social media better than their friends. At least 78% of consumers said they discovered a new brandor product from an influencer.

And, according to an October 2020 survey by Rakuten Insight, about 72% of the respondents from the age group of 25 to 34 years in India admitted to following at least one influencer on social media.

While there is no rigid classification, the category in which an influencer falls in is typically defined by the number of followers.

Nano influencers are those with a few thousand to as much as 10,000 followers while micro influencers have up to 100,000 followers. For macro, this number goes to a million. A mega influencer would be someone with a million or more followers. They may not necessarily be celebrities.

Brands leverage influencers to not only promote their products, but also to get their messaging across to consumers in an engaging visual format.

Influencers have a big impact on consumers, especially millennials. And influencer marketing has democratised digital marketing. It is not just TV ads anymore. The time spent on social media platforms is going up, and so is the clout of influencers.

They command a higher engagement rate than celebrities, and enjoy peoples trust too. And brands know it very well.

But, off late, a flip side of influencers marketing also seems to be emerging. Allegations are surfacing that brands are using influencers to not just to mould their better image, but to pull down their competitor too. As with any industry, there are a few bad apples here too. For such agencies, it is just another service they offer to brands for money.

SoftBank and Meta-backed e-commerce startup Meesho recently got a taste of it. It took note of this after a startup executive on Twitter pointed out earlier this month that several influencers -- in a seemingly coordinated manner -- tweeted negatively about the company while tagging its investors. These posts accompanied a link to a news article about Meeshos cost-cutting strategies. Meesho claimed that some influencers acknowledged that the tweets were paid promotions while others deleted their posts.

It has now asked the marketing agencys CEO to disclose on whose behest it was working and issue an unconditional apology.

Two more startup executives revealed they were approached earlier this year to make negative comments about Meesho in lieu for money.

A journalist shared her observation that articles on Meesho often receive coordinated abuse from verified accounts on Twitter.

Meesho Founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey claimed that paying influencers to peddle rumours against the startup has been happening for the last many months.

The agency which engaged the influencers for this alleged smear campaign and to whose CEO Meesho has sent a notice is reportedly based in Ahmedabad. It is one among the scores of such influencer marketing agencies that have cropped up across the country as brands look to reach 400 million social media audiences.

Balasubramanian, co-founder of Bengaluru-based influencer marketing firm Greenroom, says that smaller influencers sometimes get paid through free products in return for promotional posts talking up a product or sharing their opinions after using a product.

She says nano influencers can get paid as little as Rs 500 for a post that can go up to Rs 5,000 whereas a micro influencer can make as much as Rs 15,000 per post.

Lakshmi Balasubramanian of Greenroom says influencers are people like us who record their everyday activities online. Their reliability quotient is much higher than a celebrity. With influencers, smear campaigns just moved to a different medium. as such, until rules are put down, such campaigns using influencers will also continue to happen. Agencies are doing it simply for the moneym she says. We get influencers signing up with us to agree that they will not abuse a brand, she says.

Influencers who tweeted against Meesho for a price may have fallen afoul of the guidelines for influencer advertising in digital media issued by the Advertising Standards Council of India, a voluntary self-regulatory organisation of the ad industry.

Greenrooms Lakshmi Balasubramanian says that in such cases brands and agencies can be pulled up since policing hundreds of influencers involved in a negative campaign can be impractical.

A report by GroupM India pegged the size of Indias influencer marketing industry at Rs 900 crore in 2021, growing at an average of 25% annually till 2025. Around 40% of this consists of nano and micro influencers.

While the exact number of total influencers in India is hard to come by, it could very well run into tens of thousands if not lakhs, with more being created every day.

According to The Advertising Standards Council of India or ASCIs guidelines, influencers are required to disclose any material connection between them and the advertiser by using any of the permitted disclosure labels.

Material connection isnt limited to monetary compensation. Disclosure is required if there is anything of value given to mention or talk about the advertisers product or service. The anti-Meesho tweets did not carry any such labels.

Influencers are also advised to review and satisfy themselves that the advertiser is in a position to substantiate the claims made in the advertisement.

ASCI CEO Manisha Kapoor told The Morning Show that the regulator has not been approached by Meesho so far but if they do, ASCI would examine the complaint to the extent of its remit.

Speaking to Business Standard, Manisha Kapoor, CEO, Advertising Standards Council of India, says this is not the first time influencers have been paid to talk negatively about a competitors product. This is not just unethical but also misleading to consumers. The anti-Meesho tweets potentially violates both ASCI guidelines and Consumer Protection Act, but the final responsibility is of the advertiser who commissioned a campaign of this nature. Influencers are also responsible

Manisha Kapoor also says that even one or two of these agencies engaging in malpractices give the entire industry a bad name. She suggests that the influencer industry, including players in the ecosystem, should step up and look at implementing a code of conduct for itself, to keep the industry clean.

The onus to nip this malpractice in the bud also lies on influencers. It will not just dent their image, but that of the entire influencer community as a whole. The trust they enjoy will erode, and brands may also stop coming to them for promotions. ASCI too should act tough against such incidents to instil confidence among social media users.

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Has the Meesho incident highlighted the flip side of influencer marketing?s - Business Standard