Social Marketing and Social Media Marketing: The Public Health Difference?

Feb 15

posted by Dr. John Riggs in Social Marketing | 44 Comments

In the past year, I've noticed what seems to be a misunderstanding between the almost 45 year old discipline known as social marketing and the recent rise in the notion of social media marketing. As someone who has spent the majority of their early career in healthcare as a medical provider, I feel it is important to provide a perspective of distinction from the public health point of view.

Someone may ask; "so what's the big deal? ’Social Marketing' and 'Social Media Marketing' are only one word apart, who cares? When did all of this begin anyway?" Great questions...I'm glad you asked.

As early as 1969, Philip Kotler and Sidney Levy captured the academic community's attention with their pioneering article "Broadening the Concept of Marketing" whereby the idea of social marketing was presented and discussed. Later, in 1971, Kotler and Gerald Zaltman formally coined the term social marketing. Although current wording of social marketing definitions may vary, the essence of the discipline rests unchanged. Kotler, Lee, and Rothschild (2006) defined social marketing as:

"Social marketing is a process that applies marketing principles and techniques to create, communicate, and deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society as well as the target audience (Kotler, Lee, & Rothschild 2006, p. 26).”

In other words, from a public health point of view, it's the use of marketing principles and techniques to solve public health problems. Rich with research and grounded in practical application, social marketing provides health professionals with the tools to develop programs to support healthy behaviors (Coreil 2010).

Applications (Cheng, Kotler, & Lee 2010):

Currently, social marketing principles and techniques are applied in various ways to benefit society and the target audience. Specific to the area of public health, four groupings tend to receive the most attention. The initial grouping is known as health promotion, whereby social marketing methods are used to promote health related behaviors such as tobacco cessation, obesity, teen pregnancy, cancers, and blood pressure. Second is the injury prevention grouping which targets behaviors common to injury such as drinking and driving, proper safety restraints for children in vehicles, suicide, falls, and household poisons. Behavioral issues related to environmental protection is the third area. Examples include matters related to waste reduction, wildlife protection, water conservation, and air pollution from automobiles. The final group is community mobilization which consists of behaviors such as blood donation, identity theft, literacy, and animal adoption.

While the area of social marketing began over 40 years ago, it is often one of the most frequently misunderstood. Today, the most common error is that many people seem to confuse it with social media marketing. Just do a quick Google search, and you will find numerous chat rooms, blogs, web pages, and videos that mislabel social media marketing as simply social marketing.

For clarity and over-generalization, social media marketing is a process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites (e.g., YouTube, Twitter, etc.). However, while social media is a critical part of the communication tools and channels for social marketing, the latter is a specific field of marketing practice, research, and education. As I mentioned earlier, there are various formal definitions of social marketing as well as numerous applications for social media focus and format. However, social marketing and social media marketing are dramatically different and should not be accepted as the same based on general references and hurried shorthand.

It is undisputed that the recent explosion of social media marketing campaigns has changed the landscape of how modern marketing strategies and tactics are executed. Likewise, it is widely recognized that social marketing has dramatically changed the way public health problems are being solved and is becoming a large part of the overall health domain.

It's important to recognize that experts in both areas continue to work hard as they explore innovative ways to advance their discipline. So as practitioners and academics alike, let's be sure not to minimize the value and significance of either discipline by mislabeling or lazy shorthand.

References:

Cheng, H., Kotler, P., & Nancy Lee, D. (2010). Social marketing for public health. Social Marketing for Public Health: Global Trends and Success Stories, 1.

Coreil, J. (Ed.). (2010). Social and behavioral foundations of public health. SAGE Publications Inc.

Kotler, P., Lee, N.R., & Rothschild, M. Personal communication, September 19, 2006.

John F. Riggs, D.B.A., is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Riggs has over 25 years of experience in healthcare as a healthcare provider, marketer, and sales executive. He can be reached at John.riggs@nova.edu

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• #1 by Eva Goldstein on 4/5/16 - 7:40 PM

  

  Thank you, Dr. Riggs. I learned something new! I honestly did not know the definition of social marketing before reading this blog post and find myself surprised and a little confused at the same time. I am going to make a point of asking my fellow business students and marketers if they know the proper definition of social marketing to make sure my initial response to this post is on target, but I have a suspicion that the confusion that Dr. Riggs belabors is simply a consequence of a lack of knowledge in the general public. I am guessing that since people don’t know what social marketing is, they deduce meaning from the literal meaning of the two words which seem to imply “marketing something to people socially.” Marketing something to people socially is very close in meaning to social media marketing, so I am honestly not surprised about the confusion of the two subject matters.
  
  Additionally, I did not know that the term marketing is used when referring to communication activities that “deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society.” Traditionally, marketing is defined as promoting and selling products or services. Our text book states “One of the shortest good definitions of marketing is ‘meeting needs profitably’” (Kotler, 2016). However, when used in the context of social marketing, the core associations of profitability, products, and services are taken out of the equation. Prior to reading this blog post, I would have used other terms to describe the activities that comprise social marketing, such as communication campaign, awareness campaign, or health and wellness promotion perhaps. It appears to me that the term social marketing may have been coined long before social media was invented. Due to today’s omnipresence of social media marketing, I am afraid that Dr. Riggs is fighting a losing battle in attempting to change people’s perceptions of the term social marketing.
  
  Reference
  Kotler, P. K. (2016). A Framework for Marketing Management.

• #2 by Khalil Sutton on 4/7/16 - 10:47 AM

  

     This was a very interesting journal that dives into the differences between social marketing and social media marketing, two concepts that people seem to confuse often. As the article details: “Social marketing is a process that applies marketing principles and techniques to create, communicate, and deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society as well as the target audience ((Kotler, Lee, & Rothschild 2006, p. 26). On the contrary, Social media marketing can be defined as: a process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites (e.g., YouTube, Twitter, etc.).
     This article made me think about my company. We do have a “Social media marketing campaign” which encompasses using posts, analytic, and friend/public interaction to drive traffic to our product pages/order pages. In a different sense, we also have a “Social marketing” plan for our products/distributorship programs. We use this to identify, address, and satisfy our niche community using different techniques to increase viewing of products available and business opportunities.
  In my opinion, there is a big difference between social media marketing and social marketing. Honestly, I think the confusion comes from words association and the connection to our enamoring obsession with social media. Even though there is a huge difference between the two, they are almost (these days) equally important, whereas 40 years ago social media marketing was obsolete. I feel as though these two concepts go hand in hand, because social media marketing Is an avenue to advance your “social marketing” project or agenda.
  
  Journal References:
  Cheng, H., Kotler, P., & Nancy Lee, D. (2010). Social marketing for public health. Social Marketing for Public Health: Global Trends and Success Stories, 1.
  Coreil, J. (Ed.). (2010). Social and behavioral foundations of public health. SAGE Publications Inc.
  Kotler, P., Lee, N.R., & Rothschild, M. Personal communication, September 19, 2006.

• #3 by Evan Ihlenfeldt on 4/9/16 - 8:29 PM

  

  I enjoyed reading this post, thank you Dr. Riggs for clarifying the difference between social marketing and social media marketing. I am not one to be on social media too much but when I am on Facebook I have noticed how it’s become a giant advertisement. If I search for anything on the web that could be sold to me, it shows up on my news feed like it was trying to be my friend. It’s too bad that we can’t change the name of social media marketing to something else to end the confusion, especially if you were a professional social marketer working hard to promote the wellness of our society and you tell someone your profession and they respond “oh you work on Facebook”. I do believe social media can be a benefit social marketing for example when you look into charity work, a social marketer can use social media to target potential donors based on their likes and dislikes. I can imagine that a nonprofit would save a lot of money on advertising and time spent trying to reach out to potential donors.

• #4 by Diego Soto Gonzalez on 4/11/16 - 9:42 PM

  

  This was a really interesting article; it perfectly explains the difference between Social Marketing and Social Media Marketing, because as the article says, they are only one word apart, but there is a big difference between these two terms. In my opinion, the best part of the article was where I learned that social marketing principles are nowadays used to have a positive impact in society and, particularly, in a target audience. This type of social marketing targets important health problems like obesity, cancer or blood pressure, in order to spread awareness about the inherent importance of these problems and aid in the prevention and cure of these conditions.
  
  I am really happy that I got to read this article; this was honestly, one of the most interesting articles that I have read through my MBA program, because I learned something different, that I had no idea about and that can be really useful in the world. This is a topic that I would definitely talk about at work with my coworkers, since I would be really interested in discovering how much they know about it. I searched the terms and the difference between them through Google but the results in the web are really confusing and completely different depending on the website. I would discuss this with the marketing department of my company to gain in depth knowledge about the subject. Overall, I believe this was a good reading and I learned a lot with it. I am excited to ask around and to get more educated about this topic.

• #5 by Jeff Arteaga on 4/11/16 - 10:10 PM

  

  Like Khalil Sutton’s post, I too, am of the opinion that society has blended social marketing and social media marketing, not out of ignorance or disrespect, but over-saturation and convenience. Everyday we are bombarded with any combination of media overload; in order for our brains to function properly, humans need to filter. If we didn’t, we’d go crazy.
  
  That being said, Riggs should not take it so personally, when someone mislabels or mistakes one for the other. After all, most of the population believe “marketing” is strictly advertising, brand recognition, and email blasts. However, anyone who has ever studied marketing knows there are so many other elements… like monitoring metrics and KPIs, measuring the effectiveness of campaigns, running organic searches on key words, negotiating PPC, calculating the most operative ways of reaching a market, running trials to test market saturation, finding new or underserved markets, presenting that information to decision makers before it becomes obsolete, etc.
  
  With all the other things that a successful marketing representative needs to focus on, semantics over the definition of what a person is trying to accomplish should be at the bottom of the priority list.

• #6 by Dave Davis on 4/13/16 - 8:30 AM

  

  This article was very informative and I have learned something new. I automatically consider social marketing and social media marketing as the same definition. I agree with author that there are different, but I understand how they are confused. In today's society ,social media has a large audience and can incorporate social marketing into social media marketing. Today, social marketing is still relevant for promoting social issues (heath), such as Blue Cross Blue Shield providing its members gift cards to participate in preventative measures to reduce health risk. This social marketing strategy can be delivered by incorporating social media marketing.
  
  Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing
  http://brogan.com/blog/social-marketing-versus-soc...
  
  Blue Health Assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fepblue.org/en/wellness-resources-and-...

• #7 by Sisleidy Reyes on 4/13/16 - 3:18 PM

  

  I can say that many people still continue to get social marketing and social media marketing. I can relate to healthcare being a healthcare professional for the past 11 years. I have been on the patient/provider side as well as the insurance side. Each side uses different types of marketing.
  Physicians advertise their services and clinics in a various ways. Patient/provider aspect do not post marketing on websites like Facebook, Instagram or twitter. In my experience you will see a commercial or a magazine article. On the insurance side you would defiantly see social media marketing. I saw it when I used to work on the insurance side and I see it now days not only on social networks mentioned above, but on Linkedin as well.
  Just today as I opened my Linkedin application the first thing I see is social media marketing for Humana Health Plans. I do agree with the blog pointing out that these two types of marketing are completely different in many ways. The advertisement each one advocates to the public differ not only in their method, but in the message they relay to the public.

• #8 by Kelly Ferreira de Souza on 4/13/16 - 5:20 PM

  

  First, I have to say thank you for sharing this article. I did not know the real distinction between social marketing and social media marketing. Marketing has some many dimensions and terms such as digital marketing, e-commerce marketing, direct marketing, multi-level marketing, diversity marketing, relationship marketing, to name a few. It is normal for people who are not in the field of marketing to not be familiar with the scopes of each dimension. The social media has allowed anyone claim to be a marketing expert. Today, anyone can build a customer base through Facebook and Twitter. However, how this unawareness impacts the social marketing professionals negatively? I would guess it is the opposite of using generic terms to refer to a brand name, and I can see the free use of the term having a negative impact on social marketing professionals. I believe the article is very informative, but this type of confusion will continue to occur due to the nature of marketing itself. For example, people who do not know the American culture will say American food is cheeseburger. The United States has so many different influences culturally that makes it hard for one to define what American food is. Marketing has so many different dimensions and it is so wide spread (after all, who could not use some extra marketing help to boost their business?) that is hard to narrow down definitions. I agree the terms should not be mixed, though I think it is inevitable. If social marketing wants to avoid misconceptions, then it should find a way to stand out. For example, like FDA approved labels, why not create a AMA approved label? The internet is a powerful tool for that. I believe the key underscores the marketing principles - create, communicate, and deliver value to influence.

• #9 by Dana Anderson on 4/14/16 - 11:49 AM

  

  I agree with Dr. Riggs and several of my classmates that social marketing and social media marketing are dramatically different and should not be accepted as the same based on general references. I find this article extremely relevant in today’s society since the trend of social media continues to grow rapidly. Though there is only a single word difference between them, the meanings vary vividly. Dr. Riggs pin points the main difference between the two. He states that social marketing is the principles and techniques that are applied in various ways to benefit society and the target audience. Whereas on the other hand, Dr. Riggs states that social media marketing is a process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. In my opinion social media is the technology that allows you to connect your business with the people who matter most. These people include your members, your customers, your prospects, etc. Social media marketing is the act of using that technology to accomplish a goal. That goal to be to raise awareness to a cause, increase business revenue, etc. I believe both social marketing and social media marketing benefit society, just in their own unique way. I was always taught by my boss to view social media as the vehicle that drives your content where you want it to go. And this is why I personally believe social marketing and social media marketing overlap when they are used properly together.

• #10 by Karen A Pinnock on 4/14/16 - 12:51 PM

  

  I gained some insight in reading this article and appreciate the distinction it made between social marketing and social media marketing.
  
  I agree with Dr. Riggs where he stated that social marketing and social media marketing are totally different. Our text gives examples of some social marketing ideas such as "Friends don't let friends drive drunk (Kotler, P. page 286). In searching for other definitions of social marketing, the website www.nsmcentre.org.uk/content/what-social-marketing...) states that "social marketing is an approach used to develop activities aimed at changing or maintaining peoples behaviour for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole." Social marketing combines ideas from different fields of study such as social sciences and the main goal of social marketing according to the same website is always to change or maintain how someone behaves.
  
  Social media marketing on the other hand are activities and programs which are designed to gain traffic or attention through social media for a product or a company....examples of such sites are Twitter, Facebook to name just two. Social media marketing according to our text are activities "designed to engage customers or prospects and directly or indirectly raises awareness of the product or services being offered, improves the image of the company or product, or to elicit sales" (Kotler, P. page 223). Forbes magazine in an article entitled The Top 10 Benefits of Social Media Marketing noted that according to companies such as Hubspot 92% of marketers in 2014 advised that social media marketing was important to their businesses.
  
  The distinction is quite clear and must be maintained. Again, thanks to Dr. Riggs for making that distinction.

• #11 by Chrisitne Panesso on 4/14/16 - 1:50 PM

  

  This article was very informative and interesting. I am guilty of using “social marketing” and “social media marketing” interchangeably. I was under the assumption they were the same before reading this article. I believe since we live an era where it’s all about social media, it is hard to know the difference between these two terms. Dr. Riggs, does an excellent job defining the differences between these two. He states that social marketing is used to educate the public or a specific audience. This type of marketing technique is used mostly to promote health related behavior. Social media marketing is used to create attention through social media applications. It used to attract an audience through these applications and used for communication. Today we typically see social media marketing being used for mostly all aspects. I don’t think social marketing has been forgotten about but I think it has been merged with social media marketing so much that its considered to be an unknown technique. Like what Eva Goldstein stated in the comment above, I am definitely going to be more aware and start asking those I work with if they know the correct definition.

• #12 by Kelly Hunter on 4/14/16 - 2:56 PM

  

  They say "You learn something new everyday", and that is the most true statement I've ever heard. What is more amazing to me is how often we believe we know something, and we have actually been wrong the entire time. I never knew there was a difference between social marketing and social media marketing. In fact, I just believed social marketing was the means marketing through social platforms.
  
  I believe Dr. Riggs did a good job at utilizing education as opposed to scolding people for not knowing the difference. He made sure to point out how they continue to be confused, while also showing why they are so different. It's important for people to speak up about things like this, otherwise we will never know the correct way. We can't just assume someone else will step up to educate the world. If we see misunderstandings, we must fix them. I enjoyed learning something new thanks to Dr. Riggs.

• #13 by Maisha Mitchell on 4/14/16 - 11:12 PM

  

  Wow, this post was a great read and very insightful. Like most of society, I was under the impression that social media marketing and social marketing were one in the same. I am grateful that Dr. Riggs took the time to inform us about both marketing concept and was able to give examples to distinguish one from the other. The blog quotes Kotler, Lee & Rothschild (2006, p.26) that “Social marketing is a process that applies marketing principle and techniques to create, communicate, and deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society as well as the target audience.” Dr. Riggs goes on further and applies the definition to public health by stating that social marketing in respect to public health is the use of marketing principles and techniques to solve problems in the field. Additionally, it provides health care professionals with the tools to develop programs to support healthy behavior amongst society. On the other hand, he clarifies that social media marketing is a process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
     Although, Dr. Riggs deems it important that social marketing and social media marketing should be differentiated, not be accepted at the same based on general references and hurried shorthand; I tend to agree with some of my classmates that it is going to be hard to re-program what society thinks is social media marketing versus social marketing. As the saying goes, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. However, I do concur with Evan Ihlenfeldt that social media marketing can be beneficial to social marketing. An expert in social marketing that is trying to promote certain healthy behaviors can do so via YouTube by creating a show or a skit on the topic that can reach thousands of followers. Someone like Dr. Riggs can have his/her own Facebook page where they post links and articles that are correlated to the four groups in the area of public health. It just occurred to me that by posting on this blog, Dr. Riggs himself is utilizing social media marketing to inform others about social marketing.
  
  Reference:
  Kotler, P., Lee, N.R., & Rothschild, M. Personal communication, September 19, 2006.

• #14 by Antonio Diaz on 4/15/16 - 12:54 PM

  

  I found this article very interesting and very informative. I will be honest, I too thought that both social marketing and social media marketing was one in the same. However, the articel was so easy to read and comprehend I was able to get a good grasp of the 2 terms. The article used a good example to distinguish the 2 terms by applying it to medical terms and examples.
  
  I can now distinguish the 2 and am able to apply them properly. For example, social marketing would be to get the world out about the Zika virus going around. The CDC would use this strategy to create awareness about the virus and its effects, if any. Social marketing is a very easy and probably the more economical strategy to get information to its intended audience. Once the audience recieves and comprehends the information being marketed by the CDC that same audience will continue to market it forward. This is the intent behind social marketing. The CDC does not use social media marketing because their intent is not to sell a product but create awareness.
  
  On the other hand, social media marketing is much more straight forward. The intent behind social media marketing is to sell a product. Creating knowledge and targeting a market by category is what social marketing does. In the text book we are using in the class I learned that social media marketing had changed drastically. Now, social media marketing expands on to 3 screens. Those screen are: your TV, computer, and mobile device. This was another interesting fact to learn about.

• #15 by Shiralee Chokshi on 4/15/16 - 12:57 PM

  

  This was so very useful in simplifying the core differences between social marketing and social media marketing because it’s very easy to blur the two concepts. I always distinguished social media marketing by looking at it as just social media (i.e. Facebook). But with social media taking over in almost every aspect of our lives, it is easy to assume that social marketing and social media marketing are both the same. I think this is because social media, like Facebook, is used to market products and the important health issues Dr. Riggs pointed out. I feel like social media is like a customer support technique. Social marketing is used to inform the customers, and social media is used by the customers to talk to other customers or even the companies about the information. Together, these two strategies are a powerful and effective way to market products, concerns, ideas, and just about anything else. A great example of this would be the campaign to stop texting and driving. The social marketing we see include television commercials we see that play out scenarios of what can happen if you even glance away from the road to check your phone. These commercials are powerful because they are terrifying and speak the truth about the grave consequences of texting and driving. But these commercials are also seen online, posted and shared over and over again by the viewers of those commercials, other bloggers, and just about anyone else who had a strong reaction to the social marketing that first introduced them to it. However, when the social marketing reaches the social media, people are able to interact with one another about their own reactions and opinions to it, and it reaches many more individuals. Ultimately, the goal is achieved by the creators of the no texting and driving campaign: raise awareness of the dangers of texting and driving.

• #16 by Aaliyah Jenkins on 4/15/16 - 1:57 PM

  

  Professor thank you for letting the class read this article, before this I would have never known the difference between social marketing and social media marketing. According to Laczniak, Lusch and Murphy social marketing is the design, implementation and control of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communications, distribution and marketing research (Laczniak, Lusch and Murphy, 1979, Pg. 29). Which I can see as true because when I see or vision this type of marketing, I can see the entire ad’s that companies produce that catch my attention. Some of those companies include Nike, Ford and Taco bell. David Evans states that social marketing focuses on advertising, but not on the kind marketers have practiced. The emerging role of the individuals a source of content used to inform a purchase decision is increasing as the role of the marketer and traditional media...diminishes (David, 2008, Pg. 110) After reading what Davis wrote about social media marketing, I started to think about all of the ads I saw on Facebook, Instagram and Pandora. When you actually dive deep and think about the two different marketing topics, you can clearly see how different and versatile they are.
  
  References
  Davis, L. M.. (2010). [Review of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day]. Technical Communication, 57(1), 110–110. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43094219
  
  Laczniak, G. R., Lusch, R. F., & Murphy, P. E.. (1979). Social Marketing: Its Ethical Dimensions. Journal of Marketing, 43(2), 29–36. http://doi.org/10.2307/1250739

• #17 by Carolina Belmonte on 4/15/16 - 2:38 PM

  

  I completely agree with Dr. Riggs when he states that “practitioners and academics alike” have a duty to be educated and well aware of the distinction between social marketing and social media marketing. The phrase “apples to oranges” falls short of just how truly different these two concepts are. Social marketing is a whole approach to marketing, a philosophy even. Social media marketing is simply a process by which to bring attention to yourself/your product. Another fundamental difference is that social marketing aims to influence the behavior of individuals. On the other hand, social media marketing takes advantage of social beliefs and attitudes to market brands. I find it very discouraging that “practitioners and academics” are failing in their duty to preserve and promote their field of specialty. If “experts” don’t know the difference or are careless in their communication, then these concepts are not clearly not being apply correctly by these “experts.” For all those that should be knowledgeable on these concepts, it’s time to make sure that nuances like these don’t slip by you. I disagree with other students that believe this is obsessing with semantics. I honestly don’t believe there’s room for laziness in field like marketing, which is a delicate blend of art and science.

• #18 by Watson Florvilus on 4/15/16 - 9:28 PM

  

  Thank You for sharing. This is extremely informative. I can honestly say I’ve never paid attention to the difference of the two terms. As a matter of fact, I may have used the two interchangeably. As mentioned by the author, it is rather common to link the two together. While both are significant in their own way, I’m intrigued how the concept of social marketing is grouped in four categories: health promotion, injury promotion, behavioral issues and community mobilization.
  Due to the overwhelming popularity of social media, it may be beneficial for more articles explaining the difference and the importance of social marketing. In fact, social marketing should be displayed more on social media. Again, I found this article to be extremely informative.

• #19 by Ann-Marie Fraser on 4/16/16 - 3:27 AM

  

  Very interesting article, Dr. Riggs. Like the other comments, I too, did not know the difference between social marketing and social MEDIA marketing. In my opinion, people do not know the difference of the two terms due to the heavy influence of social media. It is ones instant understanding that social media is the only way to market and that all forms of social interaction can be classified as social media. Marketing is literally used in all fields and industries. Until reading your article, I did not realize that there are different groupings of the public health field, thank you for that insight.
  Like Kelly Hunter, I appreciate Dr. Riggs for using this as an educational platform rather than scolding those who were not aware of the difference and used the terms interchangeably. Rather it be by word of mouth, internet advertisements or telemarketing phone calls, the word has to get out and is all considered social marketing. But only the word that goes out through social media is just that, social media marketing.

• #20 by Fabian Montero on 4/16/16 - 7:58 AM

  

  I really found the article very interesting, and perhaps it may have changed my mind in regards to the two terms. However, I was under the impression that the two terms basically meant the same thing, but as stated in the article, they are dramatically different. For my understanding, they both play a role in the marketing field, at the end; the purpose of each term is to market a product or service, one by a traditional way and the other one through social media because of time change as well. I believe the purpose of marketing is to look for ways, techniques and processes to attract people, to make the people like and lastly buy the product/service, marketing is a movement of communicating or delivering something in order to bring the attention of consumers, but the same thing can be done online though social media, the difference would be that by social media it can get to more people, faster, and cheaper. However, after I read the article, yes there is a big difference between the two terms. Social media is used to market a campaign to change people’ point of view of a particular social issue, so the main purpose of it is to change people’s behavior and attitude, but also to build awareness on the society.

• #21 by Marilyn Despagne on 4/16/16 - 9:31 AM

  

  This article raised a great point. Social Marketing and social media marketing have been used interchangeably. Just like my fellow classmate, I've witness first hand social media marketing. While planning my wedding I was always on wedding websites either looking for a dress or centerpieces etc. After doing my many researches I would notice on my Facebook newsfeed the different items for sale that "might" interest me. Social media marketing is a way different suppliers use to reach their targeted market. It can use your browsing history and filter the different items you might be interested in. On the other hand social marketing uses different ways to target an audiences whose behaviors will benefit society as well as the audience. As the article explains in a public health point of social marketing gives public health professional the tools they need to influence society by putting together a marketing strategy that influence society.
  It is interesting to see the similarity and differences between the two terms and why people often confuses them

• #22 by Esmeralda Castellon on 4/16/16 - 10:39 PM

  

  I completely agree with this article. I worked in the healthcare field for 10 years and my husband who is a healthcare provider and a faculty sees this issue of misinterpreting the terms “Social Marketing & Social Media marketing” all the time. My husband works with residents doing a lot of research to improve patients’ lives every day. Their hard work is published in creditable health journals and their research is used to promote and discuss health related issues. Interestingly, my husband and his residents dislike the idea of promoting their studies in social media websites because of the misunderstandings that it can cause when people pass on the wrong messages in social network websites. People might be using social media marketing to stay connected with the community to discuss health related topics but these channels of network there is never control as to what people say. Another concerned about social media marketing is patient privacy. Compliance for the most part is top priority to many healthcare professionals and when social media websites are used to discuss health topics it’s always a concern that inadvertently patient health information may be expose and violate HIPAA regulations.

• #23 by Brittany Wilson on 4/17/16 - 12:17 PM

  

  I personally have been someone who confuses the terms “Social Marketing and Social Media Marketing”. I think it is very easy for information to be misinterpreted on social media. When people read something on social media they create their own understanding of it and repost or share it with what they believe to be true. Just so I’m clear, social marketing is a process in which principles and techniques are used to influence an audience. Ultimately these behaviors are then used to benefit society. On the other hand, social media marketing aims to produce content for social media users to share. In my opinion, social marketing is way harder to make sure people are not confused. Social media is always at our fingertips and anyone can post anything and gain followers. I personally feel that regulations should be produced so people are confused on what is true and what is not.

• #24 by Angie Joselin on 4/17/16 - 1:09 PM

  

  This blog is an eye opener, because I was unaware of the difference between social marketing and social media marketing. As the blog stated, I too minimized its significance and value by not doing my research on either method of marketing. Social marketing has been a practice that I recognized at a young age, through programs such as D.A.R.E and the Truth campaign to end all smoking. The Truth campaign is active today with commercials that fill the television screens on a daily basis showing the harsh effects of cigarette smoking. In Florida, there is the Click it or Ticket campaign to encourage drivers to wear seatbelts while driving or law enforcement will issue you a ticket. There are documentaries on Netflix to encourage the masses on what pollution can do to our oceans, for example Plastic Paradise. It shows the dangers of plastic pollution and what it is doing to our oceans, and encourages everyone to stop polluting the Earth. Social marketing is an amazing practice because it is used to change human behavior and better the world. I agree that social media marketing can be used as a great tool to communicate using social marketing. However, both practices are very different and I now wonder how I ever confused the two.

• #25 by Erika Leogue on 4/17/16 - 3:34 PM

  

  The distinction in meaning between ‘social marketing’ and ‘social media marketing’ may seem light relative to other concepts. However, in marketing, the distinction may be necessary and valid. I agree with the author that knowing the difference may help in the execution of a marketing strategy, in his case, communicating public health issues.
  Understanding marketing principles and techniques may be the decisive key towards a successful campaign. If a marketer’s knowledge includes recognizing the vast potential social media has in reaching a mass amount of people both with expediency and design, but is also practiced in the principles of social marketing in terms of the best and purposeful methods used to influence target audiences, he may very well implement an operation that successfully communicates, informs and delivers in its objective.
  According to the author, ‘social media marketing’ is a way of increasing or drawing attention to a product or effort; it is a form of communication and a tool for a marketer in the development of his strategy. However, he cautions that in the particular case of public health issues, it is not to be confused for the practiced techniques of social marketing that “has dramatically changed the way public health problems are being solved.”
  It may be that a prudent and beneficial way to implement a marketing plan/ strategy in this digital age may be to distinguish between a marketer’s tools and the abilities to effectively execute a plan so as to maximize every opportunity available and optimize the intent of the campaign.

• #26 by Merlin Forero on 4/17/16 - 5:06 PM

  

  This article has changed the way I see both terms, as in the past i always assumed they were the same thing, since they are only separated by a word. Initially when I hear the word social marketing, I automatically think of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and or Pinterest as a common marketing strategy. After reading this social marketing is a form of practice as explained by the blog as creating and delivering this idea through communication as a strategy in order to deliver a message to a certain target. While social media marketing is using social media websites to gain attention of an audience. Two completely different terms, after reading this I realized how naive I was to this idea. I feel that there should be clarification, so that this idea is no longer confused.

• #27 by Noelle Mena on 4/17/16 - 6:04 PM

  

  Social media marketing is very different than social marketing. Social marketing is done to bring about social change such as changing behaviors or attitudes. Such as to increase condom use by changing sexual behaviors and changing attitudes. Social marketing is targeting a cause or to cause a change in something. Whereas social media marketing is about gaining traffic through websites such as Facebook or Instagram. Social media marketing doesn’t work too well with an agenda, unless it springs from a collaborative, grassroots effort from inside the community. It was popularized by bloggers. ("Social marketing vs. social media marketing | Jackie Huba," n.d.). Both are marketing strategies to bring together Ideas and collaborate. Social Media Marketing is rather newer since websites are of the 20th century. I believe that we are more aware of ongoing issues nowadays thanks to social media marketing. So, in reality Social media marketing can promote social marketing why driving traffic and awareness to the cause, in order to change behavior and attitude. Say for instance a condom commercial can be blasted through social media marketing, in order to change and shape behaviors about it.
  
  References
  Social marketing vs. social media marketing | Jackie Huba. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://jackiehuba.com/2008/02/social-marketin.html...

• #28 by Alanna Butterfield on 4/17/16 - 7:42 PM

  

  This article was interesting for me. Like some other classmates, I thought social marketing was simply marketing with a stronger people/social component. This however is very wrong. The two types of marketing can be applied to both the HR and Marketing departments at my job. In HR, we apply marketing principles to create strategies to best situate the company as an employer of choice. We work to inform our target audience and society at large about the employment/internship opportunities available and fight to secure the most qualified talent. This, I believe, is a valid application of social marketing. Within HR, we also use sites such as LinkedIn, social media marketing, to achieve the goals of social marketing. The company has a Marketing Coordinator who helps to oversee the social media marketing. She uses mediums such as Instagram and Facebook to help market the products and services the company uses. This is an application of social media marketing. I am grateful to have learned the key differences between the two types of marketing.

• #29 by Andrea Mitchell on 4/17/16 - 8:19 PM

  

  Initially when I first began reading this article I thought “okay another public service announcement”, but the more I read the more my interest grew. Dr. Riggs did a great job of defining and differentiating between Social Marketing and Social Media Marketing. This article tied in very well with the group case study for this week and helped provide a better understanding of what Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah intended when they began their journey to convince corporate America that the rules of marketing had changed. (Steenburgh, Avery, & Dahod, 2011) They understood early on that “social media marketing” would be crucial for the success of their software and for business owners.
  Social marketing is the use of commercial marketing in promotion of goods and services in a way that helps in promoting the consumers' and, by extension, the society's well-being (Dictionary.com, 2016), and when used in conjunction with social media marketing it is a less expensive way to reach the masses and still create awareness.
  References
  Dictionary.com, B. (2016, April 16). Social Marketing. Retrieved from Business Dictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/socia...
  Steenburgh, T., Avery, J., & Dahod, N. (2011). HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.

• #30 by Kristine Kowalski on 4/17/16 - 9:19 PM

  

  I see the difference between social marketing and social media marketing as one that is arguably similar to what a strategy is to a tactic. Based on this post, I see social marketing as a strategy. It is a framework through which marketing tactics are executed to achieve a specific goal of moving people in a way that benefits not just a targeted group but society as a whole. As a strategy, there is a connection between “social” and “marketing” in that marketing is essentially done with the social good in mind. This is more abstract that a tactic. Social media marketing may be part of a strategy, or arguably even a strategy on its own depending on its characterization, but in relation to social marketing, it is more akin to a tactic, or a way of executing a strategy. It is the specific tool through which marketing occurs rather than the more abstract idea of how best, i.e. what strategy to use, to achieve a goal. Social media marketing is more about lead generation, awareness, and conversion. It is not necessarily about moving people to behave in a particular way with society in mind. There are very different motivations behind each and cannot be used interchangeably. It is the same as saying that a hammer or a screwdriver is the same as the toolbox in which these items might be stored. The toolbox is a social marketing strategy and the tools within represent the tactics of marketing, like social media. Although this post using it in the context of healthcare, others areas ripe for social marketing make be environmental protection, public safety, or addressing issues of violence.

• #31 by Christopher Jean on 4/17/16 - 9:22 PM

  

  In terms of social marketing versus social media marketing, I honestly have never analyzed the differences between the two areas in regards to their similarities and differences. I have to agree that both of these terms are very different from one another more than they are alike for several reasons. In regards to social marketing, I believe it is a specific type of marketing designed to affect the behaviors and attitudes of the consumers or target audience that it is trying to attract to a particular product or service. It can be seen as a more strategic and organized form of marketing which was pioneered and made popular by Gerald Zaltman and Philip Kotler.
  Next, social media marketing can be viewed as broad, non-scripted platform for people to interact with one another and voice their opinions on whatever is being advertised on the social media vehicles such as youtube, instagram, twitter, facebook, etc. This kind of marketing creates a community of like-minded individuals who are interested in the same type of things and allows more personal interactions with potential consumers and supporters of your brand. I believe both of these areas of marketing are crucial and very effective to say the least. Social marketing is the foundation for which social media marketing can exist and so they are both necessary in developing and promoting any kind of brand.
  
  Cheng, H., Kotler, P., & Nancy Lee, D. (2010). Social marketing for public health. Social Marketing for Public Health: Global Trends and Success Stories, 1.
  
  Coreil, J. (Ed.). (2010). Social and behavioral foundations of public health. SAGE Publications Inc.
  
  Kotler, P. K. (2016). A Framework for Marketing Management.

• #32 by Hayley Miller on 4/17/16 - 9:24 PM

  

  As I read this blog post, my initial reaction to the difference between Social Media Marketing & Social Marketing was in fact, "what's the big deal?" With that said, I can agree with a previous post from classmate Jeff Arteaga above.
  
  This blog went above and beyond to define both of these terms which actually proved to be very enlightening. This post defines social media marketing as a process where using popular social sites to gain traffic and attention is a key goal. I am one for social media and appreciate social media and the marketing efforts that take place there. I find the social media marketing to be very helpful as information goes viral instantly and is shared with numerous people within seconds. Just this morning, I found out about a concert through someone's post on social media. I recall noticing that it had only been posted 10 minutes prior, had numerous likes (gained attention) and had already been shared 1 time. This goes to show how quickly information is shared also displaying the benefit of social media marketing.
  
  Social marketing is a process involving marketing principles and techniques to influence behaviors and social media marketing is a process where using popular social sites to gain traffic and attention is the major goal. Prior to reading this post, I would have gathered that the ultimate goal here is universally the same for both terms but now I now that there is a difference but with a similar goal. Upon completion, each organization is concerned with gaining attention and creating a social presence. As most of my classmates mentioned, we really did not know that there was such a defined difference between the two terms. As Ann-Marie Fraser mentioned earlier, Marketing is one of those terms that is used throughout numerous organizations and industries. This blog provided an additional learning opportunity for me and broadened my knowledge on marketing as a whole.

• #33 by Nancy Suarez on 4/17/16 - 9:35 PM

  

  I read the article and this is a great point. Something that is not understood very well, and in most cases people tend to confused these two completely different terms. I personally was under the impression the two terms mean basically the same thing, with differences on how to apply them since one of them would be used via tv commercials, big banners, newspapers, magazines, and the other via online through social media websites such as facebook, email or any other web site used for marketing purposes.

• #34 by Patricia Newman on 4/17/16 - 9:36 PM

  

  I learned a lot about the difference between social marketing and social media marketing. I am not one to be on social media a lot but when I am on Facebook or other sites, I have noticed how it has become a tool for advertising different business. If I search for different things on the web that could I might want to buy, it tends to shows up on my news feed. It is important that experts are recognized in the area that they work and be respected as such. I do believe social media can be a benefit social marketing, because a lot of times I see people use it for charity work. Also, a social marketer can use social media to target potential donors based on their likes and dislikes. I believe the biggest beneficial could be a nonprofit, because they can save money on advertising and time spent trying to reach out to potential donors.

• #35 by Andrew John Phillips on 4/17/16 - 10:13 PM

  

  This article was very interesting to me for that simple fact that I never realized there is actually a difference between social marketing and social media marketing. I do not recall a time throughout my collegiate career of a professor actually breaking down the difference between the two. I feel that social media marketing has become such a bigger part of the marketing world that the original or the first concept of social marketing is often very over looked. Almost forgotten about. After reading the definition, there is obviously some differences, but a feel that it is part of the definition or meaning of social media marketing. Which I can see why most people would be confused about this article.

• #36 by Luis Vega on 4/17/16 - 10:38 PM

  

  This article was interesting however, I feel it might be splitting hairs on a subject/topic that is not that important. Does it really matter if you call it social marketing or social media marketing? Aren't they pretty much one in the same? One is the vehicle used to promote your social message.
  
  Times have change in the past 45 years when it comes to marketing. Social media marketing is social marketing. They both get your message out to the public. Whether it is a health related message or to sell a product. Social media marketing is not just about driving traffic to a website. It is also used to get a message out to the public by using ones social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
  
  For example, this article mentions that social marketing was a way to help solve public heath problems. In today's world people use social media marketing to get that same message out. They use it to promote charities, bring awareness to illnesses, and provide people with healthy options when it comes to their lifestyles.
  
  Times have changed and we need to embrace and accept the change.

• #37 by Jeannine Jordan on 4/17/16 - 11:55 PM

  

  I certainly agree one-hundred and ten percent with John F. Riggs, D.B.A., the Author of Social Marketing and Social Media Marketing: The Public Health Difference?. As stated in the blog, Social Marketing is a sub-topic within the marketing field, where value and benefit are brought to society and targeted segments. Whereas Social Media Marketing is not s defined branch within Marketing. I can see why it would be very useful to combine the two areas, providing value and benefit to targeted segments, and at the same time saving money for marketing departments and incorporating ease for task completion by marketing professionals.
  Applying marketing principles and techniques to create value and communicate that to a specific audience in such a way that benefits society through the behaviors altered by such marketing tactics is very significant, indeed. Additionally, the fact that Social Marketing has four classifications within the subject is another strong differentiator. In comparison, advertising a product, benefit or service on any given social media website does not seem to have such a strong impact; and I doubt that this generic of a statement can brag to bring benefit to society when looking at each individual post. It is very clear that Social Marketing has standards to be considered Social Marketing, where Social Media Marketing can be anything under the sun. In the Healthcare field, referencing regulation compliance laws, this would certainly play an important role.

• #38 by Denver Hopkins on 4/17/16 - 11:58 PM

  

  I've only become aware of Social Marketing myself within the last 6 years as a healthcare professional. In my healthcare system we used just as mentioned in this article, marketing as tool to for social health issues. Such issues or conditions were many previously described - obesity, drug addiction, tobacco use, etc. The way I'm personally able to differentiate between social marketing and social media marketing is simply the use of the word media in the ladder lends itself to you media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, etc. Social Marketing in it's simplest form are any social issues that we face as a society and the manner in which healthcare as an industry chooses to go about marketing those issues. I find it easy for one to be confused between the 2 given the heavy use of "social" but both are equally important in their own right.

• #39 by Jose Arroliga on 4/28/16 - 4:31 PM

  

  I found this article very interesting because prior to reading this article I would’ve confused the terms myself. It’s important to realize how you label an approach especially when it comes to business and medicine. Promoting a company’s products on social media site (Social Media Marketing) is completely different than social marketing for example. The terms are very similar but the approach is very different. Having the awareness and plan to execute social marketing for greater use can literally saves lives or at least prevent serious exposure to a condition that you may not be aware you had in the past. After reading this article I discovered that these marketing tools are extremely effective and has solved one of my mysteries in respect to googled searches. Every time I research for something new on the internet I get a banner message on another website that I visit. Now imagine if a person was doing research on a disease but was too afraid to get help but now gets this banner every-so-often it could potentially save his/her life!

• #40 by Michael Garcia on 4/30/16 - 2:30 AM

  

  Social Media marketing is much more common into days marketing world. This article differentiated the two for me and broke down the differences. With out the break down I would have confused the two for being the same. Social marketing is completely different because it really deals with peoples emotions and attachments. When a company is promoting that they are going green or recycling and making an impact to a region or to the world that is an example of social marketing.

• #41 by Social media Marketing on 5/25/16 - 12:10 PM

  

  Wow , That is really amazing and useful article for me about social media. Thank you author for sharing a valuable post with us.

• #42 by Arooj on 6/13/16 - 7:53 PM

  

  Thanks for the clarification! I realize that social marketing and social media marketing are quite different, and as a marketer, I sometimes confused the two. I have experience in social media marketing, so I thought that I would pass on that information in the form of a few social media marketing tips, to help show examples of what social media marketing is rather than social marketing:
  
  Posts with images and video have significantly higher engagement, measured in terms of likes, shares, etc. In addition to this, memes have become increasingly popular to share. If there is any way you can incorporate this (as long as memes would appeal to your target audience), I would suggest doing so as memes tend to go viral fairly quickly. Another great thing to share on social media is infographics. They are well known to bring a significant amount of shares.

• #43 by SMM Agency on 9/9/16 - 2:21 AM

  

  Hello author,
  
  You write exactly what i need. I like your post. I think facebook is the best for marketing. if anyone want to get sell then i suggest also pinterest. Cause 90% female are online on pinterest for buying products. also everyone can get huge visitor from pinterest. By the way thank you for your article.

• #44 by Digi SMM on 3/28/17 - 5:45 AM

  

  This is really an informative article for me about social media. These days most of people are buying social signals like instagram followers, twitter followers, etc.