Over the recent year, we have seen exponential growth in the use of social media platforms. Digital marketing uses these social media platforms to reach their target audiences and increase brand awareness and engagement. 

Digital and social media marketing has become a crucial factor in marketing strategy. Thanks to technology, the demand for online interaction and business has been rising. Therefore, proper integration of both can provide opportunities for your business. 

The terms digital marketing and social media marketing are used interchangeably. The thing to be noted is that social media marketing falls under digital marketing. So what makes these two different? In this article, we will discuss these two types of marketing and their differences.  

Without further ado, let us explore digital marketing vs social media marketing!

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is where marketers advertise and sell their products and services to potential customers using digital channels and social media platforms. Marketers use email marketing, social media, webinars, mobile marketing, telemarketing, etc. to reach their potential customers. In other words, it relies on digital technologies. 

The best thing about digital marketing compared to traditional marketing is that it can reach audiences worldwide. It includes various strategies that enable them to connect with their target audiences and build their brand presence. Based on the platform marketers use to advertise their products and services, they customize their strategies accordingly. Similarly, marketers must do their research to find out their audiences’ needs and requirements, for example, what kind of product they are searching for or which platform target audiences mostly use to search for their needs. 

The essential elements that make up digital marketing include: 

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing 
• Email Marketing
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
• Affiliate Marketing
• Influencer Marketing
• Content Marketing 
• Analytics and Data Analysis

Do you know the 7C’s of digital marketing? Click here to find out!

What is Social Media Marketing? 

We mentioned above that social media marketing comes under digital marketing. It uses social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn to connect with the target audiences and promote their products and services. Given the popularity of social media, social media marketing has become an important component of digital marketing campaigns.

Social media platforms have provided customers with a personal gateway for engaging with the brands. Thus, there is a higher engagement rate compared to other digital marketing channels. It has helped the brands to build credibility, trust, and brand awareness. Marketers can use live streams, post content that resonates with the target audiences, and give quick responses to customer’s queries and complaints. Social media marketing primarily focuses on reaching potential customers with a message that will result in sales. 

The essential elements of social media marketing include:

• Social Media Platforms
• Content Creation
• Audience Engagement 
• Social Media Advertising 
• Social Media Management Tools 
• Influencer Marketing 
• Analytics and Performance Tracking
• Trends 

Digital Marketing VS. Social Media Marketing

Now that we know what digital and social media marketing each means, let us discuss the difference between both. 

1. Scope

Digital marketing is an umbrella term that includes all the marketing efforts and strategies to promote brands, products, and services through digital channels. 

Social media marketing mainly focuses on the use of social media platforms to connect with potential customers, build a brand online presence, increase brand awareness, and promote products and services. 

2. Purpose

Both digital and social media marketing’s purpose is to increase sales and earn profit. However, there are a few differences in the overall objectives. 

Digital marketing focuses on creating new customers and brand awareness with increased conversion. It aims to attract customers with well-placed advertisements and content using various channels that lead to sales.

On the other hand, social media marketing focuses on building a brand’s online presence, trust, and credibility. It aims at motivating its audiences to make purchases through various engaging content. Similarly, it also helps to bring traffic to the website and generate leads. 

3. Online channel 

Digital marketing uses various channels including social media platforms to achieve its objectives. These include emails, search engines, mobile apps, online advertising, etc. 

Meanwhile, social media marketing channels include social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. 

4. Strategy 

It takes time to plan a strategy in digital marketing.  Since it uses different kinds of channels, strategies need to be customized for each channel. A few examples of digital marketing strategies include social media marketing, SEO, PPC advertising, etc. 

Unlike digital marketing, social media marketing strategy takes a shorter time to plan and execute. A few examples of social media strategies are reels, blog posts, podcasts, etc. 

5. Cost-effectiveness

Since digital marketing uses various online channels, it is comparatively expensive. Investment in digital marketing like search engine optimization (SEO) can help drive organic traffic to your website. However, you will see significant results in the long run. Other strategies like email marketing and content marketing can be cost-effective. 

It is free to post content on social media platforms. Therefore, startups and small businesses can best benefit from social media marketing. If they want to boost their visibility and reach wider audiences, they need to pay a certain fixed amount. It all depends on the user’s decision.  

6. Audience engagement

Audience engagement comes from various channels in digital marketing. It targets a wider range of audiences across different channels, thus, the engagement may not always be direct.  

Social media marketing targets audiences present on social media platforms. There is more direct interaction and engagement with the audience. Hence, a personal relationship is built through this interaction via likes, comments, shares, and direct messages. 

Conclusion

In a way, digital and social marketing are dependent on each other. Social media marketing is a subset of digital marketing but is a crucial component. A well-thought-out digital marketing strategy combines technology with social media marketing. 

With this, we would like to conclude our article on digital marketing vs social media marketing. Thank you for reading!