The difference between social marketing, social media marketing, and cause marketing.

I was about to do a blog series on social marketing. But then I realized a lot of people online are confusing it with social media. Social marketing is marketing that builds awareness about a social issue and works to change people’s behaviors or attitudes for the public good. Like wear a condom, don’t smoke, get a mammogram, recycle and save the endangered bats.

With the advent of social media, a lot of people are misusing a phrase that has been around for decades. Social media is conversation between people and consumers and brands through blogs, social networks like Facebook and Twitter etc. Social media marketing uses these interactive social platforms to build their brands and consumer fan base.

While Cause Marketing, is where for-profit corporations team up with non-profit corporations and create a win-win for both to build business and raise money and awareness.

So while social marketing can use social media as a tactic, social media and social marketing refer to two very different things. And while social marketing and cause marketing are similar and both raise awareness, the former is about changing behaviors, the latter is about partnering to raise money for the cause and the corporate partner.

Now that we’ve got that cleared up, I can start my series on my top 20 social marketing creative campaigns. To be continued…