Digital Marketing Vs. Social Media Marketing - What's the Difference? - 2022

 

Are you a business owner and now considering following marketing strategies? That's great; after all, marketing is one common thing in all companies; it doesn't matter whether the company is small or big. Almost all businesses hire digital and social media marketers to promote their services, brand, and products.

The problem arises when people think that digital and social media marketing are the same thing which is only a misconception. They might seem the same, but in reality, they are different types of marketing strategies. Using both of them interchangeably means you're doing everything wrong. 

The good thing is we're here to help you out. This blog will help you understand the differences between the two and why one is not necessarily better than the other. So let's get started! 

What's Digital Marketing? 

Digital marketing is using the internet and web-based tools such as social media, email, search engines to display advertisements, and more to reach your customers. 

It's a way to build your business and deliver your message to a wider audience while also allowing you to track them. It can be used to reach both your current customers and potential customers. 

The best thing about digital marketing is it has numerous categories. The content you're reading now is a type of digital marketing (content marketing). The email we receive from different companies is a digital marketing type (email marketing).

On social media, we see posts on different pages is an another category of digital marketing is named social media marketing. In short, digital marketing is a vast niche that has many categories, which we'll discuss below. 

What are the Types of Digital Marketing? 

Here are the eight main types of digital marketing. 

1.    Content Marketing is a type of digital marketing. Companies make their websites add blog pages and post content. They share useful information, solve audience issues and promote the products. 

2.    Social Media Marketing means promoting the products and services of a company on different social media platforms with proper strategy. 

3.    Email Marketing refers to marketing where marketers email the company's products, discounts, and services to the customers to promote the business. 

4.    Mobile Marketing is a way of promoting business with mobile devices. You've probably seen video ads on the screen about an app or a product; that's mobile marketing.

5.    SEO Marketing is about ranking the website and other digital assets higher on search engines (Google) by following SEO strategies. To do this, we do keyword research, optimize content, websites, etc. 

6.    Influencer Marketing is all about involving influencers who have a big audience to promote the business. Nowadays, it's quite famous, and one of the biggest examples is the Kardashians. 

7.    Affiliate Marketing means allowing other people to promote your products, and in return, they'll get a commission on selling each item. 

8.    Video Marketing refers to the type of marketing in which marketers upload videos and short clips for educational purposes and to promote the business. 

What's Social Media Marketing?

Digital marketing means the promotion of the business through different platforms that we've mentioned above. But that's not the case for social media marketing. 

Social media marketing increases awareness about your brand, drives traffic to your site, and generates leads. In social media marketing, we promote products but only through social media platforms, not with SEO techniques or blogs. 

In brief, it's about engaging with people and building relationships with your customers on social media. People are more likely to click and buy if they see that your site is active and that you're being helpful. 

What are the Platforms of Social Media Marketing? 

Numerous social media platforms are available on the internet, and marketing on all of them would be called social media marketing. 

Some platforms are quite famous and even have millions of active followers like Facebook only has 179 million users in the United States. The other famous platforms are: 

● Youtube - Video hosting and sharing platform. 

● Instagram - Social networking website. 

● Linkedin - Social networking website. 

● Snapchat - Image sharing and social networking website. 

● Tik Tok - Video hosting and sharing platform. 

● Pinterest - Image sharing platform. 

● Twitter - Social networking website. 

● Reddit - Social networking website. 

● Whatsapp - Messaging platform. 

● Telegram - Messaging platform. 

● Quora - Question and answer website. 

Key-Differences Between Social Media Vs. Digital Marketing 

Here are the key differences between digital and social media marketing. It will help you see the clear and bigger picture. 

Channels 

The first main difference between digital and social media marketing is the channels or, in other words, platforms. Both are marketing strategies, but the platforms we use for marketing are different. 

In social media marketing, we only use social media platforms to promote the brand and products. We don't go beyond that. 

While digital marketing is vast, it has many types, and each type has several platforms or channels. For instance, SEO marketing, video marketing, influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, and so forth. It's your decision on which type you want to focus more. 

Goals 

Just like the platforms, there's a major difference between social and digital media marketing goals. Companies spend a hefty amount on social media to establish the brand, engage and connect to the audience, and make new customers. As a result, the audience purchases their products. 

In contrast, digital marketing aims to reach the target audience through different platforms to increase sales and brand promotion. 

Content and Results 

Companies get instant responses on social media, which often leads to an increase in sales. However, the same process in digital marketing is relatively slow, but once the strategy is successful, you'll get great benefits. 

The main reason for the difference we see in results is that on social media, the marketing team posts content on a regular basis. The audience interacts with the posts daily, and the company gets the result. 

At the same time, if we talk about digital marketing like SEO strategies needs time, ranking video on top is difficult and also takes time. So it's a time-consuming process, but if your blogs, video ranks, and affiliate program become successful, your business will shine. 

Why Should You Consider Social Media Marketing? 

Now the million-dollar question comes about why you should consider social media marketing when digital marketing has more platforms. 

Well, do you know, according to a recent survey, nearly half of the world, more than 4.6 billion people, use social media? 

You have a chance to promote the business in front of half of the world. Do you want to lose this opportunity? Possibly no, that's the exact reason why every business should consider social media marketing. 

Why Should You Consider Digital Marketing? 

No doubt social media marketing is good, but there's an issue. A business can't rely only on social media marketing; putting all eggs in one basket is not a good idea. That's the reason why companies focus on SEO marketing, video marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing along with social media. 

In addition, we think that social media is best for establishing the brand and connecting with customers, but you might not get a lot of sales like affiliate marketing. Therefore, our suggestion is to follow both marketing strategies. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

●      Is there a difference between social media and digital marketing?

Yes, there is a big difference. Digital marketing uses digital technologies to promote or sell products or services. At the same time, social media is a digital marketing category in which we use social media websites or applications to promote or sell products or services.

●      Does social media fall under digital marketing?

Yes, it does fall under digital marketing. Not only this but every marketing strategy on the internet in which we use online tools, search engines, and social media platforms to market a product and business will be called digital marketing. 

●      Is YouTube a social media marketing platform?

Yes, YouTube is one of the biggest social media marketing platforms, with more than 2.6 billion active users on the internet. 

●      Is Gmail a social media marketing platform?

Gmail has more than 1.8 billion active users, but it's not a social media marketing platform. It's used for digital marketing and falls under email marketing.

●      Which is better social media or digital marketing?

It is a common misconception that digital marketing is better than social media marketing. In reality, the two go hand in hand. Social media marketing is to engage with the target audience on platforms like Facebook. Digital media marketing is a marketing technique where businesses use different ways, including social media platforms, to promote their products.

Final Words 

Hopefully, you've found the answer to the difference between digital and social media marketing. According to us, both are great! 

Social media will drive traffic to your site and your business - digital marketing will keep them on your site long enough to become customers. 

Social media is for potential customers, and digital marketing is for converting them. It's important to follow both strategies!