The longer stick: social media marketing isn’t digital marketing

A third piece of this thought process here:

The same people who come to me asking about “digital marketing” without exception lump social media in there. In fact, many seem to think that social media is the sum total of digital marketing, or at least the most important part.

NO. No. No. Social isn’t digital at all. Social media is just technology enabling things people already like to do.

For a business or a brand, social media amplifies all the things you are already trying to get your customers to do: talk about you; solve any problems they may have with you; stay in interaction with your brand; share your offers, promotions, and content with others; remain loyal; recruit new customers.

If you can see social of all kinds as part of a natural continuum of the efforts you’re already making – if you can visualize using it the same way you’d use a longer broom to reach a far-away cobweb, or use a longer stick to fish something out of a puddle – you’ll find social media strategy and tactics much, much easier to implement.