← DictionarySocial Media Marketing
also called social marketing
Using social platforms to build audience, distribute content and generate demand.
Marketing on social platforms.
What It Is
You will find Social Media Marketing in the Marketing layer, alongside the rest of Channels. What it actually refers to is using social platforms to build audience, distribute content and generate demand.
It is a route to an audience, so its worth depends entirely on who is actually on the other end of it. Once it is defined that clearly, arguments about it usually stop.
How It's Used
Most of the time Social Media Marketing is used in campaign planning, channel choices and the reporting that follows them. It is usually discussed together with Content Strategy, Community Management and Reach. The practical test is whether the right people are reachable there at a cost that makes sense.
Why It Matters
Ignoring Social Media Marketing rarely fails loudly — it fails slowly. When it is unclear, spend keeps moving but nobody can say what it bought. It is worth pinning down before anyone builds on top of it.
Think of a road. Useful only if the people you want are travelling on it. Marketing on social platforms.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Practitioners use Social Media Marketing as shorthand and expect no explanation — using social platforms to build audience, distribute content and generate demand.
Outside the industry, most people would just say: marketing on social platforms.
The Bottom Line
If you only keep one thing about Social Media Marketing: marketing on social platforms. Everything after that is detail.