Mediaboss Marketing

In general, readers new to social media will enjoy an extensive introduction that accurately describes the current state of Internet communities and provides significant insight into the historical trends that have led us into the Twitter age...One step toward achieving a well executed social media marketing campaign involves understanding the best ways to engage communities. Weinberg's book is a great place to start.

--Armando Roggio, Practical eCommerce

...a heck of a book.

--Chris Brogan, ChrisBrogan.com

I think what readers will find expecially useful is the straightforward and example rich approach Tamar takes in explaining how companies and individuals can succeed towards marketing goals through thoughtful participation. Getting advice from someone who has been there, done that can save a substantial amount of resources, money and shorten the time to get up to speed.

--Lee Odden, Online Marketing Blog

Want the nitty gritty details of social media success? Weinberg (the Queen of Smart) has literally hundreds of great tips in this book.

--Steve Cunningham, Mashable.com

Go here to read the rest:
The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web ...

Social media optimization (SMO) is the use of a number of outlets and communities to generate publicity to increase the awareness of a product, service brand or event. Types of social media involved include RSS feeds, social news and bookmarking sites, as well as social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, video sharing websites and blogging sites. SMO is similar to search engine optimization, in that the goal is to generate web traffic and increase awareness for a website. In general, social media optimization refers to optimizing a website and its content to encourage more users to use and share links to the website across social media and networking sites. SMO also refers to software tools that automate this process, or to website experts who undertake this process for clients.

The goal of SMO is to strategically create interesting online content, ranging from well-written text to eye-catching digital photos or video clips that encourages and entices people to engage with a website and then share this content, via its weblink, with their social media contacts and friends. Common examples of social media engagement are "liking and commenting on posts, retweeting, embedding, sharing, and promoting content".[1] Social media optimization is also an effective way of implementing online reputation management (ORM), meaning that if someone posts bad reviews of a business, a SMO strategy can ensure that the negative feedback is not the first link to come up in a list of search engine results.[2]

In the 2010s, with social media sites overtaking TV as a source for news for young people, news organisations have become increasingly reliant on social media platforms for generating web traffic. Publishers such as The Economist employ large social media teams to optimise their online posts and maximise traffic,[3] while other major publishers now use advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to generate higher volumes of web traffic.[4]

Social media optimization is becoming an increasingly important factor in search engine optimization, which is the process of designing a website in a way so that it has as high a ranking as possible on search engines. As search engines are increasingly utilizing the recommendations of users of social networks such as Reddit, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ to rank pages in the search engine result pages.[citation needed] The implication is that when a webpage is shared or "liked" by a user on a social network, it counts as a "vote" for that webpage's quality. Thus, search engines can use such votes accordingly to properly ranked websites in search engine results pages. Furthermore, since it is more difficult to top the scales or influence the search engines in this way, search engines are putting more stock into social search.[5] This, coupled with increasingly personalized search based on interests and location, has significantly increased the importance of a social media presence in search engine optimization. Due to personalized search results, location-based social media presences on websites such as Yelp, Google Places, Foursquare, and Yahoo! Local have become increasingly important. While social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, it differs in several ways. Primarily, SMO focuses on driving web traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search engine ranking is also a benefit of successful social media optimization. Further, SMO is helpful to target particular geographic regions in order to target and reach potential customers. This helps in lead generation (finding new customers) and contributes to high conversion rates (i.e., converting previously uninterested individuals into people who are interested in a brand or organization).

Social media optimization is in many ways connected to the technique of viral marketing or "viral seeding" where word of mouth is created through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. An effective SMO campaign can harness the power of viral marketing; for example, 80% of activity on Pinterest is generated through "repinning." Furthermore, by following social trends and utilizing alternative social networks, websites can retain existing followers while also attracting new ones. This allows businesses to build an online following and presence, all linking back to the company's website for increased traffic. For example, with an effective social bookmarking campaign, not only can website traffic be increased, but a site's rankings can also be increased. In a similar way, the engagement with blogs creates a similar result by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and special blog search engines. Social media optimization is considered an integral part of an online reputation management (ORM) or search engine reputation management (SERM) strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence.[6]

Social media optimization is not limited to marketing and brand building. Increasingly, smart businesses are integrating social media participation as part of their knowledge management strategy (i.e., product/service development, recruiting, employee engagement and turnover, brand building, customer satisfaction and relations, business development and more). Additionally, social media optimization can be implemented to foster a community of the associated site, allowing for a healthy business-to-consumer (B2C) relationship.[7]

According to technologist Danny Sullivan, the term "social media optimization" was first used and described by marketer Rohit Bhargava[8][9] on his marketing blog in August, 2006. In the same post, Bhargava established the five important rules of social media optimization. Bhargava believed that by following his rules, anyone could influence the levels of traffic and engagement on their site, increase popularity, and ensure that it ranks highly in search engine results. An additional 11 SMO rules have since been added to the list by other marketing contributors.

The 16 rules of SMO, according to one source, are as follows:[10]

Bhargava's initial five rules were more specifically designed to SMO, while the list is now much broader and addresses everything that can be done across different social media platforms. According to author and CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, Lee Odden, a Social Media Strategy is also necessary to ensure optimization. This is a similar concept to Bhargava's list of rules for SMO.

The Social Media Strategy may consider:[11]

According to Lon Safko and David K. Brake in The Social Media Bible, it is also important to act like a publisher by maintaining an effective organisational strategy, to have an original concept and unique "edge" that differentiates one's approach from competitors, and to experiment with new ideas if things do not work the first time.[2] If a business is blog-based, an effective method of SMO is using widgets that allow users to share content to their personal social media platforms. This will ultimately reach a wider target audience and drive more traffic to the original post. Blog widgets and plug-ins for post-sharing are most commonly linked to Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter. They occasionally also link to social media platforms such as StumbleUpon, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Many sharing widgets also include user counters which indicate how many times the content has been liked and shared across different social media pages. This can influence whether or not new users will engage with the post, and also gives businesses an idea of what kind of posts are most successful at engaging audiences. By using relevant and trending keywords in titles and throughout blog posts, a business can also increase search engine optimization and the chances of their content of being read and shared by a large audience.[11] The root of effective SMO is the content that is being posted, so professional content creation tools can be very beneficial. These can include editing programs such as Photoshop, GIMP, Final Cut Pro, and Dreamweaver. Many websites also offer customization options such as different layouts to personalize a page and create a point of difference.[2]

With social media sites overtaking TV as a source for news for young people, news organisations have become increasingly reliant on social media platforms for generating traffic. A report by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism described how a 'second wave of disruption' had hit news organisations,[12] with publishers such as The Economist having to employ large social media teams to optimism their posts and maximize traffic.[3] Major publishers such as Le Monde and Vogue now use advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology from Echobox to post stories more effectively and generate higher volumes of traffic.[4]

Social media gaming is online gaming activity performed through social media sites with friends and online gaming activity that promotes social media interaction. Examples of the former include FarmVille, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, FrontierVille, and Mafia Wars. In these games a player's social network is exploited to recruit additional players and allies. An example of the latter is Empire Avenue, a virtual stock exchange where players buy and sell shares of each other's social network worth. Nielsen Media Research estimates that, as of June 2010, social networking and playing online games account for about one-third of all online activity by Americans.[13]

Facebook has in recent years become a popular channel for advertising, alongside traditional forms such as television, radio, and print. With over 1 billion active users, and 50% of those users logging into their accounts every day[14] it is an important communication platform that businesses can utilize and optimize to promote their brand and drive traffic to their websites. There are three commonly used strategies to increase advertising reach on Facebook:

Improving effectiveness and increasing network size are organic approaches, while buying more reach is a paid approach which does not require any further action.[15] Most businesses will attempt an "organic" approach to gaining a significant following before considering a paid approach. Because Facebook requires a login, it is important that posts are public to ensure they will reach the widest possible audience. Posts that have been heavily shared and interacted with by users are displayed as 'highlighted posts' at the top of newsfeeds. In order to achieve this status, the posts need to be engaging, interesting, or useful. This can be achieved by being spontaneous, asking questions, addressing current events and issues, and optimizing trending hashtags and keywords. The more engagement a post receives, the further it will spread and the more likely it is to feature on first in search results.

Another organic approach to Facebook optimization is cross-linking different social platforms. By posting links to websites or social media sites in the profile 'about' section, it is possible to direct traffic and ultimately increase search engine optimization. Another option is to share links to relevant videos and blog posts.[11] Facebook Connect is a functionality that launched in 2008 to allow Facebook users to sign up to different websites, enter competitions, and access exclusive promotions by logging in with their existing Facebook account details. This is beneficial to users as they don't have to create a new login every time they want to sign up to a website, but also beneficial to businesses as Facebook users become more likely to share their content. Often the two are interlinked, where in order to access parts of a website, a user has to like or share certain things on their personal profile or invite a number of friends to like a page. This can lead to greater traffic flow to a website as it reaches a wider audience. Businesses have more opportunities to reach their target markets if they choose a paid approach to SMO. When Facebook users create an account, they are urged to fill out their personal details such as gender, age, location, education, current and previous employers, religious and political views, interests, and personal preferences such as movie and music tastes. Facebook then takes this information and allows advertisers to use it to determine how to best market themselves to users that they know will be interested in their product. This can also be known as micro-targeting. If a user clicks on a link to like a page, it will show up on their profile and newsfeed. This then feeds back into organic social media optimization, as friends of the user will see this and be encouraged to click on the page themselves. Although advertisers are buying mass reach, they are attracting a customer base with a genuine interest in their product. Once a customer base has been established through a paid approach, businesses will often run promotions and competitions to attract more organic followers.[10]

The amount of businesses that use Facebook to advertise also holds significant relevance. Currently there are 3 million businesses that advertise on Facebook.[16] This makes Facebook the world's largest platform for social media advertising. What also holds importance is the amount of money leading businesses are spending on Facebook advertising alone. Procter & Gamble spend $60 million every year on Facebook advertising.[17] Other advertisers on Facebook include Microsoft, with a yearly spend of 35 million, Amazon, Nestle and American Express all with yearly expenditures above 25 million per year.

Furthermore the amount of small businesses advertising on Facebook is of relevance. This number has grown rapidly over the upcoming years and demonstrates how important social media advertising actually is. Currently 70% of the UK's small businesses use Facebook advertising.[18] This is a substantial amount of advertisers. Almost half of the world's small businesses use social media marketing product of some sort. This demonstrates the impact that social media has had on the current digital marketing era.

See the original post:
Social media optimization - Wikipedia

Just a few years ago, you could get away with building a social media marketing strategy on the fly. As long as you were present, you were doing more than your competitorsright?

Well its 2018 and not much of the same logic applies today. With 30% of millennials saying they engage with a brand on social at least once a month, your strategy cant be only about existence. Brands must be fully invested in their social media marketing strategies and focus on engagement. Otherwise, youll lose out on real customers, which means serious effects on your bottom line.

Were not here to scare your brand into the world of social media. Instead, we want to provide your marketing team with the right steps to take toward a successful social strategy so your brand isnt left in the dust.

Here are the seven steps to create a winning social media marketing strategy in 2018:

The first step to any strategy is to understand what you want out of your efforts. Social media marketing isnt about flipping a switch and calling it a day. Instead, social media planning should be looked at like cooking your favorite dish.

Once you have your ingredients, you follow a recipe and presto! But thats not always the case. What if you have guests and need to feed more people? What if someone is allergic to one of the ingredients? Suddenly, your goal goes from making a meal to ensuring it will feed enough people and be edible by all.

Thats why creating goals is so critical to the first part of your social media strategy. At the same time, its best to set goals that you know are attainable. Asking for 1 million new Instagram followers in 2018 is unrealistic. With achievable goals, youre more likely to stick to the original plan and continue to take on new hurdles as you complete old ones.

This is the same reason why brands should never take on every social media channel possible in their current marketing strategy. Try to choose the channels that have the most importance based on your brands goals. Avoid over complicating a strategy with too many targets and objectives. Simplicity can take you a long way.

And also, dont forget to document your social media goals. Not only is it important to help you benchmark where you are, but it also improves your chances of achieving them.According to some statistics, people who write their goals down are 30 times more successful.

Goal setting is a staple of all marketing and business strategies. Social media is no exception. Of course, with a range of social capabilities, it can be difficult to determine exactly what your objectives should be. For guidance, here are some common social media goals to consider:

Request a Demo

Approximately 79% of adults use Facebookbut are your customers actively engaging with your brand there? Understanding your audience is necessary to learn things like who buys your products, what age group is the toughest to sell and what income level makes up the most of your returning customers? As for social media, its just as critical to know your audience.

First, your brand should look into the demographics of your most valuable social channels. Like we mentioned before, you should have a goal in mind for your social media marketing strategy. This is why you need to research the channels that correlate the most with your goals.

To help you find your focus channels: lets take a quick look at the essential demographics data for each major network:

See even more demographics data on our in-depth guide!

While the demographics data above gives you insight into each channel, what about your own customers? Further analysis has to be completed before you can truly know your customer demographics on social media.

Thats why many brands use a social media dashboard that can provide an overview of whos following you and how they interact with you on each channel. Most brands today are using at least some sort of dashboard. However, does your dashboard address your specific goals?

Whether youre an agency providing insights for your clients or an enterprise company discovering your own demographics, an all-in-one dashboard solution is critical.

Sprout Social prides itself on the in-depth and essential demographics data for your social networks to help you identify your customers. Learn more with a free 30-day trial to uncover crucial data with Sprout!

While your targeted social media metrics might be the most important step of a strategy, its often the spot most veer off the path. Vanity metrics like follower count and likes are always good to measure, but does it tell you the whole story of your brand on social media?

We often get wrapped up in viewing followers and likes as the truth to a campaign, but its smart to take a step back and evaluate the social metrics associated with your overall goals.

Engagement metrics sometimes paint a better picture, because as weve mentioned many times here, building lasting relationships works on social. Large audiences and likable content is absolutely great, but here are some other metrics you might want to pursue in 2018:

Before you start creating content (we promise were almost there!), its really smart to investigate your competitors. We put this before the content creation process because you often find new ways to look at content by analyzing whats making your competitors successful.

Again, well always believe you shouldnt steal your competitors ideas, but instead learn and grow from their success and failures. So how do you find that information? The first step is to find out whos your competition in the first place.

The simplest way to find competitors is through a simple Google search. Look up your most valuable keywords, phrases and industry terms to see who shows up. For example, if you sold various soaps, handmade natural soaps would be a great keyword to investigate:

You can exclude the major retailers like Amazon and Bath & Body Works. Search for those who show up who are in your specific industry. Next you want to see who is active on social.

As you can see, Wild Soap has an active social presence, which means theyre a great candidate to track. After gathering a handful of industry competitors, its smart to use a social media competitive analysis tool like Sprout Social to track Facebook and Instagram content.

Here you can see post break downs of text, images and video to see what your competitors are doing to drive the most engagement. Once you dig through the competitive analysis, youll have a better idea of what your potential customers want.

Did someone say content? Its no liesocial media content is extremely important to your marketing strategy. However, its best to follow the previous steps before planning out content (we caught you, blog skippers!) so you can start building more effective themes.

For starters, we recommend creating content that fits to your brands identity. This means you should avoid things like reaching out to your unpopular demographics without a complete strategy in place.

Its necessary to find the perfect balance between target content and being overly promotional as well. In fact, 46% of users say theyll unfollow a brand if theres too many promotional messages. Additionally, 41% of users say theyd unfollow a brand that shared too much irrelevant content.

How important is video to your social media marketing strategy? Extremelyapproximately 90% of online shoppers believe product videos help them make a purchasing decision. Additionally, the average online video is completely watched end to end by 37% of viewers.

These type of stats should only enforce your reasoning to invest in social media video content. Brands can reach users through Instagram Stories, Facebook Live and other in-the-moment media.

One of the toughest challenges to visual content is creating it on a day-to-day basis. A Venngage infographic showed 36.7% of marketers said their No.1 struggle with creating visual content was doing so consistently.

This truly shows how important highly-visual content is to marketers and the people they want to reach. Thats why building content themes is a great approach to sectioning out your content. Instagram is one your premier channels to work off visual themes.

Anthropologie does an amazing job at keeping their Instagram feed consistent, colorful and eye-popping. Work in content themes to ensure you have a consistent schedule of excellent content to publish.

Social media channels are built as networks. This means their main purpose is to be a space to converse, discuss topics and share content. Your brand cant forget these core elements of networking and it takes effort to ensure conversations or engagement opportunities arent left unattended.

Through social media, you gain respect as a brand by just being present and talking to your audience. Thats why social customer care is so important to brands wanting to increase audience awareness. Its all about engagement.

For example, Seamless does a wonderful job of not only responding, but showing customer care is priority. Through the right social media monitoring tools, you can find instances across all your channels to interact, respond and gauge customer service inquiries.

Designating teams to specific tasks can help your staff run like a well-oiled social media team, whether youre a group of one or 100.

When is your brand available to engage and interact with customers? You might see some recommending times to post late in the evening. But if your brand isnt there to communicate, whats the point of posting at the preferred time?

Instead, try to ensure your social media or community managers are available and ready to answer any product questions or concerns when you tweet or post. Its smart to learn the best times to post on social media, but its just as critical to engage after posting.

According to our Index, a brands average response time is around 10 hours. But did you know that most users believe brands should respond to social media messages within four hours?

With all the updated algorithms, organic content has a tough time reaching the majority of your audience. The last thing you want to do is ignore those who engage and lose out on sending more down your marketing funnel.

So, how well did you do on your social media marketing strategy? Without continuously analyzing your efforts, youll never know how one campaign did over another. Having a birds-eye-view of your social media activity helps put things into perspective.

Youve got down your most important goals, network preferences and metricsnow its time to make sure you made the right decisions. Knowing youve made the right choices is still a difficult task in social media.

In fact, 46% of B2B marketers are unsure if their social strategy actually created revenue for their brand. But marketers are always trying and looking for the perfect connection. Thats why the most commonly used metric (80%) for marketers is engagement.

If you work at building lasting relationships, theres a lot less room for failure with your social media marketing strategy.

Sprout Social was created with social media marketing in mind. Our social media tools offer a full suite of analytics and reporting features to help you pinpoint exactly which posts, messages and hashtags perform the best.

Its easy to connect other critical tools to our dashboard like Google Analytics, which helps you see which posts drove the most traffic, conversions and overall revenue.

We wanted to give our readers a few resources to use moving forward. Thats why we put together this 7-step social media marketing strategy checklist to help all of our readers creating and auditing their own strategies.

We encourage you to share it with colleagues or use the embed code to put it on your own site!

7 Steps in Creating a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy by Sprout Social

Go here to see the original:
7 Step Social Media Marketing Strategy for 2018 | Sprout ...

On average, we keep postings up at least 60 days. We check all listings multiple times a week to make sure they are still valid. If jobs expire, we remove them from this page.

If you wish to submit a marketing or social media job, send an email to markvanbaale@gmail.com with the following details:

Social Media Coordinator with Kansas City Chiefs (Posted May 23)

More Details and to Apply

Digital Marketing Specialist withBunzl (Posted May 23)

More Details and to Apply

Digital Marketing Coordinator withAnthony Plumbing, Heating and Cooling (Posted May 23)

More Details and to Apply

Copywriter with Rivet studio (Posted May 23)

More Details and to Apply

Openings with Rally House (Posted May 23)

Social Media Specialist

Marketing Coordinator

SEO Specialist

Digital & Website Strategist with Johnson County Community College (Posted May 23)

More Details and to Apply

Content Manager withBASYS Processing, Inc. (Posted May 23)

More Details and to Apply

Communications and Marketing Coordinator withMetropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault(Posted May 23)

More Details and to Apply

Digital Marketing Specialist withPioneer Services (Posted May 21)

More Details and to Apply

Marketing Manager withAutoAlert (Posted May 21)

More Details and to Apply

Senior Manager,Marketing Strategy withBlack & Veatch (Posted May 21)

More Details and to Apply

Openings with Dairy Farmers of America (Updated May 21)

Public Relations Manager

Content Coordinator

Member Communications Strategist

Marketing Manager with YMCA of Greater Kansas City (Posted May 21)

More Details and to Apply

Digital Content Coordinator withFederal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Posted May 16)

More Details and to Apply

Marketing Communications ManagerwithKVC Health Systems (Posted May 16)

More Details and to Apply

Copywriter with ER Marketing agency (Posted May 16)

More Details and to Apply

Content Marketing Manager withUnity World Headquarters (Posted May 16)

More Details and to Apply

Communications Coordinator withWoods Chapel United Methodist Church Lees Summit Campus (Posted May 16)

More Details and to Apply

Communications Specialist withConklin Company, Inc. (Posted May 16)

More Details and to Apply

Brand Engagement Specialist with MSTS (Posted May 16)

More Details and to Apply

Social Media Specialist with Netsmart (Updated May 14)

More Details and to Apply

Marketing Coordinator with Plastic Packaging Technologies (Posted May 14)

More Details and to Apply

Digital Marketing Strategist withShawnee Mission Medical Center (Posted May 10)

More Details and to Apply

Communications and Outreach Specialist with Kansas State University Olathe Horticulture Center (Posted May 10)

More Details and to Apply

Digital Content Specialist withNetsmart (Posted May 9)

More Details and to Apply

Social Media Analyst with Intouch Solutions agency (Posted May 7)

More Details and to Apply

Email Marketing Specialist withCalifornia Casualty (Posted May 7)

More Details and to Apply

Digital Marketing Analyst withRussell Stover Chocolates (Posted May 6)

More Details and to Apply

Marketing Manager withBKD (Posted May 6)

More Details and to Apply

Senior eCommerce Coordinator withAllied Materials & Equipment(Posted May 6)

More Details and to Apply

Junior Copywriter/Editor withNetsmart (Posted May 6)

More Details and to Apply

Read the rest here:
Marketing and Social Media Jobs Kansas City Job Seekers

Learn about the concept of changing people's behavior, the basis of social marketing as a whole, and why it can be of use to your organization.

Community groups do many different things to solve the issues that interest them. A group fighting child hunger might advocate free breakfasts at school, increased funding for WIC (Women and Infant Children), and more child-oriented legislation from the state senate. And to accomplish each of these goals, the group will again probably do many different things: letter-writing campaigns, direct lobbying, and advertising in the media, to name just a few. Thousands of details and hard work by many people are usually involved in a successful initiative.

Looked at from a different perspective, however, it comes down to one thing. At the root of all of the group's work is one basic principle: change people's behavior. This is true not only for a child hunger campaign, but for almost any health or community development initiative. A coalition against violence wants people to stop committing acts of violence. A teen pregnancy initiative tries to put an end to children having children. And an organization for peace looks for the day when world peace is more than a lovely thought on holiday greeting cards.

This concept of changing people's behavior is the basis of this section, and of social marketing as a whole. We will talk about what social marketing is, and why it can be of use to you in your organization. Then, we'll go into more depth on marketing, and discuss what are known as the "4 Ps"--the four elements around which all types of marketing, social or profit-oriented, are centered. Finally, we'll finish with an overview of the stages someone will go through if their effort is successful.

It's a lot of information, and much of it is more conceptual in nature than many other sections of the Tool Box. The next three sections of this chapter, then, will try to ground these ideas more thoroughly, so they can be used in your day-to-day work.

So what, exactly, is social marketing? In Social Marketing Report, it's defined as, "the application of commercial marketing techniques to social problems." It means to take the same principles used in selling goods--such as shoes, television shows, or pizza--to convince people to change their behavior.

What does that mean? Well, instead of selling hamburgers, you're selling a life without heart attacks. Instead of convincing teenagers to buy blue jeans, you're convincing them to buy the advantages of postponing pregnancy.

Of course, if you are selling blue jeans, you're still trying to influence behavior--you're convincing people they need to wear your jeans--either for comfort, or for style, or for value. So then, what is the difference between social marketing and commercial marketing?

It's really summed up in one key point: commercial marketing tries to change people's behavior for the benefit of the marketer; social marketing tries to change people's behavior for the benefit of the consumer, or of society as a whole.

And, although it's not technically a part of social marketing, you'll probably want to...

The above list represents just the bare bones of a social marketing effort. Each of these points will be discussed in detail later in this section, and in Section Four of this chapter. For a full example of a very successful nationwide social marketing plan, see the Examples section at the end of the main text.

A lot of people confuse social marketing with one of its components, advertising. But leaves are just one part of the tree--even when they're only part you can see. Likewise, advertising is a very important part of social marketing, but it's still just a part.

Is that confusing? Well, look at the following messages:

On the other hand...

The bad news is, there is a definite art to it--it's not all something you're born with, and it's not only common sense. After all, people get degrees in this stuff; and major corporations such as Nike or Coca-Cola spend millions of dollars to ensure that their marketing campaigns are state-of-the-art.

Now for the good news: first of all, it's learnable. You may not have been born with phrases like market segmentation floating around in your head, but you can learn what they mean, and how to use them.

Second, it's scalable. Some campaigns are quite large, such as the National High Blood Pressure campaign discussed in the Examples at the end of this section. However, social marketing campaigns can also be quite a bit smaller. That is, you can do it on a local level, when you have limited resources. Just because your group doesn't run the Hyatt Regency, or hasn't resources anywhere in the same ballpark, that doesn't mean you can't take the same principles and put into effect the change that you want to see in your community.

So what makes the concept of social marketing particularly important? Perhaps you've been doing your work quite effectively for years without ever even hearing the phrase. That's actually pretty likely; the phrase was only coined about 25 years ago.

There are three major advantages, however, which suggest that social marketing is worthy of your consideration:

Bottom line? Social marketing is a good idea because it works.

Before we discuss social marketing further, however, it's important to have a grasp on the principles of commercial marketing, since that is what it's based on. As community health workers, or members of non-profit organizations, the idea might seem a bit odd. We're used to a completely different mindset. Terms like "marketing" may conjure up images of big business and corporate greed; they certainly don't make us think of programs to try to help our neighbors.

Even so, your neighbors may not be open to your ideas and programs right off the bat, and you may find yourself having to persuade them. This is what social marketing excels at. The idea may be new for you, or a complete change in how your perceive things. That change, however, may end up being the breath of air your organization needs to become even more effective in changing behavior.

The essence of all marketing can be summed up in what has been termed the "4 Ps." They are product, price, place, and promotion. Let's look at each in turn.

A good social marketing plan, then will try to reduce these costs. An anti-litter campaign will try to place more trash cans around the city; a smoking cessation group might offer support groups to help with the effort, nutrition counseling to counteract weight gain, and nicotine patches to reduce the pangs of withdrawal.

Likewise, if you are "selling" teen pregnancy prevention, what barriers make it difficult to prevent those pregnancies? Can teenagers easily obtain birth control, or is it difficult for them to get hold of? Maybe there isn't a good teen clinic in town. Or if there is a clinic available, maybe it's all the way across town, and it's only open on weekdays until 4:00, making it difficult to get to without missing school.

Social marketing efforts make it easier to change behavior by making sure the necessary supports are not only available, but also easily accessible to the most people possible. The less people need to go out of their way to make a change, the more likely they are to make it.

Promoting your cause doesn't need to take a lot of money. It can also take place through less costly methods, such as good old-fashioned word of mouth. Convincing people through a one-on-one conversation can be just as effective at changing someone's point of view as the best made commercial, or even more so. (Think about it. Which would make you get a tetanus booster: a television commercial or a suggestion from your doctor?) Word of mouth is a highly desirable part of social marketing.

Remember, though--advertising alone is not social marketing.

With that understanding of marketing in mind, let's turn now to the focal point of an effective campaign--the consumer. People will have different ideas and beliefs at different times. For example, among smokers, some may not believe smoking is that bad for them, others might understand the risks but not care, still others may not want to take the effort to stop smoking, and a final group of smokers may be actively trying to quit. A social marketing campaign will see all of these beliefs (and their related actions) as part of a continuum, and try to move people along to the next step.

The idea is that these changes won't happen overnight. Most people won't go immediately from believing smoking is "cool" and not really understanding the health risks to quitting right away. Instead, a social marketing campaign might start them thinking that it's not the best thing to do--and after that idea has had time to turn around in their head for a while, another part of the campaign will help them quit, and yet another part will help them remain smoke free.

How are these beliefs shaped and decisions made? Well, generally speaking, the following activities need to occur:

In much of Africa, women have traditionally had many, many children; in such countries as Nigeria, the average woman might bear as many as 12 children during her lifetime. A social marketing message that has been widely disseminated, then, is have fewer children. This message has been geared towards the goals of increasing women's health, and decreasing overpopulation and famine.

As we mentioned above, not every person will be at the same place on the continuum. It's like they are at different points on a bridge, spanning from attention to action. The tasks of the marketer are first to know who stands where on the bridge, and then to design messages to move each targeted person or group one or more stages further along that bridge, in the direction of desired action.

Social marketing is a concept that's fairly new to the health and development field. Nonetheless, it's an idea that shows immense promise, and can give you an excellent framework through which your organization can do what you have set out to do: help individuals and society as a whole live better lives. Is this something that can be used to further the goals of your program or coalition? The next section of this chapter, will help you decide the answer to just this question.

Read more:
Chapter 45. Social Marketing of Successful Components of ...