Social Media Marketing vs. Social Networking

On Twitter, I was chatting with my friend and colleague Don Power about what I see as the difference between social media marketing and social networking, as I feel he’s better than me at the latter but that I may have an edge in the former.I see the difference as one of skillsets, and scope.

In social media marketing, the goal is to construct a campaign that has social, or viral appeal. It might be a video, it might be a whitepaper, a blog post. The idea is to create awareness, built buyer confidence and ultimately, drive new sales. The components involve developing the scope of the campaign, identifying the platforms, building the content, implementing tracking and measuring the results.

You know, marketing.

In social networking, the goal is to network. To make connections with people, have meaningful conversations, for new ones, understand the mechanics of guiding a conversation and measuring the efficacy of conversations as they relate to building value in both local, and virtual communities.

You know, networking. Becoming a valued member of a community.

Both are forms of marketing in the global sense of the word, in that when you network properly – you create opportunities to sell your product. For those of you who, like me, are terrible at networking – don’t worry, there are still options.

What are you good at? Join us in the conversation as we continue it on Twitter.