Content Marketing “is” Social Media Marketing! Or, is it??

“Content Marketing.”

 “Oh, brands publishing content? You mean social media marketing.”

As a matter of fact, content marketing indeed significantly relies social media. Also, it’s a proven fact, in social media, marketers use content to get their messages across. But despite a substantial overlap, content marketing and social media marketing are clearly two distinct entities, with different focal points, depth of field, and apertures!

But, how exactly are they different, if you say so?

Let’s see how!

The ratio of brands that practise social media marketing compared to those that practise content marketing is probably somewhere around one thousand to one. Social media marketing is top-of-mind for almost every marketing department, while content marketing is a relatively fresh term for most in the industry.

In terms of marketing though, it’s more effective to think of the two strategies less as two individual options and more as complemental parallels of the ongoing marketing evolution. The internet has unleashed a revolution, enabling every single brand to communicate directly with its customers.

And, social media marketing is organically the primary step in this process for a simple, obvious reason: Targetting the audience is easier owing to direct access and interactive platforms, and content is generally titbits, which makes the publishing process relatively easy and convenient.

But with brands growing all the more conscious of the changing perspectives and the awareness of the target audience, a cosmic shift towards content marketing can be expected.

Content marketing demands brands to produce longer-form, higher-quality content and build audiences on their own site. The task at bay might not be a cakewalk, but the returns are, arguably, way more rewarding!