Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing: Working Together to Increase Your Brand Awareness

From the days when print media ruled supreme to today when online marketing is the core for most locally based businesses, the only constant in effective marketing is change. Most businesses know that they must focus on both social media marketing and content marketing to stay ahead of the competition. But what are they and how do they work together?

Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing Are Different

Social media marketing can be summed up as marketing through various major social media channels with sharable content that evokes conversation or comment. For many businesses, social media marketing is the key to creating brand awareness. Content marketing has a wider definition, and often businesses use their content marketing as part of their social media marketing plan. The goal of content marketing is to create relevant, authoritative content about your business, whether a product or service, so that your audience buys into what you’re selling and shares it with others.

How Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing Work Together

Social media has changed the way we learn about people and businesses. Almost every list of the greatest innovations of the 21st century includes either social media as a whole or the various social media channels. This is because social media gives businesses the ability to communicate with their audience, both for free and through paid channels.

• 70% of people in North America use social media on a daily basis
• People are spending more time on social media than watching television

Most business owners know and understand that when they take the time to write a blog about their business that they should post it on social media. That post should direct people to their website, create conversation, and evoke shares of the article. When using social media to advertise a new product or promote an event, guide your audience back to a landing page about that product or event on your website. This landing page gives them the ability to easily learn more about not only what you’re sharing but about your business and products as a whole.

Effective content marketing should be a key part of your SEO strategy. The more relevant content on your website, the easier it is for your customer to find you over the competition. Content marketing is also brand marketing, and there is no easier place to share information about your brand than through social media.

• Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than small businesses without
• Content marketing rakes in conversion rates six times higher than other methods

Data Driven Results

No matter what type of marketing you’re doing, you should track your results. Compare different posts for similar products and learn from those results. When you use paid social media channels, look at the results of each campaign. Use Google Analytics to track website traffic. Analyze what is being visited and how long they stay.

Today’s businesses can’t afford to only use one marketing method. Social media marketing and content marketing work seamlessly together to promote your brand. Although their objectives are not exactly the same, they certainly overlap. Are you effectively managing your online presence through social media and content marketing? Get in touch with the LeadBuilder® digital marketing team today to learn how we can help.

Jessica Frigo is a Digital Strategist on the the LeadBuilder® team. She is a digital marketing specialist with an interest in building the most effective marketing campaigns. For the past 10+ years, she’s implemented and overseen multiple national campaigns including inbound, marketing automation, email campaigns, and overall digital strategy for optimal performance. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Image via iStock