Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
People often use the terms ‘social media’ and ‘social’ to mean the same thing, but this is wrong. The most important distinction here to make is that social media refers to the platforms and the applications where people are being social whereas social refers to the interaction between people.
A lot of brands think they’re being social but in reality they’re just posting traditional ads on social media platforms.
Is it social?
You can use three criteria in order to determine whether something is social:
- Is what you’re posting a two-way or multiple way interaction? If you’re just posting to and outwards at someone that’s not very social.
- Is the intent of your post to connect with or build upon relationships? Are you just wanting to give information to people or are you just wanting to push a message? That’s not very social either.
- Is the intention to add value to all parties participating? This is the distinction of “Oh yeah, I’m teaching somebody something but only for my benefit.”
If you are just posting traditional ads or promotions on social platforms, you are not maximizing the benefit of social. Social is incredibly powerful because if we do it right we are able to build memories, loyalty, and pleasurable associations to our brands through using it.
The human need to connect
Human beings are wired to connect. In his 2013 book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, scientist Matthew Lieberman presents proof that social connections are as fundamental to human beings as food and water.
In his work, Lieberman discovered that human beings are intrinsically motivated by five fundamental factors, known as SCARF: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness.
This module will be all about finding out what makes our audience tick and how to reach them through social media. By being social, you can apply this to all the modules.
The role of the social media marketer
Your role as a social media marketer is not to sell a product and it’s not to get as many likes and subscribers as possible. Your role as a social media marketer is to use a social media tools to connect to your audience socially which will result in you selling products as well as getting those subscribers and likes.
This involves:
- Encouraging and participating in interactions on social media. This means a lot of listening as well as having discussions and posing questions that encourage a participation or a two-way conversation.
- Connecting to people and building those relationships.
- Adding value to the parties participating, because marketing is all about connecting with your market.
Tara Hunt
Tara Hunt is an executive-level digital marketing professional with over 20 years of experience. She is the founder of Truly Inc., the author of one of the first books on how the social web is changing business, and a professional public speaker. Tara has created and executed proven digital and social strategies across multiple industries. She specializes in relationship and inbound marketing, with a passion for data-driven strategy.
Clark Boyd
Clark Boyd is CEO and founder of marketing simulations company Novela. He is also a digital strategy consultant, author, and trainer. Over the last 12 years, he has devised and implemented international marketing strategies for brands including American Express, Adidas, and General Motors.
Today, Clark works with business schools at the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and Columbia University to design and deliver their executive-education courses on data analytics and digital marketing.
Clark is a certified Google trainer and runs Google workshops across Europe and the Middle East. This year, he has delivered keynote speeches at leadership events in Latin America, Europe, and the US. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and Slideshare. He writes regularly on Medium and you can subscribe to his email newsletter, hi, tech.
