There are many digital marketing strategies, and you need to integrate all of them into your business for the best results. However, if you have just started with digital marketing and need help to choose between social media marketing and content marketing, this article is for you.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing refers to creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract people and convert them into customers. At its core, content marketing is about storytelling.
Content marketing helps significantly to build brand authority. When you consistently deliver high-quality content, you can position yourself as a leader in the industry.
Content marketing doesn’t provide immediate results like social media, but it can generate traffic organically once your content becomes popular. Besides updating the content, you don’t have to do anything. The revenue will keep coming in.
There are different forms of content marketing, such as:
- Blog posts
- Ebooks
- Videos
- Audio
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing uses social media platforms to connect with an audience in real time. If content marketing is about storytelling, social media marketing is about sparking conversations.
With social media marketing, you can expect immediate results, especially if you’re ready to spend some money to promote the posts. With billions of active users across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you can build an audience base fairly quickly by publishing high-quality posts consistently.
Social media can’t provide organic results. Your content can go viral overnight, but it can also be overshadowed by the next big thing. To stand out, you need to keep publishing high-quality posts.
Difference Between Content Marketing and Social Media Marketing
| Aspect | Content Marketing | Social Media Marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Establish authority, build trust, and foster long-term relationships with the audience | Increase brand visibility and drive immediate engagement |
| Results | Seeing results takes time, but they are organic. | Gives immediate results, but they aren’t organic. |
| Nature of content | Blog posts, ebooks, videos, and audio | Social media posts and tweets |
| Platform | Website, YouTube, and email newsletters | Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter |
| Interaction | Passive consumption of content. There’s no direct engagement and interaction with the audience. | Active engagement and interaction with the audience. |
| Timing and frequency | Publishing once every day or every other day is sufficient. | Frequent publishing is necessary to keep your audience engaged. |
| Measurable metrics | Metrics include website traffic, leads, conversions, and content engagement. | Metrics include likes, shares, comments, and follower growth. |
Make the Right Decision
If you want to position yourself as an authority in your industry and are willing to put in the time and effort to create high-quality content, go with content marketing. The results will be organic, but it takes time to see them.
If you want immediate results, choose social media marketing. But remember that the results aren’t organic, and be ready to spend some money to promote the posts.
The best method is to combine content marketing and social media marketing. By doing so, you can get immediate results from social media marketing while publishing high-quality content that will yield long-term results.
Need help to grow your business? Book a coaching session with Ken. Ken, who has over 30 years of experience as a business coach, will give you proven strategies to accelerate the growth of your business. Ken is the man behind the success of hundreds of entrepreneurs in the U.S.
Ken D Foster is a best-selling author, transformational leader, business strategist, and producer of the Voices of Courage Show, syndicated in 185 countries.
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