Digital marketing is the broad discipline of promoting products, services, or brands through digital channels, including search engines, websites, email, social media, mobile devices, and other digital media. Social media marketing is a specific part of digital marketing focused on using social platforms to reach audiences, build awareness, engage users, and generate conversions.
Let’s start with the most important one: digital marketing
Digital marketing is the broadest and most comprehensive term among all those we will examine because it contains all the other terms. Digital marketing is to market a product or a service on digital channels such as search engines and social media. It is also on digital media that are not connected to the internet. For example, the use of text messages, mms, e-books, etc.
The different methods used in digital marketing take different names depending on the techniques they use and the channels on which they operate. The main digital marketing methods are as follows:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): it is the set of techniques aimed at giving maximum visibility to a website or online content in the organic (non-paid) results of search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo , etc.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing): as the word itself says, it is marketing on a search engine. Being fussy is essentially included with SEO. The correct definition would be SEM = SEO + SEA, where the former means search engine optimization. The second search engine advertising is also called PPC. In reality, in digital marketing terminology, SEM is generally used to refer to paid campaigns.
Social Media Marketing: consists of using social media platforms to promote a product or a service. Social media includes both social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as other popular platforms such as Youtube, Whatsapp, Viber etc.
Email Marketing: consists of communication via email to promote a product or a service, to generate brand awareness or retain customers. Usually the message is sent to groups of people who may already be customers or potential customers. Emails can be direct or transactional depending on whether you want to promote an offer and invite users to take a course of action like thanking the customer or wishing a happy anniversary. Many platforms allow extending communication by sending text messages.
Affiliate Marketing: this type of marketing consists in promoting third party products or services in exchange for a commission on sales, views or customers acquired. For the merchant it is a very powerful marketing tool as it can quickly increase sales by only paying for the results obtained. The affiliate marketer has the advantage of being able to sell a product without owning it.
Other terms used that are sometimes include:
- Influencer Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Paid Advertising
- Display Advertising
So, what is the difference between Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing?
The difference between digital marketing and social media marketing is simple. Social media marketing, as we have seen previously, consists of promoting products or services on social media and is a part of digital marketing. Digital marketing is a discipline with many sub-sections and it uses all the digital channels available for promotion and awareness creation for products and services. It is incorrect to use the term social media marketing to refer to internet marketing and in the same way it is incorrect to think that digital marketing is just that on social media.
FAQs
Is social media marketing part of digital marketing?
Yes, social media marketing is a specific discipline within digital marketing. While social media marketing focuses on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social networks, digital marketing encompasses a much broader range of channels and techniques.
What is the main difference between digital marketing and social media marketing?
The main difference is their scope. Digital marketing covers multiple digital channels, including SEO, paid search, email marketing, websites, social media, display advertising, and affiliate marketing, while social media marketing specifically focuses on promoting and engaging audiences through social platforms.
Is SEO part of digital marketing?
Yes, SEO is a core component of digital marketing. Search engine optimisation focuses on improving the visibility of websites and content in organic search results, whereas digital marketing also includes paid advertising, social media, email, content, and other digital channels.
Is social media marketing better than other forms of digital marketing?
Social media marketing is not inherently better than other digital marketing channels because its effectiveness depends on the business, target audience, and marketing objectives. Social media can be particularly effective for audience engagement and brand awareness, while SEO, email marketing, paid advertising, and other channels may be better suited to different stages of the customer journey.
Can a business use digital marketing without social media?
Yes, a business can use digital marketing without relying on social media. SEO, email marketing, paid search, display advertising, affiliate marketing, content marketing, and a company website are all digital marketing channels that can be used independently of social media.