Social marketing is the process by which business entities promote themselves through social contacts in the online environment. The popularity of social media websites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube has created a social buzz around most businesses. These sites are excellent avenues for businesses to advertise their products, services, and corporate identity. The advent of social marketing also offers an excellent opportunity for businesses to interact with consumers on a more intimate level, rather than simply via print or television advertisements. This article seeks to define what is social marketing and explore its various dimensions.

What is social marketing? Social marketing has the single aim of creating “positive social change”. The traditional commercial advertising goals are primarily financial, although they do have positive social impacts too. In the case of public health, public awareness would promote increased general awareness, increase health-related behavior, and reduce health-related costs. Another example is a charitable organization that creates awareness about its cause by hosting a popular annual fundraising event.

The goal of what is social marketing is to increase a business’ brand awareness and visibility at a certain level. For this to occur, the nonprofit must create a plan that focuses on two distinct aspects. One is to create a strategy that addresses the basics of what is social marketing. This strategy would include the creation of an identity, or brand, for the nonprofit. A brand is a name or a symbol that a group or individual uses to represent itself or to gain recognition. A key aspect of this strategy is that the nonprofit must select a name that accurately represents what it does.

The second aspect of what is social marketing is to develop a plan to support what is social marketing campaigns. The strategic goals of such campaigns need to be in line with the purpose of the nonprofit organizations. This will include the development of a communications strategy that will allow for communication between the marketing agency and the public. A communications strategy also needs to address issues such as communication costs, the monitoring of social marketing campaigns, and the evaluation of campaigns.

What is social marketing sells differently than traditional advertising. Marketing that engages consumers at the grass root level is much more effective at changing behaviors. Traditional advertising tends to target consumers on a more superficial level at the expense of engaging them at a more profound level – one that can lead to change. What is social marketing sells at both surface and sub-surface levels.

Marketing that is what is social tends to engage audiences at the grass root level. It does this through the promotion of “free stuff” and discounted goods. Free stuff is especially appealing to nonprofits because most nonprofit organizations lack the funding to purchase the products they need. Discounted goods are attractive to consumers because they do not have to be purchased in order to obtain the item. These types of campaigns are successful at driving a significant amount of traffic to nonprofit websites. These campaigns are most effective during periods when there are a significant number of people likely to be in a given location.

The other part of what is social marketing that is important to many in the non-profit world is the use of data to determine where campaigns are most effective. Most campaigns are designed to increase revenue, improve fundraising, or increase membership numbers. While some of these campaigns do accomplish their goals, others are designed to change behavior or increase priority population. These campaigns tend to be successful at both because of the type of behavior that are targeted, and the fact that many in the target audience tend to behave in ways that make it easier to identify what behaviors they exhibit.

What is social marketing is a term that may take several forms. A great example is a campaign to raise money for a non-profit organization by offering an “earn while you learn” webinar. During the webinar, the host introduces attendees to the members of the non-profit organization and asks that they spend ten minutes of their time either volunteering to help the organization or referring new donors. These volunteers then become the representatives who promote the program by asking their audience to refer new people to the organization through their personal webpages. Because many of these individuals are motivated by the prospect of getting money, their behavior may take several forms beyond the simple purchase of a product or service.