Design, implementation and control of programs aimed to influence the acceptability of social ideas best defines Social Marketing (Kotler, P., & Zaltman, G.,1971). Social Advertising and Commercial Marketing are oftentimes used interchangeably with Social Marketing, which shouldn’t be the case. Although the primary driver is to pitch ideas, the end results vary. “Social Advertising” is advertising that relies on social media information to build brand awareness, and generate leads and sales revenue (Consumer Acquisition LLC, n.d.). While “Commercial Marketing” on the other is all about pitching products to individuals and corporations and creating a relationship between the consumer and product (Capozzi, C., 2017). To elaborate further Social Marketing’s focus is “social good”, commercial marketing focuses on “financial good” and social advertising gives emphasis to “financial good” and “branding”. There are some instances that Social Marketing integrates both social policy and commercial marketing such in the case of campaigns generated by non-profit organizations wherein the primary cause is to improve the social condition with a hint of getting more sponsors to generate funding for the support of programs.
Today’s situation, we see a lot of social campaigners practicing social advertising rather than social marketing. Majority of the campaigns lacks one of the four elements as stated by Wiebe such as force, direction, social mechanism and distance. Due to lack of substance, we see problems on the threat to social marketing brand, fragmentation of the role, engaging policy makers, increase training options, policies, and funding. The social marketing process calls for a thorough marketing research, a well-conceived product, a specialized communication media and agents or voluntary groups to deliver and target the audiences. It offers a framework for effective social planning at time when social issues arise.
Let’s take a look at how “Social Marketing” started. Please see timeline below.
References
Consumer Acquisition LLC (n.d.). What Is Social Advertising? Platforms, Benefits & Tips. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://www.consumeracquisition.com/faq/what-is-social-advertising/
Capozzi, C. (2017, November 21). The Difference in Retail Marketing and Commercial Marketing. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-retail-marketing-commercial-marketing-20737.html
[Difference between Social and Commercial Marketing] (n.d.). Retrieved from https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ch1socialmarketingacu-100520181618-phpapp01/95/ch1-social-marketing-acu-9-728.jpg?cb=1306590231