Even if you are brand new to the world of social media, you can’t ignore how powerful it is as a business tool. Social media is one of the most potent platforms to help people learn about your brand. That’s why major companies are shelling out tons of money on social media marketing and advertising. 

Both social media marketing and social media advertising are meant to get the word out about your company. But, there’s a difference between the two. It can be hard to determine which one you want if you’re unsure. Don’t worry, though. I’m here to help you out…

• For the sake of this article, social media marketing is any type of work that you do that does not require money to do. 
• Social media advertising is strictly buying paid ads, or working with social media influencers to get your company in the spotlight.
• Both social media marketing and advertising should be used if you want to get the best possible results. 

Social media is a very powerful beast, which is why many people need to learn a little bit more about the “behind the scenes” aspects of it before they launch a campaign. 

Understanding the difference between social media marketing vs social media advertising

Before we begin, I feel like I should get into further detail about the differences between social media marketing and advertising on social media platforms. After all, advertising is technically a form of marketing, but not all marketing is advertising. 

What is social media marketing?

Technically, marketing is anything that involves getting people to take notice of your brand. This includes posting on clients’ walls, adding followers, posting up cute pictures on Instagram, as well as replying to questions people have about your products via social media. 

However, for the sake of comparing it to advertising, we’re going to say that this is all the stuff that you do not have to pay for---or that you could do on your own. So, this would include the following things:

• Creating your social media profiles on different social media networks
• Linking them together for easier cross-selling
• Posting blog posts
• Posting photos on Instagram
• Copywriting for social media posts
• Researching and adding hashtags to your photos

What is social media advertising?

Social media advertising is the act of paying for ads. In most cases, the ads are basically “boosts” that help spread your brand’s post to a larger audience. However, this term can also involve any of the following types of advertising:

• Sponsored posts for influencers
• Animated ad banners
• Space in “priority” areas

When should you use social media marketing vs paid advertising?

Honestly, if you are using social media ads, it’s safe to assume you’ve already done social media marketing in the recent past. In fact, most types of social media advertisements require you to do stuff that you already do for marketing purposes. With that said, there are a couple of things that you should be aware of…

• Most social media marketing companies would never suggest doing paid advertisements right off the bat. You usually will need to have at least 100 to 200 followers before you can get decent results. Otherwise, your target audience may find it to be a bit dodgy. 
• Social media marketing is the foundation of your business’s social media presence. You can’t have a social media presence without actually putting together the profiles that will represent you. Moreover, if your social media posts are terrible or unprofessional, all the ads in the world will not be able to get you the audience you want. 
• Social media advertising is great if you already have a good campaign going. You need to make sure that your analytics already show a decent conversion rate for the content that you already have. If you don’t have a conversion rate that is close to average (which is 0.71 percent, by the way!), you shouldn’t spend on ads. 

What are the benefits of social media marketing?

Social media marketing is what lays the foundation for a good online presence, and here’s the awesome thing about it: it doesn’t have to cost a thing. If you’re a small business on a budget, you can market to your heart’s content and see results. 

Social media is everywhere. According to Pew, around 70 percent of all Americans use social media to keep in contact with friends. In Australia, the numbers are actually pretty similar. If you want to reach them, then you need social media. You can only reach those numbers if you have a social media presence. 

To a point, it’s important to emphasize that you need to market your business via social media. Otherwise, you won’t be able to do much of anything with paid advertising on these platforms. Your social media profiles and posts are what give your brand a voice, ya know!

What are the benefits of social media advertising?

Social media advertising has so many benefits, it’s hard to really fully expound on it. There are three primary benefits that come with social media advertising:

• You get to choose your target audience. If you have ever seen how deeply Facebook tracks its users, then you understand how much of a major benefit this is. If you do a lot of market segmentation, this perk makes it easier than ever to pick and choose who you present your ad to. 
• Ads can be put in the format of your choice. For example, if you want to pay off influencers to advertise your wares on a social network, you can do that. However, most people tend to assume that social media advertising is just prime positioning on the platform of your choice along with increased reach. 
• You also get to have better analytics than you would have gotten with regular marketing. While you can track your strongest posts on regular social media marketing analytics, few platforms will give you the sheer array of information that advertising sections would for free. 

Of course, it’s also good to know that you get to set the budget on your advertising. 

What are the drawbacks of social media marketing?

While it is a must-have, there are still drawbacks to social media marketing if you don’t do it right. Sadly, that is a labor-intensive endeavor. You are going to have to spend hours every week to keep up with your social media. 

Bad marketing can cause you to alienate your company from your target audience, or even make your brand fail altogether. Even good concepts can backfire. A good example of this occurred with McDonald’s. They asked for good memories of visiting the local McD’s, and users just regaled the net with horror stories. It flopped. Bad.

What are the drawbacks of social media advertising?

Honestly, there are only two. The first is obvious: cost. It will burn a hole in your pocket. Even if you have a hefty budget, it’s easy to cause some serious problems with your ad budget. You can have it all disappear in a blink of an eye. 

Most companies will spend anywhere from $15 to $200 per day. If you have a very high-competition industry (like insurance), your ideal advertising budget will be higher, at around $200 to $300 per day.

The other big issue? Much like regular social media marketing, you may end up having a misfire by choosing the wrong post or hashtag. So, even if you do spend money, you have to think ahead.

Should you do social media marketing and advertising on your own? 

While you can do a lot of social media marketing on your own, it’s not always easy to do. It takes time to learn how to track your media properly. It also takes a lot of time to schedule out posts, interact with clients, and more. 

There are some business owners who are able to rule over their social media marketing without any extra help. With that said, it’s not for everyone. You probably should make a point of hiring someone else if any of the following is true:

• You get very easily upset if you see a lot of disparaging comments. Social media is filled with trolls. This means that you will see comments you don’t want to see. If you are sensitive to negativity, this is not something you want to do on your own. 
• There is a lot of risk involved with offending your target audience. This tends to be an issue with companies that cater to very niche audiences, or audiences that may have “extreme” views on things. 
• Your schedule is very busy already. Schedule already too tight? Social media marketing is very labor-intensive, which means that it might push you over the edge. Even buying ads can take hours, if you choose to do a lot of research on the topic before you plunk cash down. 
• You want to make the most of your advertising budget. Hiring marketing experts who can figure out how to maximize your ROI is a good move here. 

The next steps

Now that you know what the difference between social media marketing and social media advertising is, you need to put that knowledge to action. Check out this quick list of what you should do:

• Determine if you need to hire someone for social media marketing.
• Put together a social media marketing campaign. 
• Once you have a decent following, start buying advertising. 
• Enjoy your new campaign.

Want to get ahead of the game? Post a job on SavvySME, and you’ll be matched with a social media marketing agency in a pinch.