Author Toby Murdock has some ‘curatable’ thoughts on the Content Marketing Institute blog…
As I meet with brands and agencies, I still come across people who are totally unfamiliar with the term “content marketing.” And as I begin to explain it, they often respond, “Oh, brands publishing content? You mean social media marketing.”
Indeed, content marketing heavily involves social media. And, of course, in social media, marketers use content to get their messages across. But although there is plenty of overlap between content marketing and social media marketing, they are actually two distinct entities, with different focal points, goals, and processes. To help clear the confusion, let’s look at the major ways in which they differ:
“Center of gravity”
In social media marketing, the center of gravity — the focus of the marketing activity — is located within the social networks themselves. When marketers operate social media campaigns, they are operating inside of Facebook, inside of Twitter, inside of Google+, etc. As they produce content, they place it inside of these networks.
In contrast, the center of gravity for content marketing is a brand website — whether it be a branded URL like AmericanExpress.com or a microsite for a brand’s specific product, like Amex’s Open Forum. Social networks are vital to the success of content marketing efforts, but here, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are used primarily as a distributor of links back to the content on the brand’s website — not as containers of the content itself.
Source: Content Marketing vs. Social Media Marketing: What’s the Difference?
I’m going to stop there, but by all means – go to the source and read the rest of the article as you might pull out something completely different. I want to camp on his phrase ‘center of gravity’. I’ve heard a blogsite described as a homebase, a hub, but I like the idea of a brand blogsite being a ‘center of gravity’ and I wanted to capture that here. Does this resonate with you?
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- 10 Essential Social Media Resources for Enterprise Business (sproutsocial.com)
- CONTENT MARKETING AND THE FUTURE OF SEARCH Content marketing is… (futurecomms.co.uk)
- Content Marketing vs. Social Media Marketing: What’s the Difference? (contentmarketinginstitute.com)
- The Best Content Marketing Infographics on the Planet (junta42.com)
- Wildfire Partners With Adaptly To Create Social Media Marketing & Advertising Solution (bub.blicio.us)
Todd Lohenry 