Content Marketing:

A strategic marketing approach on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and keep a clearly-defined audience and to drive leads into customers.

Social Media Marketing:

The use of social media websites and social networks to market a company’s products and services. Social media marketing provides companies with a way to reach new customers and engage with existing customers.

Most organizations wear multiple hats and do a good mixture of both, which is suggested to create a full picture.

Here is an easy way to differentiate the two: Social is a channel, Content is a tactic.  

Social media is a channel where we can find potential customers through analysis, thus creating a relevant audience. We then interact with our audience through this channel, at the stage they are at within the buyer’s journey. Providing them with content is a tactic to interact and engage with the audience. The purpose of each piece of content may be different. One piece may need to educate your audience, entertain your audience, or encourage your audience. No matter the specific purpose of each individual piece of content the general purpose is to add value.

Online Presence

Both of these help with your total online presence. Therefore, even though content marketing and social media marketing are different they both play an important part within your complete online presence and have an important role within the inbound methodology. When used together in a strategic manner, the results can be endless.