What Is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?
Social media marketing (also known as digital marketing and e-marketing) is the use of social media—the platforms on which users build social networks and share information—to build a company’s brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic. In addition to providing companies with a way to engage with existing customers and reach new ones, SMM has purpose-built data analytics that allows marketers to track the success of their efforts and identify even more ways to engage.
Within 18 years, from 2004 (when MySpace became the first social media site to reach one million users) to 2022, the dramatic growth of interactive digital channels took social media to levels that challenge even the reach of television and radio.1 At the start of 2023, there were 4.76 billion social media users globally—over 59% of the world’s population.2
With over 80% of consumers reporting that social media—especially influencer content—significantly impacts buying decisions, marketers across industries are driving the evolution of social media marketing (SMM) from a stand-alone tool to a multipronged source of marketing intelligence on an increasingly important—and growing—audience.3
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Social media marketing uses social media and social networks—like Facebook, X platform (formerly Twitter), and Instagram—to market products and services, engage with existing customers, and reach new ones.
- The power of social media marketing comes from the unparalleled capacity of social media in three core marketing areas: connection, interaction, and customer data.
- Social media marketing has transformed the way businesses are able to influence consumer behavior—from promoting content that drives engagement to extracting personal data that makes messaging resonate with users.
- Because social media today is so ubiquitous, marketing techniques using these platforms are extremely important for businesses.
- Social media marketing is often more cost-effective with great exposure, though it requires ongoing maintenance and might have unintended negative feedback consequences.
