Is social media PR or marketing?

In this day and age it may seem like social media reigns supreme when it comes to getting your brand in front of consumers. Social media is certainly the quickest way to gain a following and spread the word across multiple platforms, especially if you are consistent and thorough with your posting and content. With sales options now integrated through many platforms, social media has also become a hub for directing sales. What it comes down to, though, is whether social media is categorized as PR or marketing for your business and what you are utilizing platforms for.

Are you using social media to increase sales or to increase brand awareness? Yes, there’s a difference. Sales = $$$, awareness = finding your niche and having a vast audience who know about your brand. Awareness = relationships which lead to sales - and usually repeat sales. Just because people know who you are, what you stand for and what you do or sell, does not mean you are making sales. It’s your responsibility to convert that brand awareness into the sale through strategic and ethical relationship building techniques - now that’s what public relations (PR) is. Having good brand awareness can have an impact on your sales, it doesn’t mean you will have immediate sales results from growing your brand awareness. You need to cultivate the action. In short, if the primary focus is brand awareness, then social media is for PR, but if the focus is to drive sales, then it falls under marketing.

Is social media the only outlet for getting your brand in front of consumers? Or do you have other focuses that are more traditional PR such as media relations through press releases and news media? If social media is not the primary strategy, then it would likely be catered more towards marketing. However, because social media can have such a vast reach, if you need to pivot your social media needs to be PR focused, it’s as easy as creating a post to share the information.

Social media has become a cross section of marketing and PR that not everyone has bothered to take full advantage of. Intermixing and aligning your marketing and PR strategies through social media creates opportunities for your consumer to not only see your brand’s products, services, and offerings; but to also get a glimpse into what your company is all about. The answer simply is social media can be a little bit of both and should be both to maximize your growth.

To find expert support in guiding your PR and marketing strategy using social media as a tool, let our team help! Whether it’s creating the content calendar and strategy and letting your team implement the tactics or taking a full-scale management approach, we can help. Send us a message HERE or give us a call at 719.465.3565.