SoMe the Marketing

What role does social media have in marketing?

Earlier today Brian Solis posted a good piece on the Conversation Index that included the line:

"True social marketing is not marketing at all."

While I agree with and wrote about the premise that social media should not be considered another broadcast channel to say it isn't marketing seems to equate marketing with advertising.

Marketing is so much more than advertising. Its a shame that the size of the advertising budget often masks the more important functions:

1. Understanding what and how people perceive and express their own needs.
2. Translating the understanding into a single, different idea that resonates with people.
   
3. Guide the perception through to satisfaction with a set of products and services that meet those needs.

In the broadest sense:

Marketing aligns solutions with needs to everyone's mutual benefit.

On #journchat last night this point picked up some support in discussing PR and Journalism. Marketing is the alignment of a pitch (solution) with an article (need) to the readers' (everyone) benefit. This is done by building relationships, understanding the audience, and listening in order to tell stories, which just happen to be the best sales tool ever.

What better opportunity to 'do marketing' than to participate in social media?