Social marketing is not the same as social media or social networking.

Social networking vs. Social marketing

People, please. You are breaking my heart.

I spend hours on Facebook. Hours. I do it so I can reconnect with people I purposely lost touch with years ago. I do it so I can poke Scott Bille and not get sued. I do it so I can see pictures of people from my past.

Facebook is social networking. It’s networking on social sites.
When I am chatting with colleagues on Jabber, or posting a hot topic to a marketing listserv, that’s social media. It’s interacting with people via boards and communication devices. It’s using media to socialize.
Now let’s say I was addicted to all of this social media use and social networking. Let’s say I could not stop. I was less productive at work, not paying enough attention to my family and completely unaware of where the hours of the day go because of this addiction.

People would want to help me, right? They would want to help change my behavior. Admit my addiction. Link me to resources that will help me decrease my time spent online. They will want to find ways to educate me on other things I could be doing that are less harmful. They will want to create messages I will feel are relevant to my situation and will make me seek help. That would be social marketing.