{"id":47564,"date":"2022-08-03T13:10:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T11:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/?p=47564"},"modified":"2025-11-18T13:50:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T11:50:51","slug":"why-social-media-marketing-is-vital-for-your-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/why-social-media-marketing-is-vital-for-your-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Social Media Marketing Is Vital for Your Marketing Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find out more about the role of social media in marketing with Kiara Havenga, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Head Tutor on<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/products\/uct-social-media-marketing-online-short-course\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social Media Marketing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> online short course from the University of Cape Town.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Why Social Media Marketing Is Vital for Your Marketing Strategy | UCT\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xYr4CLT3Twg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social media has made it easier for brands to reach and connect with large audiences. But, despite the enormous value that it holds for marketers, brands must consider social media as one component of a larger, integrated digital marketing strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How exactly does a social media strategy fit into an overall marketing strategy? Unlike any other communication methodology that has come before, social media marketing has changed the fundamental nature of the relationship between brand and consumer. Social media has allowed brands to form and nurture relationships with their consumers in a genuine, real-time manner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This two-way exchange has forced marketers to think and operate differently in the social space. However, social media is usually just one component of an overall digital strategy that could include email marketing, online reputation management, public relations, pay-per-click advertising, or search engine optimisation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, social media marketing is not a solo act. It\u2019s best thought of as part of a band. That\u2019s right: a band. A digital strategy is usually just one component of an overall marketing strategy that could include print advertising, radio broadcasting, and in-store promotions. Bearing this in mind, it\u2019s clear that an integrated strategy, reflecting overall brand identity, is a necessity.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-social-media-feeds-into-a-larger-marketing-strategy\">How social media feeds into a larger marketing strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A brand can run competitions and giveaways online using its social media platforms, which then result in an offline prize. For example, by hosting a selfie competition on an Instagram account, which then results in the winning photo being used in a more traditional marketing campaign, such as a magazine ad or in a brochure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-events\">Events<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Events. Using your social media platform as the method of inviting customers to events is far easier and more effective than handing out flyers or paying for printed ads. Sharing updates leading up to the event, posting behind-the-scenes videos, help create anticipation and a buzz around the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-advertising\">Advertising<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Advertising. Most social media platforms now offer a wide variety of advertising options, such as boosted posts, sponsored stories, promoted tweets, etc. These ads can act as a key vehicle for traffic to places like your website, online shopping pages, and mailer subscription forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-market-research\">Market research<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Market research could be the most untapped advantage of social media engagement. Information and feedback received from your customers on social media can have a huge effect on your business decisions. For example, if a popular milkshake brand asks their Facebook fans to come up with a new flavour, all other marketing channels like TV ads, mailers, and billboards will eventually reflect these market research results.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Irrespective of the size of your brand or business, it\u2019s critical to ensure that your social media marketing efforts are enhancing and complementing your overall marketing strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Find out more about the role of social media in marketing with Kiara Havenga, Head Tutor on the Social Media Marketing online short course from the University of Cape Town. Social media has made it easier for brands to reach and connect with large audiences. But, despite the enormous value that it holds for marketers, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":47572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[127,125],"article-format":[191],"class_list":["post-47564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice","tag-career-advice","tag-marketing","article-format-video"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Social Media Marketing Is Vital for Your Marketing Strategy - GetSmarter Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kiara Havenga, Head Tutor on the Social Media Marketing online short course from UCT, talks about the role of social media in your marketing strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/why-social-media-marketing-is-vital-for-your-marketing-strategy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Social Media Marketing Is Vital for Your Marketing Strategy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kiara Havenga, Head Tutor on the Social Media Marketing online short course from UCT, talks about the role of social media in your marketing strategy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/why-social-media-marketing-is-vital-for-your-marketing-strategy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetSmarter Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-03T11:10:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T11:50:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_why-social-media-marketing-is-important-in-your-marketing-strategy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"844\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aaminah Allie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GetSmarter Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/why-social-media-marketing-is-vital-for-your-marketing-strategy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_why-social-media-marketing-is-important-in-your-marketing-strategy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_why-social-media-marketing-is-important-in-your-marketing-strategy.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":844},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/why-social-media-marketing-is-vital-for-your-marketing-strategy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<meta property=\"og:video\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xYr4CLT3Twg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:type\" content=\"text\/html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:duration\" content=\"201\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:adult\" content=\"false\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:upload_date\" content=\"2022-08-03T11:10:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:allow_embed\" content=\"true\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Social Media Marketing Is Vital for Your Marketing Strategy - 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