“Social Media Guru” “Viral Marketing Master” “Grassroots Ninja” Don’t these make you tired? Linkedin is full of self proclaimed new marketing geniuses. Don’t get me wrong, there is a boatload of talented people out there and I’d say many of them have more experience and credibility than I do. As the professional world bursts with opportunity for these ninjas, there must be some distinction between what each of these types of marketing are. Let’s dissect.

Social Marketing – I like you, you like me

Webster defines the word Social as “Of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society.” Through digital channels like Facebook and Twitter and Linkedin we connect for the welfare of each other – most of the time. When you introduce marketing in this community it must be very personal and mutually beneficial. Simply put, your presence online should be equally or more valuable to your “friends” or “fans” as what you are trying to sell to them. There should be no sales pitches in social marketing.

You want people to like you and your brand. Social marketing takes advertising to a personal level where someone takes a deeper interest in what you have going on. If you do it right, you will make a lot of friends who will buy a lot of your stuff, and still be your friends.

Viral Marketing – Tell your friends!

One person tells three people who tell four people who tells five people and then you have double rainbow. Sorry for the bad example, that video is not marketing anything but it sure is funny. Viral Marketing is creating something worth spreading to give the masses “social cred” by telling their friends. Attach your brand somehow and you’ve got a successful viral marketing campaign. Viral marketing casts the nets out wider and brings in more friends and fans to be engaged in the social sphere.

Tweet For A Track is a wonderful viral marketing tool. Viral marketing is based on the sharing abilities of the web. It is becoming easier and easier to share links with friends and followers. It takes some creativity but if you can manage to share something that people have an incentive to share again with their friends with your brand attached, you are golden.

Grass Roots Marketing – work it, work it…

“Grass roots marketing in its simplest definition is to market your company, organization, products or services on a local and on a personal level.” –Ezine

Grass roots marketing can be online, but more often than not it entails PR stunts and creative local campaigns within your community. I read a story about a small business owner who’s building was unfortunately sandwiched in-between two similar companies in the same strip mall. The one on the left was having a huge sale to drive foot traffic and out-do the other two businesses. He hung a giant banner that almost covered his own front door that said “60% off, this weekend only!” So the one on the right had a bigger sale and hung a similar obstructive banner on his building, “75% off, this weekend only!”. A perfect example of creative grassroots marketing is what the middle, smaller business owner did next. He hung a smaller sign over his door that said “Main Entrance”.

Laying piles of fliers in coffee shops and college campuses, making cold calls, hanging posters in your community, or even getting a team of fans to spread your news by word of mouth are all solid methods of grass roots marketing.

What, When, and Where?

Clearly, there are appropriate places and times to use each of these three marketing methods. There are good times to use a combination of two or three of each as well. The best part of these marketing practices is that they are extremely cheap, or even free. You may even pull together a few loyal fans and get them to do the legwork for you. However, they will pack an exponentially larger punch if they act complimentary to traditional marketing efforts; the icing on the cake, if you will. You will probably be hard pressed to get any traction if you are only using these three methods. Spend your budget wisely on radio and TV ads, billboards, wherever it will be smart to place traditional marketing pieces. When your traditional marketing is in place, make a new marketing plan and become a guru or a ninja. Apparently it’s pretty easy these days.

I hope this sheds light and clarity on all of the jargon. If you have anything to add or question please feel free! Have a great day all, and thanks for reading.