Social marketing | How to promote your business and influence social behavior

Do you remember the drumbeats that were used to spread news and inform the residents in old villages? Or those handwritten messages that were hung on market walls to offer advice, guidance, and warnings about avoiding the health risks of prevalent diseases?

These were the beginnings of social marketing, a journey through time that started with the simplest means and reached the digital age, which contributed to giving Social Marketing another dimension by utilizing the commercial activities and capabilities of various digital platforms, not only for marketing products and services, but also for launching advertising campaigns that address important social issues, contribute to raising awareness about them, and encourage positive change.

In this article, we will explore social marketing in detail, and learn about its characteristics, the benefits it can achieve for online stores, the steps to launch successful social marketing campaigns, the most prominent developments, and we will highlight practical examples that embody the impact of this unconventional marketing style in reality.

What is Social Marketing?

Philip Kotler, the father of marketing and the founder of the principles of this art, defines social marketing as: "A process aimed at influencing the behavior of individuals for the purpose of achieving a social benefit."

It is a marketing method that focuses on achieving social goals in parallel with commercial goals, by using traditional and digital marketing strategies and tools to spread awareness, stimulate interaction with the target audience, and influence their behaviors in a way that serves the public good.

It is one of the sophisticated types of electronic marketing, as it combines the economic and social dimensions of commercial activities, aiming to achieve profit while simultaneously working to bring about positive social change, by focusing on enhancing awareness of societal challenges, and changing the behaviors of individuals and communities for the better, in areas such as health, environment, education, and other issues that affect people's daily lives.

Social marketing has fundamental principles and unique characteristics that distinguish it from commercial marketing, which are outlined in this paragraph.

The Most Important Fundamental Principles of Social Marketing

Social Marketing involves fundamental principles, which are:

• Primarily focusing on the audience by deeply understanding their needs, values, beliefs, aspirations, and the challenges they face.

• Specific, clear, and flexible goals enough to be measurable and consistent with the desired social outcomes or results.

• Cooperation and participation by focusing on coordination between relevant stakeholders and influential people.

• Striving for sustainability by focusing on creating sustainable positive change in society, and maintaining the results of this change in the long term.

• Focusing on ethical considerations and prioritizing the interests of society, respecting its autonomy, privacy, customs, and traditions stemming from cultural heritage.

Here is an example:

Unique Characteristics that Distinguish Social Marketing from Commercial Marketing:

• Primary Goal:

While commercial marketing seeks to achieve profit, social marketing focuses on addressing community issues, protecting the environment, promoting public health, and creating a sustainable positive impact, etc.

• Extent of Impact:

Social marketing focuses on long-term impact, while commercial marketing focuses on short-term success.

• Core Values:

Social marketing strategies are built on social responsibility, ethical behavior, and community well-being, while commercial marketing strategies are built on profitability, competitiveness, and customer satisfaction.

• Measuring Success:

The success of social marketing is measured by positive changes in society, such as solving environmental or health problems, increasing awareness, and changing behavior for the better. While the success of commercial marketing is measured by financial metrics such as sales revenue, increased market share, and return on investment.

• Target Audience:

Social marketing campaigns target individuals and communities in general, while commercial marketing targets specific segments of consumers.

The types of social marketing vary according to the issue to be addressed and the goals to be achieved.

The Most Important Types of Social Marketing?

As mentioned, social marketing involves many different types, the most important of which are:

• Health Social Marketing:

This type of social marketing aims to promote health awareness and improve the public health of individuals through campaigns to raise awareness of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, and encourage healthy eating and regular exercise. In addition to promoting mental health through awareness campaigns to reduce the use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol.

• Environmental Social Marketing:

This type is concerned with promoting sustainable environmental practices and protecting the environment, which includes encouraging recycling and proper waste disposal, encouraging the use of renewable energy, reducing the use of plastics and pollution, and protecting biodiversity.

• Traffic Safety Social Marketing:

This type of social marketing works to enhance road safety and change driving-related behaviors. It includes raising awareness of the importance of wearing a seat belt, not using a mobile phone while driving, reducing reckless driving and excessive speed, and encouraging the use of public transport and bicycles.

• Educational Social Marketing:

It aims to promote education and improve educational awareness among individuals to reduce and eliminate illiteracy in countries. For example, it can include raising awareness of the importance of basic education and lifelong learning, encouraging participation in community educational programs, and providing educational opportunities for vulnerable and deprived groups.

• Social Marketing for Changing a Specific Community Behavior:

This type aims to promote change in community behaviors to be positive by raising awareness of specific issues such as gender equality, children's rights, animal rights, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence between different cultures and races.

We note that each of these basic types of social marketing has different methods, strategies, and techniques used to implement campaigns to achieve the desired goals efficiently and effectively.

Here is an example of social marketing campaigns with a deep community impact on the level of business owners to encourage the Saudi local product:

It is worth noting that this unique marketing style has many benefits for online stores, which we review below.

The Most Prominent Benefits of Social Marketing for Online Stores:

Social marketing is a powerful tool that has many benefits for online stores, enabling them to achieve goals that go beyond material profit, to include a positive impact on society. Instead of focusing only on meeting customer needs, social marketing focuses on ethical values ​​and social responsibility, which enhances the store's image and increases customer loyalty.

Among the most prominent benefits of social marketing for online stores are:

• Forming a positive image in the minds of customers:

Through social marketing, online stores can show their commitment to social issues, which enhances their image as a responsible brand. Addressing issues that matter to society, such as poverty or environmental protection, earns the store customer trust and encourages them to deal with it.

• Aligning with customer preferences:

Many consumers prefer to support brands that align with their values ​​and contribute to social causes. With increasing social awareness, social marketing becomes an essential tool for attracting customers who prioritize ethical practices and social values.

• Giving online stores a competitive advantage:

Social marketing contributes to distinguishing the online store from its competitors, especially in light of the intense market competition. Focusing on and supporting social issues contributes to establishing the mental image and forming a good impression in the minds of customers, and thus enhancing loyalty to the business activity.

• Expanding the scope of business through strategic partnerships:

Online stores can benefit from partnerships with non-profit organizations or other institutions that share the same values and goals. Cooperation with these institutions helps stores expand the scope of their activities and target a larger customer base.

After learning about the concept of social marketing, its characteristics, most prominent principles, and benefits, we move on to the practical part by raising this important question:

How to Implement and Launch Effective Social Marketing Campaigns?

To do this professionally, you must go through several steps, which are:

First: Define the desired social behavior to change or the message to be conveyed:

Defining the desired social behavior to change or the message to be conveyed is an essential step in implementing professional social marketing campaigns. By clearly defining the goal, the effectiveness of the campaign can be improved and its results accurately measured. To do this, you can use these tips:

• Define the problem you seek to address through the social marketing campaign.

• Avoid focusing on multiple problems or messages.

• Define an achievable behavior or message.

• Make sure the problem is relevant to your community and target audience.

• Collect all data related to the problem and its impact on society to know the behaviors of individuals and the influential factors.

• Formulate a clear and concise message that reflects the desired goal and its benefits for society.

• Use simple and easy-to-understand language.

• Make sure the message aligns with the values ​​and principles of your target community.

Here is an illustrative example: Suppose you want to implement a marketing campaign to address the problem of energy consumption and want to direct consumers to reduce and conserve energy consumption, then you must:

• Define the goal or problem, which is energy consumption.

• Then define the behavior to be implemented, which is reducing energy consumption by turning off the lights, for example, when leaving the room.

• Then formulate the message, such as saying: Save energy to protect your resources and the environment.

Second: Define the Target Audience:

The success of your social marketing campaign depends on the target audience to whom the campaign is directed, so you must define them according to age, gender, education level, and so on. It is also important to try to understand all the factors that influence the behavior of the individuals of your target customers' personality, such as: their feelings, values, and beliefs that motivate them to act on what they should do. To achieve this, you should ask yourself several questions, including:

• What are their favorite topics that arouse their curiosity?

• What social issues are they interested in?

• What social platforms do they use and how do they interact with social content?

Once you understand the target audience, you can formulate a message that achieves the desired goals of the social marketing campaign, and be sure that:

• The formulated message is short, concise, and written in simple and easy language.

• And use images, videos, and other visual elements to make your message more attractive and clear to have the required impact on consumers.

• And be keen to clarify the societal benefits and motivate the target audience to adopt this good behavior to create a positive impact on society.

Third: Define the Marketing Channels You Will Rely On:

It is important to think about how to deliver the intended message to the audience, and the means and options that can be used vary between television or printed advertisements such as street banners and billboards, and digital channels over the Internet that have caused a boom in this style of marketing.

Each medium has its advantages and disadvantages, so you must choose the medium that suits your target audience and the goals you want to achieve through the social marketing campaign. Here are some things to consider:

• Define your budget before choosing the marketing channel.

• Define the target audience you want to convey your message to and know the preferred digital channels.

• Determine the content of the message to be conveyed and the desired goals to be achieved.

• Know the type of content that attracts the target audience and ensure that it suits the chosen marketing channel to address them with.

Strategic Advice: Do not rely on one marketing channel, but it is necessary to create harmony and blend various digital channels to ensure the success of your social marketing campaign and achieve the desired goals.

Fourth: Launch the Campaign and Direct the Message:

This step is one of the crucial steps that requires you to ensure the clarity of the behavior you wish to establish and build by your brand once you launch your campaign and direct your social message. To ensure the success of your social marketing campaign, you can take these tips:

• Use logical evidence and arguments in the persuasion process, and avoid ambiguous language and unconfirmed information.

• Be sure to arouse feelings and emotions through the language written in your marketing campaign message to attract the audience's attention.

• Be sure to mention some statistics that support what you say instead of elaborating in the explanation.

Fifth: Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Social Marketing Campaign:

This step is concerned with measuring the success or failure of your social marketing campaign through key performance indicators that were set in advance to monitor the results and work to explore strengths and weaknesses to develop and improve them to achieve the desired goals with high effectiveness and efficiency.

This is a simplified overview of the most important steps you can go through to launch successful social marketing campaigns that bear fruit and have an impact on society.

The Most Prominent Developments in Social Marketing

The prominent developments in social marketing are represented in:

• Benefiting from digital platforms and increasing reliance on social media and digital technologies for communication and spreading messages widely.

• Increased focus on social responsibility by companies and organizations and its integration into marketing strategies.

• Focusing on the consumer experience and involving them in social marketing operations.

• Moving towards collaborative marketing and partnerships between institutions or stores and non-profit organizations to achieve common goals in social marketing.

• Integrating cultural differences arising from local contexts into social marketing campaigns to ensure appropriateness and maximize impact.

Famous Examples of Social Marketing Campaigns

The most important examples that practically embody this unconventional marketing style are:

• Anti-smoking campaigns through awareness initiatives about the dangers of smoking and encouraging smokers to quit, and providing them with assistance through various services such as hotlines, consultations, and nicotine replacement therapies.

• 
  

• Sustainable environment campaigns that aim to promote environmentally friendly behaviors and practices among individuals and communities, by focusing on increasing awareness of the importance of recycling, reducing the use of plastic, and rationalizing energy use.

• Public health preservation initiatives that focus on encouraging healthy eating habits, increasing physical activity, and raising awareness of preventive measures against diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Campaigns may include educational materials, community events, and digital platforms to provide information and resources.

A Final Word

Social marketing is a powerful tool that enables influencing the behavior of individuals and communities to serve the public good and achieve goals that go beyond material profit. By understanding the needs of the target audience and setting measurable goals, social marketers can design effective campaigns that have a long-term positive impact.

The role of social marketing is not limited to companies and organizations, but it is a social responsibility shared by all parties, including individuals, governmental and non-governmental institutions. Cooperation and partnership between various parties enhance the chances of success of social marketing campaigns and contribute to comprehensive change.

With the increasing awareness of individuals and communities about the importance of social issues, social marketing is expected to witness tremendous growth in the future. In light of technological developments and reliance on digital platforms, social marketing campaigns will become more effective and reach the public, contributing to the advancement of communities and the achievement of desired goals.