Content Marketing vs. Social Media Advertising: The TAG Approach

Over the last few decades I’ve see two strategies often take center stage when is comes to social media promotions, these are: content marketing and social media advertising. At TAG I’ve worked to utilise the unique strengths of both to create a effective social media campaigns. In this post, we’ll explore how content marketing’s community-building complements the click-inspiring art of social media advertising, and how combining them can amplify your brand’s voice.

At its core, content marketing is all about creating and sharing valuable content to attract and engage a specific audience. It’s not just about selling a product or service, but about fostering a community around your brand. At TAG, we believe in the power of content marketing to establish a long-term relationship with our audience. Our approach is more about nurturing than direct selling. This means not every piece of content we produce has a call to action. Instead, it’s about consistently providing value, establishing trust, and building a loyal community.

In contrast, social media advertising is more direct. It’s the subtle art of crafting ads that inspire users to take action — be it clicking a link, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase. These ads are strategically designed with a clear call to action. They are the spotlight performers, intended to capture immediate attention and provoke an instant response.

At TAG, we’ve refined the dance of these two approaches. We often run social media campaigns where we have one ‘hero ad’ — the lead singer, if you will. This ad, with its clear call to action, is designed to capture the spotlight. Supporting this hero ad is a chorus of content marketing efforts — our backup vocals. This content doesn’t directly sell but instead builds the community around the hero ad, providing context, additional information, and engaging narratives. The overall goal is to create a campaign that builds a community, whilst support content focused adverting that’s so good, people don’t realise it’s an ad.

The interplay between content marketing and social media advertising is like a well-orchestrated concert. While the hero ad grabs the spotlight, content marketing provides the rich, supportive melody that enriches the overall experience. This approach doesn’t just aim for immediate clicks; it builds a narrative and a community that lasts. At TAG, we believe this is the future of effective digital marketing.