What Is Social Media Marketing? Attention on Rented Land

In plain English

Organic reach on most platforms has declined steadily, because attention is now the product being sold to advertisers. Publishing to your followers no longer reaches most of them.

The durable use of social is discovery and relationship, then moving people somewhere you own. A platform can change its rules overnight; your list and your site cannot be taken away.

What to know

Discovery

Platforms are now recommendation engines more than follower feeds.

Relationship

Replies and conversation do more than broadcast posts.

Rented land

Reach, rules and audience access belong to the platform.

Move to owned

The goal is email, website, direct contact.

Why it matters

Social is excellent at being found and poor as a place to keep an audience. Businesses that build only on a platform discover the cost of that when the algorithm changes, and it always changes.

Common mistakes

×Building an audience with no route to owning the relationship.

×Posting on every platform rather than being good on one.

×Broadcasting and never replying.

×Judging it on follower count instead of on enquiries.

FAQs

How many platforms should I be on?

One done properly beats four done thinly.

Is organic social dead?

Reach is much harder. Discovery through recommendation is not.

WRITTEN BY TARIQ SALLAM

Marketing Consultant. Entrepreneur. Content Creator.

I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.

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