Human beings need to communicate and live in society. A society that is no stranger to how we behave in it. We are referring to the fact that throughout history in the evolution of societies there are aspects that are currently being cared for more. In this sense we speak of the so-called social marketing. This is a type of marketing that poses two types of objectives: on the one hand, there are the desires that consumers are looking for in the short term. From this point of view, it is necessary to take into consideration not only the two previous pillars that we have commented on, but also the usefulness for the company must be assessed.

This type of social marketing is the product of an evolution of the marketing concept that could be considered a bit obsolete from this point of view, since the transformation of both technology and perception allows us to assess new marketing models that encompass the needs of all the actors. Compared to the short-term objectives that were previously raised in companies, there are currently other types of goals set in the medium and long term.

Characteristics of social marketing

The characteristics of social marketing are very similar to those of commercial marketing because they follow the same methodology; with social marketing we seek to promote an attitude or behavior change while with commercial marketing we seek to sell a product.

These are the most outstanding features of social marketing to get a global idea of ​​how it works;

• It is based on a strategy.
• Pursue a goal.
• Seeks the improvement of society.
• The sale is not a priority, but it seeks a social improvement.
• It serves to differentiate yourself from your competition and provide another point of view.
• Consider the interactivity

Types of social marketing

Marketing strategies in recent years have undergone a great evolution, which makes them more complex every day to implement and obtain results with them.

Social marketing is divided into 3 types:

Internal Social Marketing

The first type that we find is internal social marketing, which seeks to promote a cultural change from the actors involved in the communication process. Its objective is that people adopt postures in accordance with the values ​​that they wish to transmit. He is usually involved with the media, politicians, businessmen, unions, among others.

External Social Marketing

Within social marketing, we find mainly advertising and propaganda campaigns, which seek to communicate socially with the aim of promoting changes in values. If we previously mentioned tha Internal social marketing was based on people, this type of social marketing focuses on the means to reach them. This type of marketing can be used by mass media, which can reach many people at a given time.

Interactive Social Marketing

Finally, we have interactive social marketing, in which the intervention of people and recipients of the campaign are passive agents, due to their ability to criticize and analyze information. This type of marketing seeks to stimulate people to act through their critical sense to generate changes.

Social marketing in continuous development

This change in perspective is largely driven by the behavior of society towards well-being that does not collide with other values ​​that are being developed in people. A twist that is not so much based on individuality as on community. This change in the behavior of society is adopted by the brands in the different strategies they propose to conquer the consumer in a way in which he feels identified. It can be seen from a few years until now the trend that is taking shape towards everything eco, from the development of organic products to different forms that seek more a culture of health in all its areas compared to other positions that are not based on these pillars.

In this sense, social marketing seeks improvement at different points, in a first stage identifying the needs or problems that are happening currently until the segmentation of different groups that demand a solution to this type of need. Having what social marketing means and what its lines of action are, it is important when proposing strategies for this type of marketing the help of consultants. This will contribute to strengthening the strengths of the strategy, thus seeking differentiation from other brands, in an orderly and coherent manner to change the behavior that one has for another that is more acceptable to society.

How you can see this type of marketing is not limited only to consumer brands, but its tasks extend from organizations to governments. It is a continuous process where the value is found in the social product which responds to a certain type of demand. Therefore, this type of marketing does not seek to sell but rather a deeper transformation. You have a better result through social marketing, the must be done by the social marketer expert.