In 2023, about 4.9 billion people around the world use social media. As of January 2023, Pakistan had 71.70 million social media users. These days, social media is everywhere, and about 90% of social media users in Pakistan follow at least one brand. Today’s brands are positioned to a higher standard than family, friends, and even politicians, with 81% of people believing that social media has raised the bar for their business accountability. When businesses use social media on purpose, they can reach and connect with specific audiences to build brand awareness and generate sales. More people are using social media than ever when making purchasing decisions.
More than 3.78 billion people are using social media worldwide, and 54% of social media users use platforms to research products via reviews and recommendations. Leading businesses and marketing agencies can help you reach audiences by utilizing the best social media marketing and social media management practices. Understanding social media can be confusing, especially when it comes to understanding the roles of social media management and social media marketing. While they may sound similar, these two terms represent different aspects of engaging with audiences online. If you are thinking about getting professional marketing help, you first need to know the difference between social media marketing and management and how businesses use them to grow. Explore the latest social media marketing tools and apps in this comprehensive round-up: A Round-up of the Latest Social Media Marketing Tools and Apps
What Exactly is Social Media Management in Pakistan?
The Social media management means running your social media accounts effectively. It includes creating and sharing content, interacting with your Pakistani audience actively by responding to comments or messages, updating your profile, and organizing activities like giveaways. In Pakistan, this skill helps you to use your social accounts purposefully and genuinely, as your audience can sense authenticity. Multiple companies in major cities of Pakistan offer this service to small and big businesses to grow their online presence.
What Actually is Social Media Marketing in Pakistan?
Social media marketing is all about using your business’s social media accounts or platforms to promote and expand it. On the other hand, social media management is more about handling those accounts, while social media marketing is about planning and carrying out strategies to get more customers and leads through social platforms. Social Media Marketing services may include pay-per-click (PPC), YouTube ads, lead generation, e-commerce marketing, content marketing, search engine marketing, display advertising, and review writing. Many digital marketing companies in Pakistan, like Tashheer Digital, provide this service to businesses in various industries, including real estate, health care, education, and information technology.
Main Difference Social Media Marketing and Social Media Management
While both social media management and social media marketing involve utilizing social media platforms, they differ in their primary focus and scope:
Social media management centers on the day-to-day operations of established social media accounts. This may include:
- Creating and scheduling content like posts, stories, and videos
- Engaging with followers through comments, messages, and mentions
- Monitoring and analyzing social media performance metrics
- Maintaining brand consistency across platforms
Social media marketing, on the other hand, focuses on the strategic development and execution of campaigns to achieve specific business goals. This might involve:
- Developing a social media strategy
- Identifying target audiences and making content accordingly
- Running paid advertising campaigns to reach a wider audience
- Measuring the return on investment (ROI) from social media efforts
Here is a breakdown of the primary differences between social media management and social media marketing:
Focus and Purpose
Social Media Management
It primarily focuses on the day-to-day activities of maintaining a brand’s presence on social media in Pakistan. This includes creating and scheduling content, engaging with followers, monitoring conversations, running contests, and analyzing basic metrics. The aim is to establish and maintain a consistent and positive online presence.
Social Media Marketing
It focuses on strategic planning and execution of campaigns to promote products, services, or the Pakistani brand itself. This involves creating a content calendar, defining target audiences, developing campaigns, analyzing data to track progress, driving traffic, generating leads and sales, and optimizing strategies for better results.
Timeline and Goals
Social Media Management
It involves ongoing efforts to build and manage the brand’s social media presence. The goals are often centered around maintaining a positive image, building relationships with the Pakistani audience, and confirming consistent communication.
Social Media Marketing
It typically involves specific campaigns or initiatives with defined goals and timelines. It could be a short-term campaign to promote a new product launch, a seasonal sale, or a long-term strategy to increase overall brand visibility.
Content Strategy
Social Media Management
SMM focuses on a broader content strategy that includes regular posting on all platforms, community engagement, and maintaining a consistent Pakistani brand voice. The content may not always be directly promotional.
Social Media Marketing
It involves creating more targeted and promotional content designed to achieve specific marketing objectives. This content is often aligned with specific campaigns and may include advertisements, sponsored posts, or other forms of paid promotion.
Scope
Social Media Management
It deals with the tactical execution of tasks within a social media account. It is about managing the “what” and “when” of content and interactions.
Social Media Marketing
SMM deals with strategic planning for social media. It is about the “why” and “how” of social media efforts, ensuring they align with broader marketing objectives. Learn about building a career in social media marketing in this insightful article: Can You Build Your Career in Social Media Marketing
Audience Engagement
Social Media Management
It emphasizes building and encouraging relationships with the existing Pakistani audience. This includes responding to comments/messages and actively participating in conversations to enhance the brand’s connection with its followers.
Social Media Marketing
While engagement is also important in marketing, its primary focus is on achieving specific business goals. Interaction with the Pakistani audience is often geared towards encouraging them to take a particular action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
Metrics and Analytics
Social Media Management
Metrics are often related to overall online presence and community growth including metrics like follower growth, engagement rates, and overall sentiment.
Social Media Marketing
Metrics are more campaign-specific and may include conversion rates, click-through rates, and return on investment (ROI).
Responsibilities
Social Media Manager
It creates and schedules content, responds to comments and messages, monitors online brand reputation, runs contests and giveaways, and generates reports on basic metrics.
Social Media Marketer
It develops and implements social media strategies, researches target audiences in Pakistan, identifies relevant trends, analyzes data to measure success, and optimizes campaigns for better reach and engagement.
Tools Used
Social Media Management
Scheduling (Hootsuite, Buffer), Community Management (Sprout Social), Analytics Dashboard (Brandwatch), Branding (Canva and Grammarly)
Social Media Marketing
Marketing Automation (HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot), Advertising (Facebook and Twitter Ads), Social Listening tools (Hootsuite), CRM Software (Salesforce)
How Social Media Marketing and Management Collabs?
Social media marketing is all about creating and carrying out marketing plans on social platforms while social media management is about the overall long-term strategy and use of social media. Marketing agencies in Pakistan use social media management to make sure businesses are using tools purposefully and interacting with audiences in a genuine way that benefits them. By combining social media marketing and social media management, multiple companies help businesses maintain their consistent brand standards across these platforms while increasing customer sales and loyalty.
Tashheer’s marketing agency is skilled in all social media formats like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Clubhouse, and more. Our experts ensure that you are using the right platforms for your business and that your present strategy matches your marketing goals. We also make sure that all the pictures and graphics on social media match your brand and are of right sizes for each platform.
| Feature | Social Media Management | Social Media Marketing |
| Focus | Day-to-day operations of social media accounts. | An overall strategy for using social media to achieve specific marketing goals. |
| Scope | Managing the “what” and “when” of content and interactions. | Defining the “why” and “how” of social media efforts. |
| Responsibilities | Creating and scheduling content, engaging with followers, monitoring conversations, running contests, and analyzing basic metrics. | Developing and implementing social media strategies, researching target audiences, identifying trends, analyzing data to measure success and optimizing campaigns for better reach and engagement. |
| Skills | Strong communication, content creation, community management, and basic analytics. | Strong communication, analytical, strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, understanding of marketing principles and audience targeting. |
| Analogy | Keeping the engine of a car running smoothly. | Planning the destination and route. |
Final Words
About the Author: Alishba
