Cindy Ratzlaff

Bestselling author, award winning brand marketing and social media pro, Cindy Ratzlaff, creates sales driving campaigns for authors, books and publishers.

Social Media Technology vs Social Media Marketing

By Cindy Ratzlaff

Socia Media Technology enables Social Media Marketing

I’m hearing a lot of talk from big advertising and PR agencies about social media technology. That sounds so much more impressive than the overused phrase social media marketing, doesn’t it. But in reality, they go hand in hand and one does not displace the other. Social media technology is the architecture and social media marketing is the message. It’s that simple.

Although the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan said, the message still needs to be crafted.

Your brand can have the most sophisticate social media technology available, yet not attain your goals if your social media marketing message is not clear.  Creating conversations with your clients about their wants, needs and how you can fulfill them is what social media marketing facilitates best.

So, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, ask yourselves the important questions:

  1. What is my unique value to the consumer?
  2. How will I communicate that both verbally and visually?

Then bring social media marketing and social media technology to the same table for a good long talk.

About Cindy Ratzlaff

Cindy Ratzlaff was named to the Forbes “20 Best Branded Women on Twitter” list and Forbes Woman called her one of the “Most Influential Women Tweeting about Entrepreneurship.”

During her 20-plus years as a publishing executive, Cindy created branded marketing and PR campaigns that ushered more than 200 books onto the New York Times bestseller lists. She was named to the Ad Age Marketing 50 list for the launch campaign behind The South Beach Diet.

She is the author of three books, and her essays on happiness have appeared on Oprah.com, CNN.com and her articles on social marketing have can be read on Business Insider. She speaks to conferences such as BookExpo America, Pennsylvania Conference for Women, Romance Writers of America, Ernst & Young, Garden Writers Association, Texas Conference for Women, United Way’s Ignite Leadership Network, Massachusetts Conference for Women, and more on the topics of happiness, personal branding and creating a digital footprint.

She engages daily with more than 450,000 people through her popular Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blog sites.

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