Social media marketing gains website traffic or notoriety by leveraging content on social media sites. This is typically accomplished by creating content on social media sites that encourages readers to share the content with others in their social networks.

Sharing content increases reach and distribution since all of a persons’ social media connections are able to view the content. In turn, anyone that viewed the initial shared content can then share it themselves, increasing social media reach exponentially. At its essence, social media marketing is electronic or digital word of mouth advertising.