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Social Media Marketing: What I Learned in 2017
When I take a few minutes to sit down and really think about the things I learned this year marketing two distinctly different brands via social media this year, it kind of boggles my mind that I was able to maintain any semblance of sanity at all.
Social Media Marketing is entering a previously unexplored area in 2018. It’s no longer the new kid on the block. It’s not going to be the differetiator to make your marketing effort unique when compared with your competitors. It’s now on an equal level with all your other marketing efforts. It is not just desired — it is expected and necessary. This is my key takeaway from 2017.
It has become an adjunct to all the other marketing mediums. Whereas radio and television target people by subject, region and time, and direct mail targets them by zip code, social media targets people by their behavior. This combination creates more of an evolution of existing marketing tactics, allowing you to get down to a micro level with the individual.
But social media brings an added dimension to your marketing effort that has been unseen by other mediums. Marketers have always depended upon simple word-of-mouth to help their effort along. With social media, this word-of-mouth is catapulted along to a much bigger audience, one that doesn’t depend on everybody hanging out at the same water cooler. In addition, the marketer can actually follow this word-of-mouth activity as it spreads from one person to the group. The marketer can analyze it and quantify it in order to see its effectiveness. And as the group amplifies the message, it starts to have a life of its own and is carried on by its own propulsion.
The Key Players in Social Media Marketing
The players in the game are, of course, well established now. Facebook is still on top of the social media pyramid. It has the largest active daily user base — the largest number of people who have qualified themselves to be reached. Twitter continues to be important, as well. Among the up-and-comers, you have Instagram, where advertising is available, as well as Snapchat, which is opening its platform for some brand promotion. I imagine that Snapchat will eventually include advertising in the platform.
There are also non-traditional social media channels, such as Hulu, Spotify and YouTube. Although many think of these as simply video channels, they have become much more. These are platforms that let users friend people, share content within the channel as well as share them out on other social platforms. This really opens up the field for marketers to be effectively promote their brands and companies.
And what about the future? That’s hard to say. There really isn’t anything new I see on the horizon. I’d hate to say there isn’t the possibility for somebody to develop a new platform that is going to change the game. I would have never guessed Facebook would become the monolith it is right now. After all, it was just a platform that was built for college kids to connect with each other.
But I do think that some current platforms have reached their critical mass. I don’t think you’ll see additional overwhelming growth in Facebook without some kind of sea change. You have this anti-Facebook feeling pervading in the current millennial generation, just as the Baby Boomers urged each other “don’t trust anyone over 30” during the 1960s.
I imaging there is going to be some kind of platform that takes advantage of emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. There’s definitely opportunity in the space for a platform to leverage those things. Look at how people has gravitated toward Animojis and things like that, so I’m sure there is something coming in the next decade. But while we’re waiting for the next wave, it’s important that we further distill the essence of the social media that exists now.