If we can believe this to be true it was only 10 years ago that a group of college students released a social networking tool called The Facebook to connect students across the campus. As the years have moved, Facebook generates an average of 4.5 billion likes and nearly 5 billion things shared on it, per day and yes, it is estimated to be worth over $100 billion. Beyond Facebook, other social network services such as Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube all boast social users in the hundreds of millions, and are in reality household names. Seventy-two percent of adult internet users (in the U.S. but I am convinced that New Zealand is no different) are now active on at least one social network, up from just 8 percent in 2005.
As social media extends into organisations, I believe that we are going to see the uptake of social media in an exponential fashion. If you are not a current social media user, your business will definitely review that current status. If you are part of a larger organisation, CEO’s and business owners will recognize social media skills as a must-have asset for all of their employees. This has the potential to see the current social media manager role evolve into digital experts. In the smaller business, business owners may align themselves with digital experts who can support them in this online marketing realm.
Social advertising will take off. But what is social advertising? A definition could be a media message or advertisement designed to educate or motivate members of a public within a predetermined targeted social environment. The end goal – building of powerful customer communities around a business’s brand and service. Consider the fact that social advertising can also reach communities on their mobile devices and how many mobile devices are there in the world?
With every development in this fast moving online medium , the recognition that Social Media is definite real time “listening” mechanism to get direct feedback from the community in which you operate can only add to it’s power. One that is definitely going to be embraced more readily.
Do you agree or disagree with these predictions? What do you believe will happen in the social media arena over the next 12 months?
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