As a Content Creator at Social Media Contractors, you get used to not knowing what to expect from a day at work. Beyond the taste of cupcakes and the sound of gongs in our office, there is seemingly never an end to the shifting tides of social media. In fact, the industry seems to be changing all the time.
Instead of being convinced to part with my money in exchange for some product, I’m far more likely to be convinced to join a group of likeminded people. If a few friends endorse a product, the chances are pretty good that I’m going to buy it too.
This is the approach employed by companies that use social media to target and interact with potential customers. In a recent issue of Forbes, John Ellett outlined a new marketing strategy he claims is on the way called Marketing 5.0. This raises a question: if the simple strategies that are no longer effective are Marketing 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, how long until the “treat me like you know me” Cloud-based Marketing 5.0 is extinct, and the new frontiers of Marketing 6.0 and 7.0 come around?
Karthik Padmanabhan, Country Head of Ecosystem Development for IBM in India and South Asia, provides a laundry list of emerging and developing trends in the world of social media. Here are three trends we at SMC see being some of the most influential over the next few years.
The Internet of Things: More and more devices—nearly 30 billion by 2020—will continue to be integrated into web- and Cloud-based platforms. Is it possible that in the future, our washer and dryers will not only communicate efficiency information, but also help owners “decide” which detergent to buy? (The evidence shows that we’re headed that way.)
With cars, farm animals, and medical systems already connected, we think it would be unwise to predict a limit on how smart the grid can become.
The Rise of Niche Social Networks: This month, we’ve seen the appearance of the new ad-free “anti-Facebook” social media platform, Ello, as well as Netropolitan, a classist social network exclusively for the hyper-rich.
In all likelihood, these new social networks will not sound the death knell for Facebook. What’s more likely is that their presence (individual long-term success or not) will help to spawn a new generation of niche social networks seeking to cater to increasingly more specific groups. These networks can certainly have value, but companies on social media shouldn’t abandon their foundational platforms just yet.
Image Culture and Ephemerality: Images are easier to digest than words, and our society as a whole digests a lot of them. Snapchat reports 30 million images shared per day, most of them totally banal, while five tweets with a visual element are sent every second. With the absolute glut of information popping up every minute, it’s easy to understand why images are such a popular and time-efficient way for consumers to digest information.
We see images continuing to play a huge part in B2C communications with new formats and capabilities popping up left and right. Be sure to include them as part of your overall strategy.
