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Social Media Evolution

Great infographic showing the evolution of social media.

Social Media Third Heaven

Marketers are rushing to ramp up their social media marketing efforts. Despite the excitement, the bottom-line results from social media marketing are elusive. A recent SIIA study looked at marketers of software, a group on the leading edge of tech and social media adoption. Sixty percent of these very advanced marketers reported that less than 5 percent of their deals originated from social media marketing.

So how can the excitement and potential around social media marketing transfer into real business results for marketers? We must remember that social media marketing is new and still evolving. Marketers are charging into this brave new world, learning and iterating the model. Three stages of social media marketing have emerged: amateur, messenger, and publisher. It is only as marketers evolve to this third and most advanced stage, publisher, that the potential of social is realized and enormous bottom-line benefits are generated.

Amateur Stage

In this stage it is chaotic. Social is the directive, but nobody knows the plan or the specific objectives. There is poor coordination: often different departments and groups are all tweeting independently without the benefits of focus and scale. Little is accomplished, but it is a first and necessary stage for an organization to get exposed to the world of social media. 

Messenger Stage

The messenger stage focuses on the revolutionary ability that the Internet and social media have given to marketers: to communicate directly with prospects and develop relationships with them. Thus the objective at the messenger stage has become to establish these relationships.

Publisher Stage

These "publisher stage" marketers still use social networks. But the networks serve as a way to distribute links to their content, which is centered on their own website. As prospects navigate to the marketer's site and consume the content addressing their interests and concerns, they build trust in the brand and an appreciation for the brand's understanding of their own interests.   

(Please click on the keywords "social media marketing" to read the full article)

   We all want to grow as social media marketers and growth is always a process. What stage are we in our social media marketing process? If we are developing relationships we are in the messenger stage. If we are providing the content needed and desired by our followers and fans then we are in the publisher stage. Publishing is the "Third Heaven" of social media marketing. Get there!

 

Change Is Good

I’ve always maintained that the true power of social media lies in its dynamism. Year after year, social media has reinvented itself and it will continue to do in the years to come. While social media started off in the form of blogs and wikis, the onus is now on using the optimal mix of various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others coupled with email and instant messaging tools.

In this post, I emphasize upon seven things that you need to know about the evolution of social media.

1. It’s not anti-email

2. Blogging isn’t dead

3. Number of Fans and Followers

4. Interactivity

5. Democracy

6. Globalization

7. Social Change      

(Please click on the keywords "social media" to read the full article)

  Social media has indeed evolved from blogs to social sites, video and image platforms that have global reach. The content of social media has also evolved from from diary type blogs that shared what we had for breakfast to worldwide breaking news and company product updates. There was a time that online marketers only promoted on traffic exchanges and e-mail safe lists but now online marketing has evolved into using Twitter, Facebook and You Tube to successfully market and brand their products and services. Now there is a real synergy between our blogs, social sites and businesses that never existed before the evolution of social media. Change is good.

 

Too Much Social Media?

Too much of anything is bad, even social media! Moderation is a virtue and a protection.

Don't Overlook The Old Folks

As marketers scramble to re-calibrate their online marketing strategies to focus on the emergent social mobile consumer, many are ignoring the old folks. In fairness, when I think of the online consumer, images of a tablet-toting, Justin Bieber-esque Gen Y hipster come to mind.

As it turns out, this is only one element of an increasingly complex online landscape. In fact, a new report by analyst firm Forrester Research found that 60% of US seniors (aged 65 and up) are online. That’s 20 million people who are comfortable with online technology and reasonably tech savvy- at least savvy enough to figure out how to purchase something online, as 59% of this demographic have done in the last three months. By my calculations, that means roughly 12 million US seniors have purchased a good or service online during the last quarter.



(Please click on the keywords "online marketing" to read the full article)

     It is no surprise the majority of people buying and networking on the Web are young people but that doesn't mean that seniors (65 and up)  are not a significant percentage of Web users and online shoppers. Seniors are far less likely to fall for the "hype" and the digital bedazzlement that appeals to young people but are more prone to be persuaded by "old school" honesty and transparency when it comes to spending their money online whether in shopping or home business opportunities. Don't overlook us "old folks" in your sales and networking agendas.

Quality Trumps Quantity

For me, successful social media engagement is focused on quality first.

What do I mean by this, and why is it important for your social media engagement? Well, consider the following:

Is it better to have 1,000 highly-engaged, motivated, re-tweeting followers on Twitter, or 10,000 followers who barely notice your tweets, least of all re-tweet and share your social media content on a regular basis?

No brainer, really.


Deliver quality deeply

Remember that it’s better to network small and deep than wide and diluted for the best results via social media engagement. What does this mean? Try networking and engaging with a smaller, committed group of social media contacts and watch the positive results. Going for a quantity approach might look impressive, but it’s unlikely to deliver a quality ROI over time.

(Please click on the keywords "social media" to read the full article)

   Have you ever been tempted to purchase some kind of software that will get you 10,000 Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers overnight? Though the big numbers sounds good, successful social media marketing is not a numbers game. It is better to have fewer engaged followers and fans that appreciate your content than thousands that don't give a damn because quality trumps quantity any day of the week.


  

Social Media Evolution

The evolution of social media is intriguing!

Infographcs Tell The Story

This is a great social media infographic.

I Love Social Media

I love how social media gives us a voice—and a shot. I love how it elevates us to be true to the best we know.

I love how it fosters connections, forces transparency and foments revolutions. I love how, armed with the right message at the right time, ordinary people like @veggefatale can execute the extraordinary and bring badly-behaving corporations to their proverbial knees. I love how an uplifting video can beam across humanity and infuse people with the gift of hope. I love that nice guys, good companies and worthy organizations finish first. I love how this new generation is using social media to move mountains. I love how charitable organizations are using social media to save lives.

I love the positive impact it has on our world—and the promise it holds for our future.

It is thrilling when I see someone take to social media, find their voice, realize their power and unleash it on the world. Humans have waited millennia for this moment; and, here we are.

That’s what social media does. It makes good on the long-held promise that one person can change the world. It draws us together and empowers us. I can think of nothing more important and thrilling and wonderful than that.

(Please click on the keywords "social media" to read the full article)

 With social media one person posting a blog, a video or a photo can literally change the world. With social media an idea, event or person can be lifted up or exposed for all the world to see. Social media is all about people sharing with other people and sharing anything is the essence of empowerment. In the act of giving the giver is just as empowered as the receiver. Whatever niche we are drawn to, whether the arts, entertainment, sports, religion, politics or business, social media captures the passion and power of like minded souls and kindred spirits worldwide. Like the above article writer, I too love social media.