Throughout human history we have seen a wide variety of advances that have changed our lives drastically. The telephone revolutionized the way we communicated. The television rendered radio nearly obsolete. But there has
been no greater effect on our lives and the lives of marketers than the internet and social media. Social media allows for people and businesses all over the world to connect and share ideas. It hasn’t always been that way though…
It all started in what we as marketers like to call the “Golden Age of Social Media” in the early 2000s. Sites like Friendster, Hi5, and Myspace were virtually untapped by businesses, allowing for users to connect with friends only. Then in 2004 we were introduced to Facebook, and the game had officially been changed. As Facebook began to grow, marketers started to realize that not only was there a brand new medium between businesses and the customer, but it was free! At this point in time, the use of these social media sites was similar to the wild west, anything goes!
As Facebook began to mature, so did it’s users. Perceptions of social media marketing began to change from it’s once favorable stance to a more critical viewpoint. This caused social media marketers to change along with Facebook and it’s users. During the late 2000’s, we began to see more and more aggressive-proactive tactics such as humor based advertisements, excessive giveaways, and celebrity endorsements in order to appeal to this newer, more skeptical audience.
Just as marketers started to fight back, so did social media. New tactics have been met with advertising restrictions on Facebook. It is more difficult than ever for marketers to advertise on Facebook due to restrictions on the amount of text in images, overly graphic content in images, restrictions on sales language, and more. Over the past 10 years Facebook has become a puzzle for social media marketers, requiring users to find unique and different ways to get through to the customer while staying in the good graces of the all powerful Facebook machine. By finding the right balance between wording, pictures, and posting schedules, marketers are able to reap the benefits of what social media has to offer.
Seems like a lot of grief right? Maybe. But when you look at the opportunity that social media marketing holds, it is one of the more worthwhile projects you will ever take on. Looking at the numbers, there are more than 1 Billion people that are active on Facebook. That means that there are more than 3x the number of people on Facebook than there are in the United States. The demographics of these users are growing more diverse by the day as well. A study by the Pew Research Center states that the number of people 65 years and older on Facebook has grown by 11% from 2013 to 2014 bringing the total to 56%. What this means for your business is that, if done right, you are able to market to every target market out there!
Facebook in the last 10 years alone has changed the way that businesses large or small have looked at marketing. It has become less of a differentiation strategy and more of a business necessity, and it’s not going away any time soon.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/01/09/old-people-are-invading-the-internet/