Week 2A: Social Media and Perceptions

Social media has become part of the thread of American society. Going way back to AOL in 1992-2002 and SixDegrees.com in 1997-2001, millions of American took to the new digital communities. Myspace launched in 2003 and from 2005-2008 it was the largest social networking site in the world until overcome by Facebook. It wasn’t long before businesses saw ways to capitalize in this fast-growing form of communication. 

Today Facebook is the beast that leads the pack followed by Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Tumblr, Reddit and Flickr. The rankings vary depending on the source. Some rank by numbers of members, some by page views. 

There are literally hundreds of social media sites but generally they can be grouped into 10 categories.

Here are Hootsuite’s list of 10 types of social media and what they’re used for:

• Social networks—Connect with people
• Media sharing networks—Share photos, videos, and other media
• Discussion forums—Share news and ideas
• Bookmarking and content curation networks—Discover, save, and share new content
• Consumer review networks—Find and review businesses
• Blogging and publishing networks—Publish content online
• Interest-based networks—Share interests and hobbies
• Social shopping networks—Shop online
• Sharing economy networks—Trade goods and services
• Anonymous social networks—Communicate anonymously

Because Facebook has the largest social gathering in the world it is an obviously a social media platform that is largely for personal use. Facebook is brilliant in its way of mining the data from every profile, image, post and like and turning it into the best way to target a specific audience. Where there are lots of people there is a market, right? We use the data gleaned from Facebook and other networks to connect with our future and current customers.

“For a company to be successful today it must embrace all channels, and social marketing is a critical part of that equation.” – Sanjay Dholakia

The line is being constantly blurred between the social and business aspects of these various platforms. So where social media sites like Instagram and Snapchat seem entirely social, the business potential is huge. I have a friend who has a teenage son who has posted a steady stream of cute pet pictures on Instagram and has an impressive revenue stream. Smart kid. Another dog breeder friend uses Instagram exclusively to sell her puppies. 

There are also social networks that allow you to chat with other like-minded business professionals in order to learn from them along with developing a professional network. Of the social media sites geared mainly towards business, I think more along the lines of LinkedIn, Ryze, and Xing.

Then there is Yelp, where you people can go to get a feel for your business. Reliable? Honest? Quality? Timely?

In the same way that various social media sites have grown and some have gone defunct, it will be interesting to watch which marketing strategies will rise and which will fold. Newspapers? Magazines? Postal mailers? 

Until then I am ready to fully embrace the social networking platform as a valuable and necessary tool to reach potential customers in my own business.