Out of the 4.3 billion people on the internet, 3.5 billion people are active social media users. So many of us are on these social media networks, from Facebook, to Twitter, all of us probably have an account somewhere. Even if you don’t consider yourself an active social media user, do you look up videos on YouTube? Most of us use or contribute to the multitude of social media sites, whether we realize it or not. So where did this all start?

The History of Social Media

Social media can be defined as “interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.” The first social media site to really blow up was Friendster, back in 2002. While not the first, it was the first to gain significant users, as, at the time, the internet had explosively grown to a half-billion users. Soon after, in 2003, came myspace, a new social media platform that had the advantage of eUniverse, a preexisting user base to spread help spread the word. Myspace quickly took over the social space, drawing Friendster users over to the new platform. But just as friendster’s reign was short-lived, so was myspace’s. In 2004, Facebook launched as a new social media platform for college students. It started out small, but by 2005, almost every college was connected on the platform, and in 2006, it opened up to everyone. Myspace was quickly becoming outdated in comparison to the cleanly designed and user network-focused Facebook platform. These platforms were just the beginning. Proceeding Facebook, many more social media sites were created, including Youtube, Reddit, Flickr, Twitter, and Tumbler. By 2010 many different social media platforms were created and the social space was constantly changing. This did not stop, still, the emergence of new platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat, which are ever-growing to date. 

Why is social media important to marketers?

As the social spaces grow larger with our expanding digital world, previous forms are marketing are becoming more obsolete. Fewer and fewer people are watching TV channels and their ads, and are instead paying for the premium sites, such as Netflix or HBO, for entertainment. With this shift, the only way to gain the attention of the consumers is through social spaces, especially the younger demographics. Social media has become this open forum and success is no longer defined in the same way. With social media, it is not only important to have an account for a business to engage with their customers and community, but social media can also help through targeted ads, that can be as specific as 20 people or as broad as 500,000. Social media is opening up many new doors and provided marketers new ways to reach their consumers and for their consumers to reach them. Social media is also important as a way to learn. Social media marketing is 50% listening and 50% communicating. On social media, it is important to listen to what your consumers or target market are saying about your company and your competitors. It allows for a business to take advantage of hearing feedback and tailoring your product or experience more appropriately to your consumer’s needs. 

A successful social media campaign

An example of a great social media campaign was Starbucks’ #WhatsYourName campaign. This cross-platform campaign was across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and traditional advertising. It used the basic action of asking for a name for the order and used it as an opportunity to pair up with Mermaids Gender, to show transgender people feeling comfortable to put their transitioned name on their orders. The campaign also entailed selling mermaid tail cookies that if people bought and posted with the hashtag #WhatsYourName, it would raise funds for the Mermaid Gender organization. This campaign was very successful and did a great job using a video ad to build buzz about a social media hashtag. It was a well-done campaign that showed their values and made an emotional impact on the consumers. 

Where will social media be headed in the future?

The social media space is constantly growing and changing and it is hard to say exactly where we will end up. It seems like more and more social media platforms are becoming similar. After the introduction of stories into space with Snapchat, we saw other platforms, like Instagram introducing a similar feature. Similarly, when the video or live content popped up with apps like Vine or TikTok, it became an adopted feature on the other social media apps as well. I definitely see a future where this trend continues, as the platforms seem to merge closer and closer to service the same purpose. I also see that marketing on these sites is ever-growing. I think the future of social media marketing is only growing more and more in potential. As time goes on, social media natives will soon be the adults of the world. The more and more time passes, the more people there will be on these platforms, and the more the consumers will be tech-savvy. I think these social media markets will continue to grow and as technology advances, I see marketing techniques changes even more. Although, on the other hand, there has been more and more controversy over data and privacy. With the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, coming out at the same time as the TikTok privacy and ownership issues, it is clear the users are concerned for their data. Apple also made a new feature in the new iOS that asks users if they want their data tracked or not for targeted ads. While this is becoming a bigger issue, I think there might be some policies put in place, but nothing that would prevent marketers from doing their jobs across these platforms. I think the idea of data tracking is scarier for the consumers than the issue actually is, and while they might be concerned, it will not stop them from using social media platforms.

Sources:

“5 Ways Social Media Is Changing Your Brain.” TED, ed.ted.com/best_of_web/qQzsdX2Y#review.

“7 Of the Best Social Media Campaigns (And What You Can Learn From Them).” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 3 Nov. 2020, blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-campaign-strategy/.

“8 Examples of the Rise of Social Media Advocacy.” Sprinklr, 30 June 2021, blog.sprinklr.com/the-rise-of-social-media-advocacy/.

bigthink. “How Social Media Killed Traditional News | Oliver Luckett | Big Think.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPj7hjPNhI.

Contributor, Informatica. “Informatica BrandVoice: Ending The Fragmentation Age: How Dispersed Data Is Growing By A Trillion Pieces A Day...And How We Can Transform It From The Binary To The Extraordinary.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 6 July 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/informatica/2021/06/24/ending-the-fragmentation-age-how-dispersed-data-is-growing-by-a-trillion-pieces-a-dayand-how-we-can-transform-it-from-the-binary-to-the-extraordinary/?sh=422ef8351932.

Kerpen, Dave. Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create and Irresistible Brand, and Be Amazing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and More. McGraw-Hill, 2019.

Mendes, Erika. “The Future of Social Media at the Turn of the Decade.” The Drum, The Drum, 21 Apr. 2020, www.thedrum.com/opinion/2020/04/21/the-future-social-media-the-turn-the-decade.

Murse, Tom. “Social Media in Politics - Twitter and Facebook as Campaigns Tools.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/how-social-media-has-changed-politics-3367534.

Quesenberry, Keith A. Social Media Strategy: Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations in the Consumer Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield, an Imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., 2021.

Strauss, Valerie. “Analysis | The First Thing Teachers Should Do When School Starts Is Talk about Hatred in America. Here's Help.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 5 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/08/13/the-first-thing-teachers-should-do-when-school-starts-is-talk-about-hatred-in-america-heres-help/.

Techquickie. “The History of Social Media.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Mar. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw0jRD7mn1k.