When we think of social media, most of us envision Facebook or Twitter right? Remember Bebo or Myspace? Myspace, at one time, dominated more web traffic than Google and Bebo was known as the largest social networking site in the world. (Bennett, 2014) Both reminders of how fast things can change within a decade.
Our world has increasingly become digital, that’s a fact. Everyone seems to be connected in some digitized form or another. Advances in areas such as mobile technology as well as social media have made way for big modifications in the way we interact with our friends and family and even how we conduct business.
Social media is a crucial part of business success. This is why we, as marketers, need to keep up with social trends now more than ever.
Changes in human behavior
People love to share whether to demonstrate expertise, to persuade or a number of other reasons. Social media gives us the venue to share our posts and get our message out. Widgets make it easier for others to share our information. Because social media users listen to each other more than they listen to brands, offering them the right thing within the right venue is critical. We must change the way we think and think more like the customer.
The influence of technology on our behavior is growing. Today while sitting in a restaurant, I noticed several tables filled with families – not engaged in conversation but looking at screens while some typed feverously with their thumbs. How much of your day is spent looking at screens, reading and responding? We do more and more of that every day. Certaintly, a new behavior for me.
Changes in Technology
Many of us have experienced the evolution of social media as part of the digital explosion.
Just check out the amazing stats in the infographic designed by the company, Leverage Along with this evolution, improved methods for metrics need to and will evolve. With the growth of social media, brands will require more detailed social insight into performance. We have seen new cutting edge CRM platforms emerge that can provide brands with “Sentiment Metrics.” Being able to tune into social networking, as well as to the whole expanding universe of blogs and online news media will lead a company’s CRM efforts. This new technology affords the ability to analyze how people generally feel about your brand through a rating system of each mention within a category of positive, negative or neutral. We see it now in political polling and brands are demanding this same type of metrics.
Getting the right information to the right people at the right time and fast is driving technology change. The new socially tech savvy consumers are making buying decisions online through research at an ever increasing rate and mobile will be in the forefront of devices they use. According to Cisco’s State of the Internet Report released on June 10, 2014, mobile devices are projected to put over half the world’s population online by 2018 – some 3.9 billion internet users. They also claim that mobile web traffic will surge to 57% by 2018 up from 33% in 2013. (Colt, 2014)
This spring, Facebook bought a company, Oculus Rift, from a teenager who built the first prototype at age 16. Palmer Luckey, now 21 created a product that makes immersive video game play a reality. The users feel that they are actually inside the game. All reports indicate that while the video game is the target, the technology has possibilities for architecture and emergency response training, (Bleiberg, 2014) but I feel there will be no limit to the possibilities if executed correctly. How about you, what are your thoughts?
Bennett, S. (2014, March 06). Past present and future social media. Retrieved from http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/past-present-future-social_b55531
(2014, April 24). Social Media Stats 2014 [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from https://leveragenewagemedia.com/blog/social-media-infographic/
Colt, S. (2014, June 10). By 2018, 3.9 billion people will be online thanks to smartphones. The Business Journal. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/2018-3-9-billion-people-175023386.html?soc_src=mediacontentsharebuttons
Bleiberg, J. (2014). 10 new innovations that could change the world. Tech Tank, Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/techtank/posts/2014/06/10-mit-techreview-2014