Do you feel an ever increasing urgency to build your social media following and influence? Do you feel you’re just spinning your wheels on Facebook? If not, allow me to share my thoughts on the matter and why I think it’s imperative we build big and build fast… The Future Of Social Media.
The Big Three – Facebook, Twitter, & Google Plus
Social media is big business and the World certainly knows it by now. It’s no longer an online thing that people play with – it’s big business. With public offerings, massive capital, properties galore and every Tom, Dick and Sally trying to understand how it plays into their business, we have an advantage that may never come around again.
- Facebook, The Lost Cause
After eight years of social media domination, Facebook filed for its initial public offering (IPO) and there’s been a storm of drastic changes that impact businesses, bloggers and marketers in a very negative manner. It’s no secret that Facebook intends to continue and probably even accelerate its revenue generation model when it comes to business. Want to be seen on Facebook? Break out your checkbook.
Facebook Is ALL About The Money ~ Adrienne Smith
- Twitter
Twitter recently went public in the open market and Twitter’s business model revolves around ad revenue. Twitter doesn’t seem as aggressive when it comes to swinging the change hammer as Facebook but it’s no secret that profitability for Twitter isn’t coming as natural for them either. What’s the future hold for businesses when it comes to Twitter? Your guess is as good as mine but I think it’s just a matter of time until things get a little more “complicated”.I’m pretty active on Twitter (Follow me on Twitter) and it is consistently Hot Blog Tips’ leading referral source from social media sites. - The Big G
Google’s I.P.O. is old news as the nine year veteran continues to push its major properties under the Google Plus umbrella. There’s been a lot of push-back from users but Google Plus seems to have the brightest future (at the moment) for bloggers and small business. With personalized search and the power of Google’s merged tools, Google Plus should be on all of our “do it big” lists.
Stop Playing With It
If you’re serious about your business, then do business and take advantage of the social networks that are allowing exposure, traffic and influence without forcing you into a paid advertising campaign. If Facebook has taught us anything, it should be that sitting on our hands and waiting for opportunity is a very poor business model. 
Who Wins With Facebook?
Facebook wins, of course, but it’s not dead to business; not by a long shot. Businesses that pay win but so do businesses that understand the value of real interaction, especially on Facebook. Brands that built large and solid followings still do quite well on Facebook. Don’t get me wrong, they are affected as well but not to the point where they have to pack up and go home.
With that said, however, I recently heard Peter Stringer, the Boston Celtics’ Sr. Director of Digital Media say (about 23 minutes into the podcast) that Facebook has impacted their Facebook page to the point of a 2% to 3% reach of it’s 7.2 million fans (likes). In fact, we’ve been hearing this same story from businesses of every level.
The Future Of Social Media
Okay, we have no idea where this big ball is rolling but we do know that it will always be fueled by profit. There’s nothing wrong with that, profit is good. Will Twitter begin filtering our Tweets unless we pay? Will Google Plus expect business to purchase via AdWords to get significant exposure on its mega social media platform? We simply don’t know but it seems like common sense would dictate three things…
- Don’t count on any single social media site.
- Build it quickly and reap the rewards while they’re available.
- Get your social connections on YOUR list right away.
Summary, Conclusion, and Action Step
I believe algorithms similar to what we see on Facebook will eventually become the norm across all major social media platforms so now is the time to build those as big and as strong as possible. Build Twitter, Google Plus, and any other network that fits your brand into strong external communities and focus hard on bringing them into your list. Those that had already accomplished that on Facebook before we heard of “Edgerank” were leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else when the reins tightened.
Your Thoughts?
That’s just my two cents on the matter and a major reason why I have decided to change my focus for the first quarter of 2014 on Twitter, Google Plus and YouTube. Are you taking advantage of social media to the degree you feel possible? Do you think recent challenges will continue until social media sites just become the new ad agencies for business? I’d really love to see your thoughts on the future of social media when it comes to business, bloggers and online marketers.
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About Brian D. Hawkins
I couldn’t agree more, the fact that Facebook is so well know to everyone but so hated buy businesses is no surprise. Facebook is just greedy and pretty much useless to your business if your going to the free route. As it read in the Dictionary “Facebook – A place to unload massive amounts of your or anyone else’s spam.” – Scott Craighead
Facebook has a set of well identified people who regularly collaborate their views. It is very easy to develop relations with people over FB. If Facebook allows paid advertisement over its Groups… it can make a substantial difference.
I agree Ganesh, I believe Facebook is the best place for most businesses to advertise if they have the budget. The analytics alone is superior than any other social network and top that with the narrowest targeting most of us could have imagined and it’s a no-brainer.
For bloggers and very small business that can’t afford to pay, Facebook is a huge challenge and time suck. At best, the most engaged brands publishing the best content can only expect a 3% reach. Now factor in the majority of that reach is going to be mobile and conversion is even more daunting, is it really worth the time?
Thanks Scott, I don’t believe Facebook is any more greedy than any other business, just a little smarter. If you consider that the user is their priority and business accounts are simply allowed to play in the sandbox but not really invited, the algorithm makes a lot of sense. The more interaction in the form of likes, shares and comments, the more exposure. If you want more than a 3% reach after all of that time and effort, you have to pay. Not only do you have to pay, you still need the interaction AND learn the skills required for effective Facebook marketing. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. lol
Thank you so much for this post. Yes, I have a facebook, google+, linkedin, etc accounts, however not using them to the fullest. The put in me a sense of urgency to make this a priority for my businesses. Thanks again for the informative posted. I look forward to utilized it to participate more on the social media side and how everything links.
We’re all going through that Greg. I’m going to concentrate on just three networks for the first quarter of the year and then bring in the others one at a time. Hopefully I can get more out of the time and effort than I’ve been getting by running in circles for last couple of years.
Interesting belief, as it touches upon something I was thinking earlier today. I don’t think it’s necessarily speed as much as coming up with a concept or idea and implementing it first. Even some bad ideas and implementations can bring great rewards. Innovation is something else because, as you remember, we used to have those handheld phones that were bigger than a toaster (actually, only a few people could even own those) and look at where we are now.
Nice point Mitch, nothing happens without taking action. We need to build our communities within the platforms that make the most sense for our brands and we can’t forget mobile.
Facebook is best i use facebook to promote my blog post and its best to get traffic i use facebook share button on my blog so visitor can share news with their Friends and google+ is also great but from my point of you my vote goes to Facebook.
Thanks
Shital
That’s great if it’s working for you Shital, don’t forget about interaction though. 🙂
I have found social media largely useless to me. It seems that almost all my shared posts on FB go unnoticed while posts of someones dog with a bow on their head gets 30 comments. I guess I just don’t understand the whole social media thing.
I’m surprised Steve (I have no idea why you put BlaxTone where it asks for your name). But I’m surprised your images aren’t being shared on social media because some of them are hilarious. The guy with the beer gut saying, “Merry Christmas, It’s your fault I’m drunk” just cracked me up. lol Don’t even get me started with the Coal mining and Cleavage posts. That blog should explode if you keep it up and promote the mess out of it.
I was always looking for some ideas where I can use my social accounts as a business marketing tool. Thank you so much for such an informative post.
Hey
Well I think the future of social media is much large then the current one it is because the number of users of social media namely facebook, google plus and twitter are increasing and I must say they have their own strategies to build up their profits. I agree about the adreine smith statement about facebook is all about money.
Thanks for sharing.
They really do have their own strategies Itender, so it’s important that every piece of content we post are designed exclusively for that platform.
Thanks so much for this post. I am currently working with getting more and more Google plus followers helps better on getting appearance in Goolgle search results.
Build it big and build it strong Munna; become part of the community. 🙂
Fantastic focus Mitch. Nothing happens without initiating movement. We have to construct our groups inside the stages that make the most sense for our brands and we cannot disregard mobile.
Hi,
Now a days everyone have social media account and they have maintained good contact with other people through this.For promoting business in online social media platform gives wonderful opportunity to everyone to get maximum response.nice article.
Regards
J.Rajesh
I have had good success with Facebook. It would appear that not many businesses know how to use Facebook for the benefit. For instance, anyone can create an organizational page and also advertise on Facebook. I have notice major companiesand businesses are now beginning to advertise on Facebook.
Yes I’m taking great advantage from social media and I’d say these top social media platforms are really helpful in any manner either promotion or marketing stuff.
Thanks
Besides getting traffic and exposure from social media, increased in social stats of any blog makes the blog loved by the search engine. Especially this is about G+ more shared means more authority..
Well nowadays if you have a business website you must have a social pages also if you want to succeed within all of competing websites around you, especially Facebook page to connect within people and give them option to contact you there which people find more easily and user-friendly then sending an emails messages. And also Facebook pages can get ranked easily on search engines, which is one more plus here.
Great post and thanks for sharing!
Regards,
Ronald
The big THREE. This idea eversince has made online entrepreneur big money on the cyberworld. I understand that what these big 3 offer is the advantage of free internet marketing. Facebook, as the dominant giant social media network has a lot of interesting features that will enhance and help us grow our business online. It is proven to giant internet marketer now a days.