Keegan Slattery @keeganator: What do you think is the future of social media? Has it really changed the face of business forever?
ANSWER:
Social media has changed the face of business forever. Just look at the SuperBowl ads: about half the companies put their Facebook page URLs instead of their actual company website URLs on the ad.
Social media broadly brings together of similar interests. It’s the only way that one ad can have a potential reach to all 100 million people who have a similar interest to your product. And you can do it for 1% or less of the price of an untargeted TV ad.
What about other ways? One hundred years ago, your customers were people in your immediate vicinity. Your friends were the people who lived in your neighborhood. If they were negative people, people who brought you down, you still had to put up with them. Now Social Media has opened up the door for you to step outside and meet 800 mm people. You get to choose the inspirational people you want to be around, the people you want to do business with.
A third reason, social media gives us data on, well, how hundreds of millions of people socialize. This helps you target your customers better. Gives you data on all of their habits, informs you on how they make their decisions. This “big data” approach helps you hone in like a missile on your most ideal customers.
This almost sounds like a bad thing. Don’t I want my privacy? Of course not! When I have back pain I’d rather have ads pop up for good chiropractors than ads for hiking clothes. The more my privacy is invaded, the more ads transform into legitimate content for me.