Social Media Strategy Evolution
June 8th 2009 7:06 PM
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I recently read a wonderful article on the direction of social media by Jeremiah Owang of Web Strategy called Future of Social Web The Future of the Social Web: In 5 Eras. Jeremiah does a great job of outlining the past, present, and future eras of the social media.
As consumers increasingly adopt social web channels as a part of their everyday routines, it is the businesses and individuals that are able to implement this channel successfully that will gain the upper hand. Forecasting and preparing for the future is a key to success, and which is why I think his article is so useful and relevant.
Here is a summary of the past, present, and future of social media strategy and my thoughts:
Social Relationships
This era which has allegedly already passed represents the start of people connecting with each other through online groups. Brands also join online groups, and some create their own social network. Monetization of a social media strategy is still difficult in this era. The report suggests this era starts in 1995, and has already matured sometime between 2003 to 2007.
My Thoughts: I definitely think social media monetization is one of the biggest challenges facing individuals and organizations in social media but that is starting to change, and is a reason I agree that this period has indeed already matured.
Social Functionality
This period is represented by social networks becoming operating systems. This increased social functionality is defined by more interactive applications and widgets created and implemented by both individuals and businesses alike. Social media competitors can differentiate themselves through applications, and they can be monetized by developers. This era started in 2007, and it is predicted to mature between 2010-2012.
My Thoughts: We are witnessing an explosive growth in social media widgets and applications that people are presently making money from. I agree with the assessment of when this period started, but I think its maturity will be longer.
Social Colonization
All websites become social whether that is its purpose or not. Brands increasingly rely on social media to influence buying decisions from their customers. This period begins in 2009, and matures by 2011 according to estimates.
My Thoughts: I’m not sure whether I agree with the statement that every website will be social even if it does not choose to be, and somewhat confused as to what that is supposed to mean.
Social Context
Websites use personalization as an interaction strategy and consumers increasingly share their information across websites to enable this personalization. The predicted start is 2010 while it matures in 2012.
My Thoughts: I think that this era has already started. Personalization is being increasingly adopted by many websites, especially those with a heavy customer service dependency such as retail sites. Platforms such as ATG’s E-commerce Platform have a very advanced level of personalization. Adopters of this platform such as Macy’s and Cabela’s are successfully using personalization to differentiate their online experience.
Social Commerce
This era represents individuals and organizations adopting social media as a core business strategy, much like customer relationship management has become heavily adopted by companies. The social web would be used to come up with products and strategies, to market them, and gain feedback from them. Indeed, social media would become a key e-commerce channel. The start of this era is set for 2011, with maturity by 2013.
My Thoughts: Once again, I agree with the maturity date, but I strongly believe this era has already started. YouTube, Facebook, and Digg are three excellent examples of how consumers are being strongly influenced by social media channels. I and many others have found a huge benefit in using YouTube videos to make a purchase decision, and these social channels have a huge impact on brand. Although adoption is not as high as it can be, individuals and businesses are increasingly adopting YouTube as a core marketing channel, as it has proven to be quite effective.
This social commerce era is mostly having an indirect impact on business success since a strong online brand has a huge impact on offline channels as well. In the next few years we should be seeing more and more direct impacts on the online channel itself.
Overall this was a very informative and unique take on the evolvement of social media, and I look forward to reading more opinions. While I agree with the classification of eras, I don’t necessarily agree with the time periods in the report.
Additional Reading
The original post by Jeremiah created some insightful responses on this topic. You may be interested to explore these other well-written articles on the evolution of social media:
siliconAngle - Four Stages of Social Media
clickZ - Social Media 2009 = Search 2002
readwriteweb - 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2009
What do you think of the evolution of social media? Do you agree with these classifications? What major changes do you foresee in the coming years? Please share your thoughts below.
