Finals Week - Reflection on Social Media

As a social media coach and as a constant user of social media to promote my own business, I've taken the last two years of my life and studied trends and techniques of social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Although its a necessary evil to have a social media platform (and I don't enjoy it as much as I should) there are a few things that I would like to wrap up this semester with, leaving you with some very interesting thoughts of how to approach your social media with your business as you move along. 

What Does It Mean For Me?

The migration to Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and SnapChat show the maturity of the social media space. Use of an online profile to interact with others in a particular arena is now a widely acceptable form of interaction. Technology improves and makes it easier for us to use these platforms and keep tabs on them. For my business (which is evolving), this is a very good thing. The spread of information online is the fastest way to get word out about a new product or business. Its irrelevant as to which platform its on. My plan is to shift focus to where ever the audience is and adapt my business practices around those movements. Those who do not adapt will not survive. And I intend to keep track of where to put my efforts on social media platforms as things change. 

Shift In Social Media 

Since the semester started, major giants like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are starting to reach a maturity phase in their product. They are not growing as fast anymore because... Well frankly and literally the entire world is now on it. Their main priority is a focus on keeping users and not loosing them to other platforms. Therefore, the way in which a business interacts with others is going to change based on how they tailor the site for the individual user. This means that its going to be harder for a business to reach others, and businesses must constantly change their tactics in order to keep pace. 

Impact on My Business

Facebook recently changed their newsfeed to start filtering out promotions and product offerings from businesses that were liked by users. This has taken away a free form of advertising that startups (like me) used to reach an audience. They also made sure that if a company posts a particular amount of information a day to limit their reach to their own users. 

This means that in order for Facebook to be an effective form of advertisement and engagement with customers for business, they have to pay to play. This means that I am going to start focusing my efforts in areas other than Facebook in order to reach an audience. 

My Viewpoint on Social Media

My viewpoint has changed ever so slightly since the start of the semester. Tech companies or new technology like this has a very short life span. Although Facebook will never go away, I started to realize as the semester went on that Facebook is not immune to the product lifecycle and will soon loose its power. Although it will never go away, it will not have the prominence that it has had in the past few years. Thus, what I have learned is that social media giants that may seem invincible  will not always be, and that I need to be aware of what the next platform is in order to jump on in time and stay ahead of my competitors. 

Development and tactics in social media

As the platforms change to keep and bring in more users, businesses must adapt to these and keep their ear to the ground for not only what people listen to, but how. I now know that in the future I will need several people who will both keep their ear to the ground in social media and also constantly change how we interact with those customers across this space. This is a giant pain in the ass that will cost me a lot of money, however it will help keep things afloat and keep my business in the black. 

In Conclusion

All in told, I am not a big fan of social media (even though I teach it). More and more people are going online for their interaction and the space is evolving almost daily. The amount of effort required to keep pace with all of this is absolutely exhausting, but a necessary evil in order for a business to thrive. 

Thank you all for a wonderful class.