How Social Media Has Changed Marketing

If you want to know in-depth how social media has changed marketing and how social media marketing changed, keep reading.

Spoiler alert: we are going to prove to you that social media is now an essential part of marketing. But first, let’s dig into its history.

How Social Media Marketing Has Changed Over The Years?

It may not be simple to explain how social media has changed marketing. Nowadays, social media is tightly attached to what digital marketing is. Social media is the preferred weapon of choice to shorten the gap between the brand and the consumer. 

It gives a face and a voice to any brand. But, was it always that way? Many things have changed from the early years of social media with Six Degrees in 1997 to TikTok. Time passed by and networks like Hi5 allowed people to share their likes and group to chat. 

Well, things are not that simple anymore. At least not that simple for people with a business vision on social media.

Considering the number of people on social media, it is rare that digital marketing didn’t consider it before. When you see a chance of using social media to improve your brand you take it. 

In the beginning, it was a bit passive. It was a matter of posting some product and hoping for the best to ask about it. Then you probably received a comment or a direct message to know the price or feats of the product. A lot has changed depending on the social network.

Social Media Networks Acceptance

Facebook has a thing called Marketplace. Instagram has an advertising option too. Both allow the user to select a “personal account” or a Business account. And other social networks allow people to commerce with products and services.

Once made only to share videos, YouTube doesn’t stop showing ads and giving spaces to advertise. Even Twitter has a special place to advertise on. So in just a decade, most social media had to adapt to fill the needs of businesses and clients.

Today, just by creating viral content your brand can receive a big push to the top of the market. TikTok and Pinterest are especially good to do so. Almost as good as Instagram Reels and youtube vines and short ads.

It may still be difficult to see how social media changed marketing rules and applications. Nevertheless, there are a few in-depth ways marketing has improved thanks to social media. 

How Social Media Has Changed Marketing? (Here are 5 ways)

Way #1: Customer’s Service

There is nothing more significant for a customer than being noticed. To feel part of the ongoing conversation is meaningful for some people and there are two ways to do so. The right way to feel trendy is by sharing your awesome experience with the brand.

On the other hand, the wrong way is by publicly complaining about bad service or product. Generally speaking, when we dislike something we drain frustration talking about it. And the more people the complaint reaches, the best it is.

Companies learned thru time how to make the most of public complaints. Thanks to the personal approach of social media, complaints are marketing powerful tools. Every time a social persona responds politely to angry people builds an image of trust and command.

Whenever a frustrated customer says a bad thing about the brand, social media managers must attend it.

A simple tweet can become a sign of weakness or give a bad image if it’s not answered. Now, social media managers have many ways to respond politely, swift, and even funny.

So there is no need to think that a mean comment will dig your company’s grave. This is just an example of how social media marketing has changed the way you deal with issues. Social media marketing eases dealing with angry people.

Way #2: Insights

One of the main traits of digital marketing is the data collected by social media. This data is a real-time game-changer for the expert marketer. Data collection per se is not a good or a bad thing but can be profitable in the right hands. 

When a targeted audience isn’t reached after a short period, insights from the data collected will decide what to do. If there is a wrong targeted audience, wrong advertising, or a poorly planned campaign they will tell. The important part is to change on time what you must.

If the message reaches enough to engage with people, the goal is close to you. Else, the usual recommendation is to leave the campaign in the hands of experts. Your marketer knows what’s best. 

A bunch of good data insights can come from demographics. This kind of data will tell where your message is better received and where it is not interesting. It will tell the gender, age, and what device they use to interact with you. 

Real-time data you can get from digital marketing insights is a complete and useful innovation for digital marketing. It has saved a lot of money for companies and still leads brands to succeed.

Way #3: Business Intelligence

The scientific method is the most accurate way to confirm a fact. Science is based on experimentation so trial-and-error is really common, so there was no other method in marketing.

That was so until digital marketing allowed us to see other companies’ performance.

After that, social media marketing made it even easier to look at what brands failed or succeeded. Just follow your competitor’s social media account to see what they are doing and how they go. For sure, there are a few things to avoid doing and a few to mimic.

When you want to know what is trendy, look at what competitors are doing and innovate. If you do not have an idea of where to start your campaign, get inspiration from the top brands. Social media marketing is more than looking at how your account grows.

Comparing the social media account of one competitor is an advantage perfectly legal and morally right.

If you notice your profile being a copy of other successful accounts, change to offer something better and fresh. The goal of business intelligence is to compare, not to copy.

Way #4: Specialized Media

Nowadays, there are so many social media networks that you can pick up to three to get a marketing goal. Nevertheless, depending on the social media you decided to work on, you must post one kind of content because it is more effective.

Some people are visual, some are more auditory, and some are kinesthetic. Depending on your targeted customer, you should pick a social media network that suits best your marketing goals.

You can use Instagram to post quotes, high-resolution photos, and stories because it is what’s best there.

More consumed or viewed there. Use Facebook if you want to share curated content or entertaining videos. For videos, YouTube is the best regardless if they are short or long.

It is recommended to use Pinterest to post infographics and step-by-step instructions, and photos (why not?). Using Twitter will ensure a quick spreading of news, such as blog posts. For better business-to-business aiming, there is LinkedIn.

As you can see, having a variety of social networks will improve your usage of that network. This is another proof of how social media marketing has changed business. The only caveat: try that your marketer keeps the cohesive message if you pick more than one social network.

Way #5: Paid Advertising

Sometimes organic results take a lot of time. Other times, you are in a hurry since you have a limited-time promotion to offer. Whether your case is one or the other, paid to advertise is a practical solution. Especially when you can’t wait too much time to get in the spotlight.

Thanks to the reach and interaction on social media, advertising can cost less than on Google or Bing. So PPC and other forms of advertising on social media can be equally effective and less expensive. Obviously getting a higher ROI.

You can select your audience based on age, gender, employment status, or geographic location in some social media networks. You can also select the time of exposure of your ads. So digital marketing gave a huge leap when social media got in the scene.

Is Social Media The Future of Marketing?

It is hard to tell. Nowadays, social media is improving digital marketing and enriching the user’s experience. Affirming social media is “the future” implies that other types of marketing strategies will leave the scene and only social media will rule. It is ridiculous.

However, you can say that social media is here to stay as long as it remains profitable to companies.

Based on the usage of traditional marketing you can say that if something new appears, social media will remain. It will be here as another marketing channel for as long as you can imagine.

Final Words: How Social Media Has Changed Marketing?

As you can tell now, social media had and still is having a great impact on marketing. There is no other channel that allows that proximity to customers in such a public way. There are a variety of social networks already and more to come that will adapt to the business needs.

The trend of digital marketing is to reserve a part of the attention to social media profiles for brands. Let us be as clear as possible here: Social media is here to stay. For the years to come, it will be one arm of digital marketing.

Let us Implement Social Media ASAP in Your Business

Why wait for a change? Social media is an important part of your company. So why not give it professional attention? When are you going to start investing in your social media image? How long will it take before you realize how important it is?

Do not hesitate! The time is now for your brand to start climbing to the top of the business. We want to help you reach that top and help your brand to be the one inspiring the generations to come. Let us help you.

Why Brimar Online Marketing Social Media Marketing Services

When you think of a professional and responsible team, you think of Brimar. At the risk of sounding cliche, we’ll tell you our truth: we’ll handle your brand as if it was ours. Every post, each comment, any follower, everything will be carefully planned.

Let Brimar’s social media marketing team design a solid strategy to execute until you reach your marketing goals. Step by step we will move towards your dreams of success. All planned, tested and well-executed with meticulous care.