The Social Media Gold Rush – On Figuring It All Out
Last week Kris Layon of Two Apps Per Day brought up an interesting point about designing for the iPad. He related it to the great Wild West. It was such a good description for not only iPad design, but social media and the new frontier of our web culture.
For instance, there is no degree for social media. Every now and then I get a random job offer in social media for a national organization and even other web firms in town. That said, here are some predictions for social media and our web future.
The E-commerce boom
In the mid to late-90s, every company and anyone with an idea hurried to put up a web site so they could start marking money. Corporations couldn’t grow their web business fast enough. And the web industry made quite a bit of money. In 2000 our bubble crashed and all the bad ideas fell through the floor. We took a step back and refined what worked online and adjusted our perceptions and actions accordingly.
E-commerce is now commonplace. We trust it because it’s become part of our lives. We know the pitfalls and procedures. One of the most amazing inventions was Amazon.com‘s patented one-click ordering system. If you use iTunes, you use this system everyday without even thinking about it.
The Social media boom
But social media hasn’t had a tipping point yet. Some people don’t trust it yet – it’s The Wild West with no standards or “right” way to do it. In fact, we are probably experiencing our social media gold rush, or bubble if you will. A recent Washington Post article mentioned that large corporations are quickly hiring social media experts into their leadership staff. Then they ask them to figure out what social media is and of course turn profits with it. It’s easy to see that social media will become common place for all campaigns, companies or product launches much like “web strategy for e-commerce” was gaining traction in the 90s.
Those who race to figure out what it is, what it can be, and establish best practices based on their quick failures can patent their own “one-click ordering system” of social media. There’s a lot of money on the table to make this happen. But that can’t be your only reason to get in involved with social media. Amazon wasn’t in the race for a quick win. It had a long-term solution.
And before you think social media companies are selling out. Remember that “Social media” is a business just like e-commerce, design or marketing. And if design companies and advertising agencies don’t expand their services or adapt their business to fill this need, others will. If you are interested in growing relationships, you have an entrepreneurial spirit and you like to tinker with blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc, then your time has come my friend!
Stay tuned for the next installment on this series where I share some social media, personal branding tips and best practices to help you make the most of this golden age.
Update: Social Media is about a long term commitment. The Social Media Examiner is doing a great job of getting information and best practices out there. Check out this awesome post called the “7 Steps For a Successful Social Media Strategy”.
