The early days of social media were a more innocent time. Most early adopters who showed up on a social network were just happy to have found a new online scene that wasn't ruled by time and place. Advice, stories, and experiences abounded.
Savvy business noticed the online hot spots, and they began to meet their consumers and potential customers on social networks. According to HubSpot.
"They recognized the possibility of interacting with their consumers in a more personalized way (as people, not ad impressions), leading to an increase in time and budget spent by companies across social media channels."
But, in time, the one-on-one friendliness of social media began to erode. Companies using social media lost their way. Businesses forgot the early days of social media, and they turned to outdated, stodgy means of communicating (and, in some cases, they started outright broadcasting their messages). And consumers and potential clients stopped listening to those brands online.
Social media expert Gary Vayernchuk warns.
"You cannot underestimate people's ability to spot a soulless bureaucratic tactic a million miles away. It's a big reason why so many companies that have dipped a toe in social media waters have failed miserably."
Just what happened over time is detailed in the following infographic by HubSpot, including...
- 81% of consumers have either unliked or removed a company's posts from their Facebook NewsFeed.
- 71% of consumers report being more selective about liking a company on Facebook than they were last year.
- 41% of consumers have unfollowed a company on Twitter.
However, social media can find its more personable roots again. Businesses can stop flooding social networks with their pitches, promotions, and ads; companies can instead start focusing on one-on-one interactions again and use tools to help scale those conversations.
To find out how companies can begin doing that, check out the following infographic.
Click Image To Enlarge
COMMENTARY: I have warned my readers time and time again, that if a company does not make anything, and does not charge for you to use their website, then YOU are the product. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks are all "freemium" businesses, whose principal source of revenues is advertising (86%). They all work closely with advertisers and social media marketers to target customers that either "like" their brand, have said something positive about a brand in a social media update on their personal page, or have conducted searches for certain products that match those of the advertiser. Today, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are using information we willingly provide as users to and third-party research firm data about our online behaviors (sites we visit) and products we purchase online or in brick-and-mortar stores, to target us.
Having said this, the big three: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have all been investigated and fined, and placed on 20-year probations, by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating our privacy by tracking us as we surf online and even our GPS locations via our mobile phones and other mobile devices, and providing our most private information to advertisers and ad agencies for using in their targeting of us. All of this was done without our permission. Although these social networks have taken steps to protect our privacy, it is up to us to update our profile to determine just how much information you are now allowing these social networks to access and use in their marketing efforts.
The Sad State of Social Media Privacy - @mdgadvertising.png
When social networks begin treating their users with respect, like real human beings, with real needs and having real problems, instead a "Product" (i.e. marketing data), there will continue to be mistrust and anxiety over social networks. Let me just ask: When was the last time that a social network actually thanked you for your patronage and loyalty to their network? I don't ever remember receiving an email or IM from Zuck thanking me for being a long-term member. In fact, they have all taken us for granted. They think of us as numbers like "1 billion users," "desktop users," and "mobile users" as in the case of Facebook. I would appreciate a picture of the founder of the social network greeting me with a: "Thank you for visiting us again." Anything that acknowledges that we even exist.
Courtesy of an article dated May 14, 2013 appearing in MarketingProfs
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