Social Media Returns Content, But What About Investment?
Posted: February 09, 2011
With all they recent hype about social media, it seems that focus should be placed on facebook, twitter and other sources. However, some believe such sources may lack the professionalism to drive revenue on a consistent basis.
We speak ad nauseum about social media and its impact on our personal lives. Anyone can become a relevant figure through social media networks. Content of all forms is distributed around the clock from locations spanning the globe. Also, we know that corporations are jumping into social media since many of their target customers peruse the space. They often jump into the fray without a lead representative, much less a strategy that proves effective.
I have discussed these themes before, but Lulu Phongmany delves further into the question of social media’s true value. In her piece for paidcontent.org, one thing she discusses is the value it has added for publishers. Newspaper sites are seeing about 50% of their traffic coming from Google alone, while Facebook accounted for 0.1% of referrals to newspapers. Other statistics show 0.2% of traffic flowing to iVillage.co.uk. Articles are shared, but mostly they are controversial and offbeat. This is hardly surprising, but not encouraging, for businesses aiming to inform and generate unique visitors.
Phongmany summarizes that social media is an evolution of the online portal, rather than the final destination of the online experience. Google still has value as a portal to find linear results in a matter of seconds, but social media is different because of its personalization. That wide spectrum of personalization, though, has precluded corporations from extracting direct profit streams. She points out that retail and gaming have resulted in measurable statistics. Farmville and Mafia Wars have exploded in terms of popularity through Facebook, and those are just two examples. Retro educational programs, Carmen Sandiego and The Oregon Trail, just debuted on Facebook.
The key point, however, is that these industries provide services for folks to escape from the mundane instances of life. Social media is not yet a proper forum for insurers to gain candidates for life coverage or annuities. They have created pages, but their target bases are not viewing them consistently.
For the moment, social media remains merely a domain of amusement on several levels. The medium is lacking the professionalism to drive revenue on a consistent basis. One could attribute this to time, as further web developments could change the perspective. It has, however, provided a forum for discussion of corporate strategy and product development. This in itself is where marketing executives must follow the herd. Eventually, some members peel off and experiment with methodologies. Digital strategies will innovate when the herd keeps stomping.
Biz Tip Source: Talent Zoo
About the Author: Abdul Fattah Ismail lives in New York and is an MBA candidate with St. John's University, majoring in Marketing Management. He also writes blog articles on the interactive marketing sector for Blueliner Marketing, LLC , a New York interactive marketing agency with offices in India and Bangladesh. Prior to his graduate studies, he worked in the philanthropy and fashion industries as a database administrator and press assistant. Originally from South Bend, Indiana, he completed his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. Follow him on Twitter and read his blog.