The Social Media landscape is as dynamic and volatile as any financial market as of late. Nevertheless, overall sales and marketing trends still influence the general direction in which the digital landscape evolves.
Throughout the history of products
In the current economy, we have not only seen this shift in manufacturing, but in other areas as well; how businesses are formed (startup weekend), funded (Kickstarter, Crowdfunder), and even in the types of payment they accept once in the revenue stage of the business lifecycle (Bitcoin). As this shift away from a manufacturer’s “assembly line” mentality continues, strategic marketing will accordingly become more agile to custom tailor communications. Today’s marketplace demands that businesses deliver personalized styles and bespoke value propositions to customers as businesses facilitate higher conversions or engagement among their targets.
Enter social media.
Over the last 10 years, we have witnessed major platform interface changes, the birth and death of new and existing platforms, functionality mergers (Instagram and Vine, Snapchat and SMS, etc), more robust data interpretation methods, and higher adoption rates/shorter life cycles than ever before. This “race” to be “functionality first-movers” among developers has only complicated the job for brand mangers when examining the litany of digital marketing solutions available.
With the focal shift to digital in recent years, we know that digital methods HAVE to be included in overall marketing plans, but what really matters anymore? How do we track performance and what are our key performance indicators? Likes? Followers? Spend?
Sponsored Social workflow is revolutionary within this space as it essentially converts loyal customers to digital brand ambassadors who perform word of mouth style campaigns via their social media channels. Brands are leveraging and monetizing their social media fans, creators are getting compensated for endorsing brands they generally already do, and everyone wins as their respective networks are growing at their discretion. Scalability is built into the incentive architecture of Sponsored Social, and for that reason — it is the next big thing.
About the Author: John Costa is part of the Business Development Team at IZEA.