Who could have possible imagined that Twitter or FaceBook would ever end up as huge multi million pound businesses. But they did - along with worlds number one search engine Google.
But what is interesting about Twitter is that most people join it, and use it, but they don’t really understand what the advantages are or how to obtain them.
Do You?
These strange business models are hugely successful - earning massive incomes from advertising and sponsorship. Income level that most companies just dream about and high profit margins to boot!
When I think about Twitter or FaceBook (Yes, I am a member of both), I really don’t understand why so many people think being a member is a good idea. After all who really takes much notice of Tweets, or indeed what is being posted on FaceBook. Of course when you are an active member of either, you may act differently and get lots of value.
If we go back before Twitter and imagine the scene as the founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone sat around their kitchen table discussing what they were planning to do. They planned to allow people to collect connections with other people and then send those people short messages telling them what the sender was doing!
Now - really who is going to be interested in that? Well, over 50 million tweets are sent each day! So someone is interested. It will die out quickly …
Well four years have passed and it is still growing daily.
These sites are launched by their founders to provide a service to its members. But of course the real reason is the financial gain that the business makes as it grows. This is based upon billions of advertising images, each shown and paid for, either when displayed or when clicked upon. Those billions of images all add up and return huge revenues to the business.
Of course advertisers that use these facilities expect them to produce results in the form of sales of their products or services. If this is not forthcoming then they will stop using the service and eventually the platform will lose it profitability and cause a real headache to its owners. Advertisers only want people who are potential customers to see and click on their ads.
What will be next?
Well if we ask the question as to why people click on these ads and follow the links to purchase products we will find that some of it is purely impulsive, but the majority is because the ad relates closely to the content.
Advertising in conventional magazine has always worked really well. But a business that manufactures valves for oil leaks would be foolish to advertise in a teenage magazine! Likewise if you have an interest in diving and read a diving magazine each week, you are likely to find that there are a huge number of advertisements that are about diving!
How long will it be before someone comes up with a new online concept that allows individuals to only see advertisements on subjects or interests that they have elected? No spam! No emails! No wasted time?
Guess what … they have already!
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3 comments:
Jim,
Yeah. They already have done that. Google AdWords is exactly that too. It appears on pages in link with your product/service.
Actually, Facebook is doing it too. If you look just for single women, you will see ads about meeting people (and probably vice versa for women.)
Since I'm looking at many MLM pages, I get loads of MLM related advertising. When I check stuff about Real Estate, same thing. And other times its software related (but those ads are rarer!)
The Internet has changed a while back already.
What they are working on right now (they already use software like such in Japan) are ads to be shown on people's cell phones depending on where they are (since we have a GPS in every phone now...) Hey! You're in that train station, would like a Coke? look on your right... yeah! right at hand!
In Japan they offer you coupons in a fully automated way, directly on your phone!
Now, I still don't get anything from Twitter... I'm a little more of a Facebook fan.
Thanks for the post!
Alexis
Hi Jim,
I understand where you are coming from, especially as this is how many business owners feel. I think it is fair to say most "don't get it". If Social media is used effectively and selectively then it can be very work for business.
The biggest problem is that most people and businesses do not have a strategy, and just send out meaningless tripe. They do it "because everyone else is doing it". I cannot think or a more wrong reason for engaging in any business activity.
Social media is about quality not quantity. It is also about giving. For it to work, you have to understand the features of each platform and consider carefully how they might work for you.
For most people using Facebook or Twitter it is a bit like "train spotting" just collecting numbers. To make it useful for business it is essential that businesses use Facebook, Twitter, Linked In etc with a real objective in mind.
It can be used to bring traffic to websites, engage with customers, and keep new and old customers engaged with your business. The other issue is that people try to "do it themselves" without understanding the real workings of social media, or they listen to gurus or their mate down the pub. It should be remembered like any business model there is no a one-size-fits-all. You need to choose the correct social media platform for your needs. In addition, as you will know there is no "easy business" you have to work hard at it - there are no get-rich-quick approaches to business without hard work - and the internet is no exception.
My advice is find out how you can exploit social media to the advantage of your business - it could surprise you.
Again cereal blogger Jim Tuffin hits the nail on point with his excellent analsis of the industry matters. Here in Japan we find similar matters to make us consternation and commenting on such issue.
Good to hear Jim on Facebook. I bet he has leather jacket and down with the trendy young too.
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