In Part 1 of the History of Social Media, we covered the origins of this cultural phenomenon and some of its characteristics. In Part 2, we discussed the first social networking site, Friendster, its rise and fall and the website that took its place, MySpace.

This post presents the next major Social Media boom, Facebook. We conclude our history lesson with the significant opportunities that SM offers for brands, marketers and businesses of all sizes through Social Media Marketing (SMM).

Facebook: Finding where you belong

Starting out in 2004, Facebook was a networking site dedicated strictly to Harvard students (users had to have a University email to log in). It wasn’t long before this Social Networking Site (SNS) included other college campuses, eventually reaching high school students in 2005. Soon after, the service opened to everyone and its popularity continues to grow at an incredible rate with over 80 million users so far.

Like most SNSs, it was incredibly easy to create profile pages and build your network of friends and associates in Facebook. What made Facebook different was that it offered a safer alternative by limiting how much information from the profile page is made public. Another Facebook feature that helped keep users coming back and seeking each other out was the ability to easily create and organize groups according to causes and interests.

In 2007, the Facebook markup language was made public, allowing independent programmers to develop applications for users to add to their pages. Not only do applications provide fun activities and communication tools for users to use, it also presented an opportunity for marketers to come up with interactive ways of spreading a message or promoting a product. It signaled a sea of change in marketing, a revolution we are currently experiencing called Social Media Marketing.

How do we go from Social Media to Social Media Marketing?

“Currently, there are no reliable data regarding how many people use SNSs, although marketing research indicates that SNSs are growing in popularity worldwide (comScore, 2007). This growth has prompted many corporations to invest time and money in creating, purchasing, promoting, and advertising SNSs.” (Source: Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship).

Social Media introduces a large but very targeted and marketing savvy audience. This is their space and they welcome marketers only under certain conditions:

  • Be real – they can spot fake a mile away
  • Maintain respect – the SM market is intelligent, thoughtful and practical
  • Offer relevant advertising – pull them in, never push
  • Offer value – if you make their lives better, they will consider your message
  • Listen – they provide honest opinions and feedback: golden market research

Effective Social Media Marketing offers both defensive and offensive maneuvers. Probably the most important point to Social Media Marketing is that with or without consent of a brand, the SM audience is publishing their experiences and sharing their opinions. The best way to monitor what people are saying about you and troubleshoot potential PR disasters is through Social Media Marketing.

The potential to grow a brand is astronomical. Just one example is the Proctor & Gamble website that sees over 500,000 monthly visitors. P&G’s internal assessment estimates that every dollar they spend in this community is four times as effective as their television advertising. (Source: Strategies for Interactive Marketing in a Recession).

Social Media can offer such possible returns on an effective SM campaign because it allows brands to connect with their target market at a higher level of engagement. In addition, these online users are passionate and have the ability to reach millions of people. If you can connect with them on their level, they will spread your message for you readily, becoming your best and most influential marketing.

So ends our history lesson in SMM, the first ten years of social media in brief. From its humble beginnings, established characteristics, early pitfalls and lessons learned, the triumph of Social Media and the creation of new media marketing. While the use of social media, whether for connecting with friends or spreading brand awareness is still relatively fresh, we can assess what works for success online.

For more information on how you can be a part of social media history, be sure to subscribe to Apollo Media’s Blog, as we not only track developments in the field, but create exciting applications and innovative tools are ourselves. So don’t let the conversation go on without you! Join in!