We have entered a new age of marketing, however no-one can really say when this happened, but the truth is that the world of marketing has certainly changed.
Back in the 1960’s, we saw the birth of television, and the boom of our present day TV adverts.
This has continued to this day with adverts timed to when viewers are likely to be watching. Adverts about cremations and funerals early in the morning to catch older people, or adverts for toys timed when school finishes. Adverts for charities timed around Christmas is another example.
Exhibitions and events have always been with us, the most famous being The Great Exhibition back in 1851 (I know, a long time ago and yes, marketing is very old).
Exhibitions are still popular with many occurring around the UK at venues like the Excel or NEC in Birmingham.
The internet landed in 1989 and brought us the era of online marketing. Companies such as Amazon quickly rose from selling books to selling everything you can think of. The COVID pandemic moved them into food retail, turning Amazon into the market leader for online retail.
Social media is the latest and greatest marketing tool and has quick evolved since Facebook kickstarted this online arms race.
Since the pandemic, TikTok has become the dominant platform.
Teenagers doing silly dances. People showing their dinners. Influencers showing their holiday villas, the list goes on.
We at Marketing Quotes have been following Tik Tok for some time, looking at some of the users that have high numbers of followers and trying to find a trend. What makes them appealing? Why are they getting high numbers of followers when other users are not?
Is it looks or appearance?
Well actually no.
There are lots of models on TikTok but they do not necessarily have high numbers of followers. Most of these try to use it to get additional followers on Instagram. If anything, many viewers appear to look for something else from the platform.
Everyone wants to go #Viral (yes, we all have heard that buzzword) and have their page/product/stream go from zero to hero!
Content creators, or social media influencers is now a new career path for many people around the world.
Since the COVID lockdowns, many people are now full time content creators, doing silly dances, makeup tutorials, restaurant reviews as a full time career. These are then uploaded to TikTok and Instagram in order to get ‘likes’ and comments from followers.
Facebook landed in 2004 and quickly adapted it’s platform to advertising and marketing of products and services.
A wide range of companies use Facebook as a marketing platform. Banks like HSBC, Coca Cola, Innocent smoothies, down to the local landscape gardener.
Facebook gets most of its users on mobile, so has mixed in adverts from sponsor companies into the feed of your friends. The adverts are labelled as adverts, but subtly so that as you scroll down your daily feed, you see adverts from Facebook customers.
For oddball products, TikTok seems to be the ideal platform.
If you have something wacky that you want to sell nationally or globally, this is the platform that could be best suited across the online spectrum.
Facebook is also a good platform for niche or quirky products, as the adverts can be targeted based on what you have liked, what you have viewed, your interests, places you have visits. Even (dare we say it), what you have spoken about.
Does Facebook listen in via the phone microphone to things you may be interested in buying?
Do people go to social media platforms to buy from them? No.
However all social media is funded by advertising, companies and individuals looking to sell their products and services to potential customers.
The truth is that we have entered a new age of marketing, the age of social media. In fact we entered that age about a decade ago now, and the landscape is constantly evolving.
The internet has only been around for a couple of decades, however has evolved quicker than any of us can remember.
As soon as you buy a phone, a computer, a car, it is out of date as it has been taken over by a new model.
This is the same with social media marketing, it is evolving so quickly and it is already out of date.
Predicting the latest or future trends is difficult. When Facebook dominated, who could have anticipated them being on the back foot just a few years later?
Videos do seem to be the way forwards, with mobile phones and tablets quickly taking over desktop browsing.
However choosing the right social media platform is dependent on your product or service, demographic or age group.
Like with all marketing, planning is essential and choosing the right social marketing platform will have a big effect on whether you go viral or not.
Equally, choosing the right marketing company is important.
Most marketing companies claim to be ‘the UK’s top marketing company’ or ‘we are an award winning company’, but sorting the wheat from the chaff can be difficult.
Just fill in the form opposite and we can help you navigate this minefield to help you find the right social media agency for your business.