While few would doubt it beforehand, the Goldman Sachs US $50 billion valuation of Facebook and subsequent US $450 million minority interest investment served notice of the not simply the potential social media giant but the enormous change in methods of communication.

Though the handwriting has been on the wall for quite sometime, the stunning endorsement of Facebook’s value should trigger to the entire business community, both large and small that lines of communication and relationships to the marketplace will continue to evolve as they have over the last decade. While hand-to-hand relationship marketing will always have its place, to ignore marketplace horizon is akin to business suicide. Those who do not respond and adopt proactive social media plans, with the aid of skilled professionals, will be a vestige of the past and quite possibly fighting for the business survival.

Social Media has went through a drastic serious of changes in the last decade from the networking of MySpace to the then upstart Facebook, with its youthful base. Despite the near shock of the valuation price, Facebook is undervalued at $50 billion. The massive “country” called Facebook with well more that 500 million subscribers, is well positioned for an IPO, with Goldman now in line to handle the deal. The maturation of Facebook from its early days has triumphed the financial growth of social media but more importantly for these purposes signalled the delivery of information, including marketing and news. With technological improvements and design changes to Facebook and heavyweight upstart Twitter, connectivity with clients has made the medium the first route for expeditious contact with the marketplace, the crystal palace of Marshall McLuhan’s Global Village where the medium is the message.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Helix World Media, 2010.
All rights reserved

While the relatively new industry of Social Media pushes forward in the marketplace for progressive businesses, many companies still have yet to capture its enormous importance. The peculiarity of the sector is that unlike many business concepts, as “textbook” is written, much of it is already obsolete. Though that may baffle business leaders intending to stay abreast of the concern, given technological changes, public habits, as well as the present topical issue of privacy, this must be expected. Social media platforms face a future of changing consumer loyalty and businesses must understand the speed in which the market evolves. Business managers must adopt a plan that merges both online and offline content but in a variety of different tactics and mediums in overall brand development.

The once street feel of Facebook has all but disappeared as the frontier days of 2005 where you could sense a pulsing base beat of trends has been replaced with endless applications, multi-tiered selling tactics and rapidly aging population. The sheer volume of groups and pages, of which users have chosen to casually “like” have turned Facebook into a “tire-kicker’s” shopping mall, where they stroll by stores but never pull out the bill-fold and in many cases echo the voyeuristic problems that crippled MySpace. While it boasts a vast membership base, social media campaigns need to be cautioned that it is not an issue of simply running out your product but finding a route for regular interaction within your desired market and equally ensuring you are positioned correctly.

Twitter has its own unique set of concerns but diametrically the opposite of common marketing approaches and in many ways more of a brand awareness tool to facilitate the next step in the selling equation. The portal offers a youthful zeal, with speed of information and in combination with a natural private barrier allows for the building of a brand but in the bite-sized morsel. The hurdle for business to understand is by the sheer size of “followers” your reader is inundated with “tweets” and needs a hook that leads them to content or landing page within a small timeframe. While there are weaknesses to this platform, it offers a tremendous method of pushing information quickly into the market, leading them to your website. Twitter is not an answer on its own but rather an integral component for well-informed businesses to get their message out and begin the marketing cycle.

Shining brightly in the horizon is Tumblr, a subtle star in the Social Media sky. Boasting ease of use and engaging, the fresh faced blogging platform offers users a visual experience and at this stage, has maintained its edge that screams branding opportunity. The youthful energy rolls through Tumblr low and hard and works perfectly in the overall branding experience and needs to be recognized by businesses quickly.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Helix World Media, 2010.
All rights reserved

While Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg attempted to defend the company’s privacy practices in an open editorial in the Washington Post, it lacked clarity in understanding the problem for the general user as well as long-term concerns for business.

Though Mr. Zuckerberg noted in a well-crafted statement the social media titan had “missed the mark” with its privacy controls and will be implementing changes to rectify the problem, it comes up far short in understanding the broader implications. Facebook, as he noted, “has evolved from a simple dorm-room project to a global social network connecting millions of people” and to control the flow of personal information might be impossible with commercial traffic.

Facebook, like the former giant of social media, Myspace, now relegated to being a punch line, has grown because of the super connectivity and the web of contacts with like interests. To pull those or at least place roadblocks on the network, starts the deck tumbling downward as it slowly dilutes the affiliations and ultimately business dealings are the coldest of cold calls.

In light of this recent turmoil and given the company is intended on a mega IPO within the next eighteen months, the company will “add privacy controls that are much simpler to use,” Mr. Zuckerberg claimed. While there is still a broad jump between statement and fact as the company say’s it will allow users to turn off third-party services, it quickly has the selling feature of sending out a bulletin on Myspace.  With the latter, it simply does not work and is merely an automated release that the overwhelming majority will ignore.

Regular users have seen this as since the halcyon days of 2005 to the now open door policy, the lack of privacy has gradually eroded the true connectivity to consumer. As the company chipped away at its privacy settings and saw a massive demographics shift it lacked a “cutting edge” and the organic relationship to user or for business, the consumer dissipated. With this lack of privacy, the ability to reach your consumer, without them feeling like they are under the looking glass is impossible, yet with it, new releases have the allure of a flyer at your doorway.

Though the jury is out on whether the company can rebuild its reputation with respects to privacy, there are significant questions ahead for business users. It must find a way to recapture its youthful exuberance that “Tumblr” exudes and the free flow of information the “Twitter” provides.

Yet on the broader horizon lays the message that business entities need to create their own self-sustaining campaign that invigorates customers to not simply enjoy the brand but become the brand. By creating a sense of a digital dialogue, the company not only allows its consumer to feel they are shaping its future but showing loyalty to the needs of core clientele. That reciprocal function sits at the root of a positive social media campaign.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Helix World Media, 2010.
All rights reserved