For all of you doubters out there who don’t believe social media sites like Twitter or MySpace can be successfully used for marketing your business.. I give you, The Goat. On February 6, 2010, “Can this Goat get more fans than Barack Obama” made its debut on the social media website more popularly known as Facebook. What started out as probably a little curiosity and humor combined has turned into probably the best proof that social media can be completely systemic. Six days later on Friday, February 12th, at exactly 4:20 in the afternoon the number of fans had already reached 99,078 and exactly four minutes later that number had jumped to 99,171. That’s 93 people/fans in just 4 minutes! And only 52 minutes later at 5:16 p.m. the number has grown by 1,362 fans, creating a new total of 100,533. Now, you don’t have to be a math genius to figure out that this is a substantial exponentially increasing number of people. The remarks on the page vary from “somebody feed him the health care bill please” to “I think the goat could pick a Super Bowl winner” (of course, you can’t have a conversation without mentioning the Super Bowl). They even have a conversation raging over what to name the goat. Those names range from just ‘The Goat’ to your everyday ‘Joe the Goat’ or ‘Bubba Goat’ to the more clever suggestions like ‘Oba-a-a-a-a-ma’ and ‘Baaaa Rack the Goat’. So whether you think this whole mess is just quite silly and even laughable, you have to admit that the universal effects of social media are astounding and cannot be denied. I invite you to examine the limitless possibilities social media has to offer your business endeavors. Of course, nothing takes the place of good ‘ole face to face interaction, but social media seems to come in a close second. Who could deny the insight to people’s emotions and opinions or the frank communication these platforms have to offer to the everyday person or businessman. Now just stop and think of those possibilities… reaching 100,533 in six days.
There is no argument that Social Media is the new fandango, but what does it offer over the more traditional forms of Industrial Media.
What is Industrial Media?
Newspaper, Television, & Magazines are some of the more popular forms of industrial media. Traditionally they derived support from advertisers, but over the last few years the landscaped has been shifting dramatically. Industrial media still enjoys a small percentage of support, but the platform of industrial media is giving way to the more economical realm of Social Media. If you need to run an obituary, or the more mandatory forms of business related adds like “DBA “Doing Business As” adds, or Municipal public announcements…then Industrial Media enjoys this space. There are; however, more effective, efficient, and greener forms of obtaining news and information, and it’s called Social Media.
What Is Social Media?
Industrial Media has its place, but Social Media is extremely valuable and infinitely more dynamic and unique than industrial media. Social Media is largely delivered via various forms of electronic technology like: Phones, Computers, Websites, groups, and forums, for example. It’s greener, faster, and more efficient, and most importantly…it’s dynamic. The reason it’s more dynamic is because social media seeks to deliver content that’s relevant only to the reader, not the masses. That’s huge, because if the individual doesn’t have an interest in sports for example… then he or she would not need to read information related to sports.
Social Media is not to be confused with social networking. I will provide more information on Social Networking later.
Consider that Social Media content can be acquired in real time so news and updates are cast almost instantly. On the other hand, it may take days, weeks, or even months for content to appear in the space of industrial media. Perhaps the largest advantage from a participants point of view is that Social Media requires very little expertise, knowledge, skill or money.
The Situation:
Paid publications are struggling because we have firmly entered the information age, and information is the most pervasive aspect of the World Wide Web.
The Problem:
Industrial Media fights the loss by challenging Social Media
If information is free, the question then becomes why would anyone agree to pay, and why would advertisers cast their add dollars at failing forms of Industrial Media?
The Implication: Fighting Social Media is wrought with futility
The Payoff:
Certain forms of Industrial may survive and even thrive if individuals and organizations around Industrial Media can quickly adapt to this technological revolution taking place, but they will need to move swiftly. There are strong examples where Industrial Media is embracing social media. Most international News agency provides audio and video as web cast. The result is that many buyers and sellers meet in “The New Common Place” of Social Media.
