In 2007, Brian Solis published an article discussing the current state of Social Media. In it, he posits that technology will continue to change and evolve, but the future of marketing, and by corollary social media, is about sociology. Marketers must concentrate on how people and businesses and communities can and do interact. It’s all about relationships.
Why is this important? Because younger generations are being raised in this digital environment and are starting to use social media tools as their primary form of communication. Older generations and businesses may feel reluctant to jump in due to the intimidating number of tools available and the learning curve they represent. However, if we want to reach our target audiences and market ourselves and our businesses, we must be willing to learn and adopt these new tools.
Every professional website should have social media tools integrated, and every business owner and marketing department should be using social media to reach out to new markets and communicate with their customers and fans.