Social media marketing: history, future, and interesting facts

It seems crazy to think that, a mere twenty years ago, the term social media had not yet been coined. Even for those of us who remember the years before social media, it seems incredible that we went about our lives and our business without instant access to an entire global community.

The rise of social media is of interest to marketers, as it tells us a lot about how our industry has grown and developed over the past couple of decades. And understanding our past is a great way to predict our future.

A quick timeline

• 1997. The first social media site, SixDegrees.com, is born. Built on the idea that there are only six degrees of separation between any two people, it let users build profiles, set up networks, and send messages, in a more limited way than today.
• 2002. Friendster launches, initially as a dating site designed to connect people with mutual friends. What was revolutionary was its status update mechanic. Users could tell other people what they were up to and how they were feeling. People loved it so much that the site could not cope with the traffic.
• 2003. MySpace arrives. Users had full control of their profiles and could express their individuality with ease. It wasn't stuffed with ads and it emphasised personal connection over corporate gain. Then it was sold, the ads flooded in, and the users left. There's a lesson there for marketers: try not to destroy the social element of social media.
• 2003 to 2005. Facebook takes shape. Mark Zuckerberg quickly realised it was the social element that had the most traction, and in 2005 The Facebook became simply Facebook.
• 2005 to 2007. An avalanche of new sites: LinkedIn, YouTube, Photobucket, Reddit, Flickr and WordPress all launch or scale during this period.
• 2006. Twitter launches, and its unique format makes it the go-to place for news, opinion, commentary and gossip. The same year, LinkedIn launches the first paid premium social package, which generated a lot of interest in social media's marketing potential.
• 2007. The birth of the hashtag, which went on to let people mobilise, organise, and define everything from political movements to memes.
• 2010. Unicode integrates emojis, letting people use them without knowing any code. At this point, emojis became an integral part of digital language. The same year, Instagram arrives and brings photo filters to the table.
• 2011. Social networks are used extensively during the Arab Spring, not only to organise but to get the word out. This was the point at which governments began to take social media seriously. Snapchat also launches, emphasising the fleeting nature of conversation.
• 2012. Facebook hits one billion users.
• 2016. Facebook Live launches and Instagram launches Stories. It was also the year of fake news, and trust in social media was deeply dented.
• 2018. The Cambridge Analytica scandal breaks. This was a watershed moment for social media marketers, as it changed the way we gather and process social data forever.

What can we learn from this?

They say the best predictor of the future is the past. So what can the history of social media teach us?

The first thing to note is that social media changes incredibly fast. It's constantly evolving, and what's popular on one platform quickly gets adopted by others. MySpace adopted much of the format of Friendster. Everyone drew from the strengths of later platforms to offer filtered photo effects and vanishing stories. The lesson is that if one thing becomes popular, the other platforms will very quickly adapt to offer something similar. So keep a close eye on trends.

The second thing is that too much commercialism is damaging to social media. MySpace went under not just because other platforms were making waves. The main nail in the coffin was its increased commercialism. People went there to express themselves and connect with friends. They didn't want to be bombarded with ads, or to feel like a product to be exploited.

Similarly, the Cambridge Analytica scandal severely damaged trust, especially in marketers using social media. People do not like feeling exploited. In the years since, people have become intensely protective of their data, and they are increasingly backed up by legislation.

How to market on social without losing trust

This could be seen as a problem for marketers. We rely on customer data to make our marketing relevant, and we're the reason social media has adverts and commerce. How can we reconcile people's desire for social media to be non-commercial with our need to market and convert?

As always, the answer is to give value. People don't mind commercial posts if they are interesting, entertaining, engaging, and relevant. So:

• Do your audience research
• Be transparent with your data gathering and usage, and always ask permission before taking data
• Concentrate on building long-term relationships rather than making a quick sale
• Segment your audiences for more effective targeting
• Use dynamic automations to personalise your content
• Keep a close eye on your engagement metrics
• Never assume you've nailed the formula, because social media changes all the time