Looking back over time, we can see the evolution that has led to the social revolution and the popularity of social network sites.  One of the major precursors to the modern social network we see today are the usernets created in the late 1970’s by Tom Trusscott and Jim Ellis, along with bulletin board systems.

Corporates attempted to utilise the internet in the early 1980’s with bulletin boards such as Compuserve and Prodigy. These were the first programs to have a chat program built in, shopping functionality, mail and forums. Developed in 1988, instant messaging was the next step in the evolution, until dating and forum sites in the late 80’s created the earliest forms of social networks that we see today.  Six degrees was launched in 1987 and was the first modern social network; allowing people to create user profiles and become friends with other users. Live Journal that emerged in the late 90’s was a static profile, built around the format of a blog; where people would provide regular updates to their profile sites. Founded in 2002, Friendster allowed users to create profiles and make contact with friends of friends.

Now onto the big boys. LinkedIn was developed and released in 2003 and now has become the main business focussed social network. MySpace, which formed in 2003, became eth largest social network in the world by 2006. Providing users with the ability to completely customise their profiles, post music and video from other sites and communicate through messaging, the popularity f the platform slowly declined in favour of the current largest social network … Facebook.

Facebook started out as a type on intranet social network for Harvard University in 2004. However, due to increasing popularity, by 2006 it was able to boast the largest number of users for any social network. Not allowing the same customisation as MySpace, it had loads of functionality that appealed to users; including chat, messaging, posting of photos and videos and customising of profile.

There are now hundreds of social network sites, with some of the latest versions devolving to cater for localised groups, whether based on interest or geographic location. A good example of the movement towards localisation is the current success if The Localist in New Zealand versus similar services provided by Yellow Pages.

The question still remains through…is there a place for a uniquely New Zealand social network site. And if so, what would it look like, what functionality would iot have and what would it take to attract users from Facebook?

According to a recent report released, termed the ‘Social Media Marketing Industry Report’, small business and small business owners are seeing the greatest benefits from social media marketing. Out of 3,342 business that took part in the survey, over ninety percent of respondents stated that social media is extremely important to their business. Even more interesting was the percentage of respondent who were self employed, being 67%, and the number of those being small business owners, being 66%.

The survey went to request from the respondents the key benefits they derive from actively promoting their business using social media marketing. Nearly all respondents stated that it assisted them greatly in standing out in an ever increasingly competitive marketplace. 88% of respondents acknowledge that social media marketing had assisted them in increasing the exposure of their business and brand. 72% saw a noticeable increase in traffic to their website and a corresponding increase in subscriptions and sales as a direct result.

Furthermore, the respondents were asked which social media platform were being used in the business and marketing environment, as well as which platform provided the best business results. Overwhelmingly, Facebook is being used by over 90% of the respondents, closely followed by Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube.

Another interesting response is the number of people intending to increase their use of video marketing as an aspect of their social media marketing initiatives, with just under 80% indicating more resources to be allocated to video marketing.

The basic premise of the situation is that people are using social media tools to search for products and engage with businesses. No matter how hesitant you are about engaging, the consumer isn’t. If you do not have a social media marketing presence and strategy, in the very near future, you will be losing business to competition that does.

Get in contact with SocialEyes today. We are an experienced social media marketing company serving New Plymouth and the wider Taranaki region. We can make social media work for your business.

So what are the main changes to the worlds most popular social network?  According to Facebook, the major additions, reviews and changes are as follows:

• Posts are now able to be ten times than allowed in the past. Now a maximum is set at 5,000 characters. However, I am not sure that anyone will use this function
• Where previously, a message could be attached to a friend request, this has now been disabled
• The positioning of the navigation menu is floating and not fixed when the page is scrolled down. This means as you scroll down the page, the navigation bar will remain visible on the screen
• In the left hand column, users are now able to create bookmarks and label their favourites
• Birthday reminders are now appearing in the upper right hand side of the page
• Friend lists that existed before the new smart list prompts have an entirely new management interface
• The poke button has now become a link that appears in a drop down menu, located just to the right of the add friend button

These changes, and the associated privacy issues associated with some of these changes, have caused a bit of a stir in the many communities; with some stating that the changes to usability and privacy settings will force them away to another network.

When the network effect dictates that the social media site with the most people ill have a self fulfilling policy of being the most successful. However, with the movement to the localization of content and search engines, the increasing annoyance of Facebook users with changes and privacy settings, there may be room for a new network. Social media marketing in NZ must keep abreast of these changes and how they affect their clients social media efforts. If there is room for another network, perhaps one that focuses on New Zealand only, what will it need to do to better Facebook? Maybe we wont have to wait long to find out.

Due to the popularity of Facebook and the millions of people that have joined the network, it has become the main platform for social media marketing in NZ and overseas. However, Facebook has been in the media limelight over the past several weeks as changes to the platform have been made that reveal some interesting news about their privacy policies … issues that are already receiving some negative feedback. What will the new changes bring?

It has now come to pass that Facebook is collecting a lot more information than users think … and I would suggest that people would want. This includes collecting data about the browsing behavior of people who remain logged in Facebook, but are not using Facebook at the time. An official statement from Facebook noted that Facebook does not track users behavior on the web. However, it does use cookies on social plug-ins to personalise content, to help improve and maintain what users do on Facebook and for safety and security.

Nonetheless, serious concerns have been raised about the information they are collecting and how Facebook is collecting the information that many users would consider private.  The recent changes Facebook have implemented, including a redesign if profiles, a time line that charts in chronological order all the information users have shared on the service. Furthermore, there are a wide range of new third party applications available … which automatically share every article you read, music you listen or video you watch … sometimes without you even knowing.

Some of these changes to privacy even have some privacy advocators calling on the federal regulators in the United States to take a close look at the changes that Facebook are now rolling out. The Director of the Centre for Digital Democracy went so far to state that Facebook, under the guise of enhancing the ability of its members to express themselves, Facebook is building a super charged commercial surveillance software that threatens the privacy of all users.

But will this affect how your business uses social media marketing and Facebook marketing in NZ. If you have a Facebook business page, you should get professional advice from a leading social media marketing company in New Zealand before what you thought was private is shared with the world.

Social networking has become one of the most powerful forces driving people’s travel planning today.  Social media used by travelers is growing exponentially, far faster than the travel industry itself. People who are referred to a hotel or tourism website by a social networking site, such as Facebook are more likely to book travel than those who are referred via search engines like Google. Social media marketing, unlike the traditional advertising options, represents a new way of sending information in all directions, not just “one-way” or “top-down”. People can generate and share their own content, which is vital for marketing in the tourism industry.

Travel and tourism marketing isn’t as straightforward as it used to be.  Today’s travelers are relying more than ever on their peers experiences and opinions. Because of this, the tourism and hospitality industry is turning to social media to promote them selves and to engage customers in a new way. Next year, almost two-thirds of travel companies plan to increase their social media marketing budgets.

The following statistics illustrate just how effective social media marketing in NZ can be:

40% of travelers visit social networking sites on the Internet to influence destination selection.

87% said reviews impacted their decision on hotel choice

84% said reviews impacted mode of travel they would use

78% said reviews impacted choice of where they would go out for an evening meal

70% of consumers trust online sources, whilst only 14% trust advertisement campaigns.

57% of travel-related website visitors read traveler-written reviews on their selected destination.

97% of readers thought those reviews were accurate and trust worthy

Facebook is a low cost investment, and a wise use of your time. An engaged customer recommends you to their friends much more often than a customer who does not feel connected.  This means that every ‘Like’ you get on your page is a business lead that will provide you with good word of mouth or peer to peer advertising for your company.

With Facebook you can choose between building a global or local presence just by the way in which you utilize the site.  And by using Facebook advertisements, you can target your ideal market by age, location, or gender.  You can easily generate a following of enthusiastic brand advocates who will strengthen your online community through your Facebook Business Page. This will help you engage with your customer base, and break down the consumer versus company barrier that exists with so many of today’s businesses.

Facebook marketing allows you to get insight into the type of customers who are interested in your product.  You may be surprised at the type of people or demographic that have an interest in what you are trying to promote.  You can get all sorts of data from the site including statistics as to what countries they are from, and what sites they have visited before coming to your page.

Facebook provides a space for you customers to actively get involved in developing your business through leaving comments and suggestions on your ‘wall’.  This makes it easier for you to monitor your brand and how effectively you are controlling your business by allowing you to directly address comments made by your following of customers.  Facebook also boosts your ranking on search engines, pushing your company higher up the list, and therefore more likely to be found by someone searching for a product or service that your company can provide.

However, social media marketing in NZ has been proven to produce results for small to medium business when used effectively. The following four tips should be considered and implemented if your business is to use social media marketing to drive business results:

1. Have a continuous presence on the channels and provide relevant material that your audience will find of value. If your business posts irrelevant material or too many promotions, people will not engage with you or your business.
2. Don’t be afraid to grow your audience. One of the major benefits of social networks is the viral nature of sharing. If just one person posts your content t their wall or re-tweets a comment, this has potential to reach tens of thousands of people. Don’t be afraid to aggressively increase your number of fans and followers, by joining groups, conversations and chat rooms. Become a resource in the community and you will be followed.
3. Offer quality content and insight. Think about your audience and contemplate the information they require that will provide useful hints and tips, statistics relating to their industry or customers, as well as case studies of relevant businesses doing well. If you provide relevant content to the audience, you will become a valued part of the daily routine.
4. Interact and engage with your followers. Too many times I have seen people posting on a business Facebook fan page and there is simply no reply or comment from the business itself. Social media is about two way communications; start conversations and you will develop larger numbers of followers and a channel which will become a valuable lead supplier for sales.

Social media marketing in NZ has been slower in the adoption process compared with other countries. However, as some of the larger companies in New Zealand, such as Air New Zealand, are having great success with achieving their marketing objectives and connecting with current and potential customers with social media marketing in NZ; as well as smaller to medium enterprises starting to realise the potential of social media marketing to provide them with a cost effective tool to meet the modern consumer in an online environment, its acceptance, popularity and use is becoming increasingly widespread.

To get the most out of social media marketing, it is important to keep up with the latest updates and increased levels of features which can be used to better target your customer and market your product or service. Facebook marketing is the most popular form of social media marketing for NZ businesses. During the past several months, there have been a number of updates which users should be aware of, including the chat bar, mobile app updates, the delivery of a messenger phone application and a status update for groups.

Approximately two months ago, Facebook updated the chat format and appearance on the social network. It is now located on a sidebar to the right of the screen and is organised by listing the people and friends that you interact am communicate with the most out of all of your friends and contacts on Facebook. You status of being online for chat can still be toggled between the on and off position. Once you have selected the option to be online, it will show which of your friends on the chat bar are online as well.

The mobile application associated with Facebook has recently been updated to allow users to report any occurrences of bullying, harassment or any other undesirable behaviour on the network. Additionally, a new and independent application has been released as a standalone messaging and communication tool for Facebook users. Being able to be downloaded on IPhones and android phones, the application allows people to text those on their friends list free of charge.

As the various social media marketing platforms continue to vie for the attention of users, expect the battle to intensify with more functions and features being added at ever increasing intervals.

The increasing availability of open smartphones, such as Apple IPhones and Google Android phones, has made locational based social media marketing a much more attractive proposition to businesses throughout NZ. Current research has highlighted the popularity of locational based social networks with the modern consumer, predicting that these services and locational software solutions will attract over 82 million subscribed users by 2013.

Social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, allow users to easily share their thoughts, concerns, beliefs, prejudices and other information with friends and other people to strengthen their connections. This kind of sharing of user generated content is sometimes referred to as status updates or micro-blogging. Locational based social media marketing takes this process a step further; with their current location being shared with the world, along with their status updates.

Businesses that utilise these tools for geolocation marketing tools can benefit from these social media marketing platforms in a number of ways. As well as increasing the propensity to of potential customers to visit and purchase good and services from the physical store; by encouraging purchase through the offering of specials, as well as tapping into the social influence that people in the groups exert on one another. However, this is not the only benefit. Locational social media marketing can provide the business with valuable information pertaining to the behaviour of new and repeat customers. Through the data that these locational based social networks provide to the business, the customers spending and decision behaviour making and habits can be analysed. With this information, the business can alter the offer and adjust the business process to increase the experience of potential and current customers.

SocialEyes is the premier social media marketing company based in Christchurch NZ. Our specialist social media marketing consultants are able to work closely with you and your business to drive business results through the implementation of social media marketing.

Social media marketing will continue to grow and alter how groups and brands influence consumer behaviour. For the past ten years, consumers have been turning to online resources in increasing numbers, to aid the information gathering process in their decision making. This means that brands and businesses that establish themselves as leaders in their areas of expertise will be able to effectively influence consumer behaviour.

To utilise social media marketing effectively, while building a social media presence to the level of perceived leader in their respective industry, marketers must understand the impact on consumer behaviour. There are three major groups of consumers, which will affect how a business approaches their specific strategy and involvement in social media marketing.  The three groups that marketers should be aware of are termed primary, secondary and aspiration groups. The primary group is a reference group from which other consumers look towards for information to influence their own decision making behaviour. The secondary group is a reference group, which consumers have limited contact with, but will turn to for information and advice in relation to specific issues. The aspiration group has little direct contact with consumers, but perceived as a credible and trustworthy resource of information; and thus, consumers make purchase decisions based on what the aspiration groups recommend.

A business engaging in social media marketing in NZ needs to understand where they currently fit in the continuum of influence, in respect to the groups outlined above; as well as where they need to be to exert a positive influence on the buying behaviour of their target market.

All businesses would like to be seen as a credible primary or aspiration group; with the information and communication they disseminate being taken as credible information to make informed purchase decisions upon. There are several steps that businesses and marketers can utilise social media marketing to increase the relevance of their content, communications and influence on consumers; including determining where you’re the communities are located, determine which groups or communities are appropriate aspiration groups for your target market, get involved in groups which are considered positive reference and information sources for your customers; and provide content and engage within these communities in an attempt to establish yourself as an expert.

When your business is ready to more effectively target and disseminate information to your customers, contact SocialEyes; a specialist social media marketing company in Christchurch NZ. We have the knowledge and experience to deliver the desired results with the new communication tools.