Social Media Marketing Growth in the Last 10 Years - How Things Have Evolved

Perhaps the most important thing that has altered over the past ten years is how firmly social networks have woven into our lives. Ten years ago, they were not so popular and sought after, they were not the means to promote a business and earn money online. Today, everything is different. In this article, we analyze the shears in trends and approaches to marketing in social networks in the context of the last decade.

The Complete Synergy

Ten years ago, companies, brands, and businesses have not thought of the fact that it is possible to use social networks to connect with the target audience, maintain loyalty and increase sales. In those days, the business was still almost classic, and the site remained the main access point online.Today, business and social networks are the whole one. And if they, in principle, can exist without a business (which modern users will not be happy about), then a business can no longer exist without social networks. This relationship is likely to last for a very long time.

Social Media Got More Users and Begin to Provide More Opportunities

Try to imagine these numbers - over the past ten years, social networks have become three times more densely populated. Three times - it does not sound too convincing. However, if we are talking about one billion users in 2010 and three billion users in 2020, then the difference is significant. For comparison, there are 7.5 billion people in the world - and almost half of them are social media users. These figures really impress.This was the reason that the business turned its attention to social platforms, and the developers, in response to demand, began to create new functions. For example, it was not always possible to create a company profile or configure the most targeted advertising on social networks. Today, this is the minimum that you can use to promote a business.

Brands Begin to Exploit the Whole Strategies for Social Media

The social media strategy is also a relatively new term and a new approach to marketing. When brands just started trying social networking feasibilities for their development, it was like moving in the dark. Then it was still impossible to predict what kind of return will be from this or that idea.Today everything has changed. Companies create far-reaching and well-thought-out strategies for each of the social platforms they use. Great importance is given to the quality of the content and user engagement. Various contests, marathons, and challenges are the things we are already accustomed to and expect them from favorite brands.

Millennials Want to Stay in Touch With Brands 24/7

As soon as the number of users increased, and brands got new feasibilities for development in social networks, potential customers wanted more live communication and more interaction. The business became more humanized, and this had a direct impact on sales. Today, 71% of users tend to buy from a brand that has engaged them on one of the SM platforms.Reviews from other users also began to have more weight. And more and more brands began to make every effort to get authentic reviews from real users to strengthen their reputation.

Facebook Was, Is and Will Be the Leader

Perhaps this is what has not changed. Facebook continues to be a leader in all respects. Having originally emerged as the first social network, Facebook continues to maintain a position in terms of the number of users, popularity and advanced marketing feasibilities.No other social network gives such wide feasibilities for advertising settings and precise targeting of users. Facebook ads tune-ups have become so flexible, and prices so affordable that, according to modern users, if a business does not exist on Facebook, then it does not exist at all.Another cool feature is the function of reconfiguring ads from Facebook to Instagram. Instagram deserves a special mention in this article. It was conceived as a visual social network, and today it is the second most powerful marketing tool in the social media context.

https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1634705703469129

Instagram Revealed Its Hidden Features

So, let's continue talking about Instagram. It was a real breakthrough of the decade in terms of social media marketing. Being a visual social network, this platform can fulfill the most important marketing task - to create a strong first impression and evoke the necessary emotions.Moreover, modern features give businesses even more feasibilities to stay in touch with their users. Yes, we are talking about Stories and IGTV. By the way, storytelling is another trend in modern marketing that was not relevant ten years ago, and video marketing on social networks also deserves special mention.

The Emergence of the Influencer Marketing Phenomenon

Despite the fact that the essence of influence marketing has been known for a long time, it has become a whole phenomenon and trend in social networks in recent years. Ten years ago, nobody used influencer marketing, although its essence worked.In simple words, over the past ten years, marketers have realized that noisy and intrusive advertising no longer works, and people tend to trust people, especially those users of social networks who are considered opinion leaders in a particular industry.17 percent of companies intend to invest 50% of marketing spendings to pay for work with influencers in 2020 - and this proves the strength of this trend and the effectiveness of the approach. Moreover, social networks have become the best places to influence - due to the fact that they create the impression of complete reality and humanization.In other words, users understand and appreciate the fact that they receive a recommendation from a real person. Ten years ago, we could only enjoy the word of mouth, although, in fact, influencer marketing has evolved from this.

Video Marketing Dominates the Industry

The trend for video marketing has been going on for several years in a row. At some point, users stopped reading the text and switched to video. Since then, it is impossible to imagine engaging social media content without videos.99% of marketers plan to use video in their marketing strategies in 2020, and on social networks as well.

By the way, YouTube also continues to grow. More and more users are using this platform to search for information about products and services, compare products and communicate with brands.

Brands Are Using User-Generated Content More and More Often

Ten years ago, no one heard about user-generated content. Today this is a great way to engage and entertain the subscribers. The loudest marketing campaign of this type is #Shoot on iPhone. The essence of the approach is to encourage users to create personal content and share it on social networks using branded hashtags.By the way, it’s also worth saying a few words about hashtags, because, by analogy with the strategy for social networks, brands also develop hashtag strategies. Ten years ago, hashtags existed only on Twitter, and today it is a good tool not only to organize the content but also to promote the brand and improve recognition.

Marketers Begin to Robotize Their Activities

The great set of SMM possibilities, as well as the constant desire of users to stay in touch with their favorite brands and get interesting content from them, have led marketers to automate routine tasks, for example, using Postfity. Previously, no one could have thought that working with social networks would require automation. But since brands have clear strategies and content plans for social networks, the emergence and use of such tools are completely logical. By the way, the process of obtaining backlinks can also be automated using The Adsy guest posting service.

Conclusion

As you can see, things have changed very significantly. Ten years ago, we could observe the emergence of digital marketing - and today this approach has the greatest weight for business. Ten years ago we used social networks to stay in touch with friends - today they are full-fledged tools for communication, business, and shopping. Approaches to advertising are also changing - today we are more inclined to believe the influencer than the advertising banner on the next street. Modern social networks also generate huge flows of big data, which are used for market analysis, targeting, and personalization. What awaits us next? Artificial intelligence and the brain connected to the Internet, if to believe the forecasts.Marie Barnes is a writer for Bestforacar. She is an enthusiastic blogger interested in writing about technology, social media, work, travel, lifestyle, and current affairs. She shares her insights through blogging.