Many of you may have heard that markets across the globe are fracturing into ever finer segments. You may have also heard that this is been driven by the rise of social media.
But if people are getting together to discuss specific interests and this is leading to an emergence of ‘new markets’ to emerge then surely these interest groups must must have existed already. It just we didn’t know about them. So in this sense social media doesn’t ‘create’ new markets and market segments. It just identifies them.
The mountain of data that social media produces can now shine a light on who these people are, and what they like. And voila – we have new identifiable and serviceable markets.
Want to grow in this brave new world? Then learn to collect and read the data and then use the tools to communicate with them as they progress down the path towards making a purchasing decision.
All the tools are there and the people are waiting.
A great article from the examiner.com explores the rise of social platforms in 2009:
“Social media hit a tipping point in 2009 as sites like Facebook and YouTube increased their presence in mainstream media while sites like Twitter and Digg emerged. On top of the obvious, thousands of new and legitimate social media websites hit the scene with hopes of being the “next big thing”.
While most credit and attention are being given to Facebook for unofficially winning the social networking battle with MySpace, Bebo, and others, Twitter and Digg were the real winners in 2009 for very different reasons.”
Best Buy may not always be thought of as trail-blazers but this video presented by their CMO shows how much they have embraced digital marketing and social media.
