The Future of Social Media Marketing

By Natalie Young

Social Media is increasing in popularity every day as it is how many people, worldwide, communicate with one another. It has always been free to use and is likely to continue to be free of charge in the future. However, how is such a massive online platform regulated and monitored for free? Just as social media is growing, social media marketing is growing even faster. Social media marketing is the method of advertising through social media platforms.
In years gone by, traditional advertisements were made for the mass market and not differentiated at all. Nowadays, however, social media platforms collect all the information we provide. From our initial basic profile, to every piece of information we share about our lives (hometown, work, school, university, and friends) to all our likes and dislikes and events we have attended.  In the future, the range of information will only expand as we add more about ourselves, and agree to more terms and conditions. Facebook, for example, already can provide us with weather information to exactly where we are in the world.
Marketers are willing to pay more money to market their products more specifically to who will buy them, based on the information they have shared on their profile. In the shocking example of this, a young girl, who before she had told anyone she was pregnant, received marketing material through the mail for baby products. Her social media activity had indicated she was pregnant and the site had sold this sensitive information to a marketing company. If this type of scandal has already happened, then how much more is this going to happen in the future? Every day we are providing more of our detailed personal information to these social media sites, only for them to use it for their own personal profit.
Several social media marketing trends are predicted to take over in the next few years. There are the likes of artificial intelligence, making day to day tasks, quicker, more detailed and intimate. The idea of virtual spaces, taking the snapchat ‘maps’ to new heights with our own accurate avatars. Influencer and conversation marketing are also set to be soon mainstream.
Next time you are adding to your social media profile, just remember not to share any details that you wouldn’t like marketers to know about you!