Livingston

Sep
19
2008

The Hour Is Late

530100860_096e2e7c32.jpg

Breaking news from the Web 2.0 Expo: What’s new? Nothing really! Social media continues to mature, and that means the market for social media services will become more crowded and shift.

We’re not seeing any new game changing evolution in social media this year. What’s new is the new Facebook, the more stabilized Twitter, and the solidification of top bloggers as influencers.

The biggest change this year is the increasingly competitive nature of social media. Consider Twitter’s pitched battle with microblog networks like FriendFeed, and increased video competition for YouTube. Or the attempts of the many to unseat top influentials. But in my mind this represents a maturation of the market. Nothing is really new.

And social media is maturing on the corporate side, too. Most companies are not doing social media well, but their toes are in the water. Now the latest studies show that enterprises are willing to let employees use social media at work 70% of the time. Fear fades as adoption increases.

As a result, we’re seeing more focus on verticalized market penetration rather than the novelty of social media. Consider recent articles on Banking 2.0 and Government 2.0.

For those seeking to enter social media, it’s harder to make a big difference. Verticalization such as government or auto industry expertise seems like the next natural course.

Impact on Our Profession

A friend of mine is trying to reinvent his career, and thought about social media as a possible industry. His logic, “It’s so hot right now.”

I actually told him not to do it, to focus on an area where there’s more of an opportunity to seize early leadership position. In my opinion, it’s very hard to establish a leadership position as a top social media marketer these days. For every Jason Falls there are hundreds who are setting up shops, twitter profiles and blogs that never rise off the the echo chamber floor.

There has been a veritable flood of social media experts hitting the market. Then there are all of the PR and ad agencies claiming to have a social media practice. We get multiple calls from these folks every week seeking to partner in some fashion. From a competitive standpoint, we refuse to sub and give away our core competency.

The reality is the sprint to the finish line is on. The leaders have been established, for the most part. To seize positioning requires strong market savoir faire, differentiation, and of course, the time commitment to prove your salt.

The rest of the industry is late to the game, playing catch up. Consolidation, acquisition, and yes, crash and burn scenarios are likely in the next 12 months.

That’s just my $.02. What do you think?

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
by Geoff Livingston | Geoff, Social Networks, social media |

15 Responses to “The Hour Is Late”

  • Gavin Heaton Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 12:31 am

    There is still some way to go in bringing the benefits of social media into business. Sure the consumer side is maturing, but what about B2B? What about internal comms? Finding the experts who can act as advisors and consultants in that space remain hard to find.

  • Richie Escovedo Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 12:42 am

    Geoff - interesting post. Good advice to steer your friend away from SM as industry in and of itself, however I think there’s still room at the SM adult table. There are a few more laps before the ‘finish line’ for example we’ve yet to see how mainstream media finally adapts, changes, and or fails under the weight of community pressures.

  • Steve Radick Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 12:51 am

    Geoff - what about social media and government? I actually was in a similar boat as your friend, as I was looking to find my niche at a large government consulting firm - social media ended up being it. There’s a ton of demand for social media skills and experience in the public sector, but I’m just not seeing the large government contractors latch on to it yet. That’s why I’ve started to get into it, and build my company’s social media capability. The government isn’t usually looking for enterprise-wide social media implementations like Intellipedia - more often than not, they’re just wondering how social media can help enhance their current strategies. I think that for big government contractors like mine, this is an under-developed area, don’t you?

  • Michelle Evans Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 1:07 am

    I actually agree with you to some degree. I think people out there calling themselves social media experts are going the way of SEO experts. The term means very little until you see someone put it into practice, and then if you don’t know what to look for as a measure of success, you end up too afraid to bother hiring them. It’s a shame, really, because it discredits those who really do know what they’re talking about.

    Personally, as someone who started out in a traditional client-side marketing role, I like to use my social media talents and understanding of new media in general to enrich what it is I bring to the table. I don’t think someone can call themselves a marketer (agency or client side) unless they dig in to social media and learn what’s going on and how it all works.

    Marketing isn’t going anywhere, but anyone who wants to build their career on the fact that they know how to talk to people on Facebook or Twitter is going to end up with the short stick. You still need all the fundamentals in place or social media alone will get you nowhere.

  • sara Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 1:28 am

    i think we will see new influencers emerge. among them will be those that make a successful go of sm use at a major corporation.

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 5:44 am

    Gavin and Richie: Thanks for coming by. Yeah, I think there are some niches, and some folks that will shake out as talking heads. But I do think most of the slots will be taken by people already doing it. I do see tremendous opportunity for those that can verticalize these skills. Like B2B or government (B2G).

    Steve: I would classify government as a vertical.

    Michelle: Thank you for your comments. It’s good to be in the minority!

    Sara: In general, even mature markets see new people, agencies rise to the top.

  • Svetlana Gladkova Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 8:45 am

    First of all, thanks for the link to my post Geoff. And I also wanted to say that you have an excellent summary of the landscape, particularly true about gaining leadership. And while I do believe chances are we will continue seeing new leaders arrive, it is already much more difficult to make your voice heard when it was when the crowd was smaller and had no influencers whatsoever.

  • KatFrench Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am

    Thanks for the link, and a nice rundown of Web 2.0 Expo.

    As far as the impact on our profession goes, I think that in addition to specialization along the verticals, there is room for growth in specialization along skillsets. Some social media consultants are very good with developing custom client strategy and giving their internal staff actionable direction. Some will split off into community manager positions–a specialty that is really taking off lately.

    If someone is really determined to break into social media now, is really passionate about it, and loves the company they currently work for, the simplest path is to take ownership of SMM where you are, with the hope that you can demonstrate enough value to convince the organization to create an internal social media position for you.

    Enjoyable post!

  • Eamon Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    Hi. Just to let you know that have included three of your posts in spotlightideas.co.uk Top 250 blog posts - advertising, marketing, media & PR:
    - Hitchhiker’s Guide to Social Media: Content Creation
    - Start ups and social media: a perfect fit
    - Skills to be Successful in Integrating PR and Social Media
    Eamon

  • Beth Harte Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    Geoff, thanks for the link and compliment, it’s much appreciated! And thanks for the update on Web 2.0.

    Gartner points out in their Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies that adoption for most social media applications is 2-5 years out. Funny how early adopters are already considering them mature. I suppose we are all ready to experience what’s next.

    Unfortunately, to your point, I see social media being added to resumes and service offerings at a rapid pace and yet those folks aren’t even engaging in social media themselves (I have yet to bump into them on Twitter, FF, FB, etc.). Maybe it’s just me, but I do not quite understand how they can be proficient in social media if they aren’t actively engaged themselves.

    As Michelle pointed out it’s about understanding marketing first and how to implement social media second. If your community doesn’t seek you or others online or doesn’t use social networks (or whatever app.) then efforts to engage via those methods will be in vain…that’s marketing 101.

    I agree about with your assessment of the verticals. The IT industry is ahead of the game when it comes to using social media applications and implementing them, which makes my efforts to engage and hold conversations easier. We’ll be seeing more B2B case studies over the next 12 months.

    Have a great weekend!

  • Ari Herzog Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    Echoing everyone else, Geoff, thanks for the conference update! I’d been seeing pieces of the goings-on through folks I follow on Twitter, and I appreciate seeing the big picture in one place.

    As I develop my own social media/online marketing firm, I acknowledge your sentiment that it’s a hot industry and a lot of people are trying to get their feet wet, but like Beth commented above, there’s a huge disconnect between those who claim they know about social media yet aren’t active in social networks or follow people who make a difference.

    Do you want to know how many people I interact with on a daily basis - offline - who never heard of “social media” and think Facebook is only for American teens? One of my benefits is I have public administration experience, so one of my goals is to work with municipalities to develop e-government initiatives. It takes time to develop things, but I’m a quick study and eager to learn from the influencers like you.

    Thanks for letting me vent!

  • Jason Falls Says:

    September 20th, 2008 at 10:13 am

    You’re certainly not wrong, though I still think your optimism for social media as an industry is very, well … optimistic. You’re spot on with the observations but I still see, with more mainstream adoption and understanding of the tools, the rest of the world will see that social media is simply a new media communications channel and put it in it’s proper place (IMO) - as part of the greater communications world snuggled next to public relations and perhaps customer service.

    Yes, there will be specialists, community managers and the like, so social media as an industry is arguable. But I think (or perhaps just hope) 10 years from now PR will have advanced to the point that social media becomes part of its core discipline set and the social media experts will essentially be like crisis comms or event managers today.

    Of course, I could be wrong, too.

    Thanks for the gratuitous compliment, by the way. You’re way too kind to me. I appreciate it very much.

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    September 20th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Just to clarify, I was not at Web 2.0 Expo, just commenting on the news I saw coming out of there.

  • Rich Becker Says:

    September 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 am

    Geoff,

    This deserves a much deeper response, but the hour is early.

    It seems to me that the very nature of social media suggests today’s influencers could be replaced as tomorrow’s memories, with the exception of a few who continually raise the bar. But that is the way it is in every field. Isn’t it?

    At least I hope those who perceive themselves at the top continually raise their own bar rather than beat down any newcomers. Can you imagine a world untouched by Andy Warhol simply because the classical masters refused to lend him the space to paint?

    Best,
    Rich

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    September 22nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    @Rich I’m sure we won’t agree on this one. As to Warhol, who broke into an established market, he had extreme talent, and got a lucky break or two. I am sure it was not an easy struggle to the top.

Leave a Reply