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    The future of digital marketing and social media

    Surefire Digital was founded by Rob Jones to provide trustworthy, unbiased advice for companies who wish to improve the performance of their websites.

    In part four of our interview with Rob, we discuss the impact of social media and ask him to gaze into the virtual crystal ball for some predictions about the future of social media.

    Jonathan Fink (Momentum): Are there any social media platforms / technologies that you particularly love and particularly hate?

    Rob Jones (Surefire Digital):     I don’t have a love/hate relationship with the social media platforms themseves but with the waypeople use them. A lot of people don’t understand the platforms and tools available to them. There’s lots of confusion, and many want to be involved but don’t realise that different platforms can appeal to different audiences and have different uses.

    A good example of this is Facebook. It is a platform which is all about connecting with people you know, and I see that as friends and family. I like to keep Facebook as a personal space. Twitter is different; on there you can connect with people from around the world that you haven’t necessarily met. And there are some very good tools for Twitter, such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck.

    Then there are places like Ecademy and LinkedIn, although they’re not quite social media per se as they are communities and networks with less focus on the social aspects. All of these tools and platforms offer different features.

    Jonathan Fink (Momentum): Which of these do you see being abused the most?

    Rob Jones (Surefire Digital):     I see a lot of businesses using Facebook and Twitter a lot without getting anything out of them. They don’t have a campaign that sizzles, the audience match is incorrect, and so it can be a waste of time, energy and money.

    People think that their activities are all about driving traffic by getting followers. But they don’t focus on how to get relevant followers, so any traffic generated is often useless. It’s not about collecting people, it’s about having a passion that breeds followers – the right kind of followers.

    There are also lots of types of automated software out there that do unscrupulous things like rewtweeting between two accounts or mass folllowing of users or other activities that controvene Twitter guidelines. So beware what tools you use.

    Jonathan Fink (Momentum): In your opinion, which technology / technique / idea has revolutionised social media and digital marketing?

    Rob Jones (Surefire Digital):     Twitter has done a lot to push social media in the business community in the last 12-18 months. That in turn has brought more attention to Facebook and changed the demographic. Previously there was saturation in the 18-24 age group but that’s changing now.

    Inthe UK, the BBC iPlayer is drawing more people into the online culture, especially those who didn’t participate before.

    Jonathan Fink (Momentum): How do you see digital marketing evolving over the next five years?

    Rob Jones (Surefire Digital):     We’re going to see a lot more emphasis on the sales funnel, as the pioneers have been pushing out an entire system of landing pages, selling courses, e-books, workshops, membership sites etc which is all based on upselling. This is fine as a model, but some are saying that this is only model to make money on the internet, and so I think that it’s just going to become noise.

    There’s going to be more automation, particularly in the processes involved with getting site users through a sales funnel, particularly by email.

    I also think that Twitter will change a lot, but the challenge for people will be to filter out the noise. There will be more of everything, but what will they really pay attention to?

    Jonathan Fink (Momentum): Do you envisage a future in which all companies will be actively engaging in social media?

    Rob Jones (Surefire Digital):     Yes, I do. Social media will simply become more ingrained into our lives. For example, the ability to participate via mobile phones is easier now than it was two years ago. That’s where it will take off in the next few years; then social media won’t have to be desk based. We already have Twitter, Facebook and Skype on phones, and the popularity of the iPhone and iPad is encouraging more people to access the internet on the move. Phones will be less about conversation but more about data communications in general.

    As a result of increased saturation, more companies will actively engage in social media. I don’t think they’re going to stop being scared that an employee will say something stupid however, and we’ll see more businesses wanting to restrict access due to this fear. I believe there are better ways to manage people than this however; companies need to allow their employees to learn. Blanket banning of social media access is restricting the workforce without giving them a way to explore how it can best be used. Ultimately total bans will get harder and harder to enforce due to mobile phone access. I can’t see a company banning mobile phones at work without a huge outcry; people are so used to having them now.

    Jonathan Fink (Momentum): Do you think there will be a backlash against the increased use of social media by companies?

    Rob Jones (Surefire Digital):     Social media is about people connecting rather than companies, and it’s difficult for a company to be faceless in social media terms. I’ve seen a clever way to manage this on Twitter with a company having multiple users that end their tweets with initials, but using the same account. Then they have the corporate presence but with the human touch.

    If companies think that social media is just another way to market and sell to people, users will turn off, and that will cause a backlash.