Social media has become an integral part of business strategy, offering an easy, affordable, and effective way for businesses to promote themselves and connect with customers. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, Pinterest, and LinkedIn enable companies to attract new customers, grow markets, build brand loyalty, interact with customers in real time, advertise and sell products or services, drive website traffic, and monitor competitors.
However, the future of social media is at an inflection point. Upcoming U.S. Supreme Court cases could severely limit platforms' ability to curate their newsfeeds and have wide-reaching consequences for content moderation. The cases involve laws passed in Florida and Texas aiming to address perceived conservative bias on social media. The Court's ruling, expected by July, could shape the future direction of these platforms regardless of the outcome.
At the same time, users are increasingly seeking out more private networks and messaging apps to avoid the toxicity, misinformation, and excessive advertising that have eroded trust in public social media. People desire more intimate, safe spaces to connect, even if it risks creating echo chambers. For businesses, the challenge will be reaching customers on these closed networks without the crutch of digital advertising. It may require social platforms and advertisers to evolve their business models.
Despite the critical role social media plays for many organisations, marketers are starting to question its importance and value. In a recent survey, 22.5% of marketers across B2B and B2C businesses rated social media as the most overrated skill, even above digital marketing in general. Instead, core competencies like marketing strategy, brand management, and data and analytics are seen as undervalued yet essential.
So, what does this all mean for the future of business? Social media is unlikely to go away completely. Major public platforms will continue to coexist with a growing number of private online communities. But companies will need to be more selective and strategic with their social media investments. Choosing the right platforms to engage target audiences, fostering trust and loyalty through authentic interactions, and delivering tangible business value will be paramount. At the same time, businesses can't neglect other core marketing capabilities. Balancing the dynamic social media landscape with long-term strategies to build brand equity and customer relationships will separate the winners and losers. One thing is certain - the future of social media in business will look very different than it does today.
Consider these strategic insights:
Here are some non-obvious, actionable insights for small and medium businesses based on this future of social media report:
- Embrace micro-influencers on emerging platforms: As users flock to more niche, private social networks, partner with relevant micro-influencers who have highly engaged audiences on these platforms to authentically promote your brand and products.
- Create exclusive brand communities: Build your own private social networks or groups to foster deep relationships and loyalty with your best customers. Offer insider access, special promotions, and personalised service that incentivises them to join.
- Experiment with social commerce: Tap into growing comfort with in-app purchases by setting up shoppable posts and streams. Host live shopping events featuring influencers demonstrating your products on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
- Double down on customer care: Stand out by providing world-class customer service via social channels. Empower reps to quickly solve issues, compensate for problems, and wow customers. The positive word-of-mouth can be powerful.
- Invest in owned digital assets: As the social landscape shifts, pour more resources into assets you control like your website, email list, and original content. Use social to support and drive traffic to these properties so you're less vulnerable to platform changes.
Signals from the future:
Emerging trends that are likely to drive changes to the way we live, work and do business.
- Dog-like robot jams home networks and disables devices during police raids — DHS develops NEO robot for walking denial of service attacks - Future(s) Studies - Law enforcement's use of technology like NEO to counter smart home device vulnerabilities and enhance communication and surveillance capabilities.
- Samsung is working on AI phones, which could be "radically different" from current phones - GSMArena.com - Latest articles - Samsung is revolutionising smartphones by integrating AI into both hardware and software, hinting at a futuristic redesign with enhanced mobile capabilities and unique features.
- Robot chefs are cooking food at 101 Chicken, a Korean restaurant in Fort Lee, New Jersey - ABC7 New York - Revolutionising fast food with a robot chef that ensures consistent cooking and flavor, saving time and money while enhancing customer experience.
- Massive Australia-to-Singapore clean energy cable gets green light - New Atlas - Key Insight: The Australia-Asia Power Link project seeks to export clean solar energy from Australia to Singapore, revolutionising green electricity supply chains.
- Transforming Solar Panel Waste into High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries - Impact Lab - Repurposing silicon from solar panels for high-performance lithium-ion batteries offers a sustainable solution for energy storage with remarkable electrochemical stability.
- New camera turns people into stick figures to protect privacy - Futurity - Innovative PrivacyLens camera technology replaces people in images with stick figures to protect personal privacy and comply with privacy laws.
- Doomsday dinners: Costco sells 'apocalypse bucket' with food that lasts 25 years - NBC News - Prepare for uncertain times with Costco's "apocalypse bucket" offering 150 long-lasting meal servings for $79.99, sparking speculation and social media buzz.
- New Technology to Control the Brain Using Magnetic Fields Developed - Institute for Basic Science - Explore the evolving landscape of modern business strategies and the transformative power of technology integration in driving success and growth.
Deep strategy:
Longer form articles rich with insights:
- What should you be asking your team after the CrowdStrike outage? - McKinsey - Prioritising resiliency through proactive risk assessment, enhanced testing processes, and robust disaster recovery planning can mitigate the impact of software outages.
- Is Your Team Playing It Too Safe? - Kellogg Insight - Encouraging risk-taking through rewarding big wins and managing failure gracefully drives innovation and success in companies, diverging from traditional models.
Business at the point of impact:
Emerging issues and technology trends can change the way we work and do business.
- 77% Of Employees Report AI Has Increased Workloads And Hampered Productivity, Study Finds - Forbes - Leveraging freelance talent for AI projects can alleviate employee burnout and enhance productivity, highlighting the need for upskilling and strategic workforce planning.
- Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI - McKinsey - While versions of these software systems have existed for years, the natural-language capabilities of gen AI unveil new possibilities, enabling systems that can plan their actions, use online tools to complete those tasks, collaborate with other agents and people, and learn to improve their performance. But gen AI agent systems, because they are based on foundation models, have the potential to handle a wide variety of less-likely situations for a given use case, adapting in real time to perform the specialised tasks required to bring a process to completion.
- Generative AI, the good, the bad, and the ugly – the 2024 executive view - Futurist.com | Futurist Speaker - Unlock new possibilities with generative AI, but beware of risks like misinformation, privacy concerns, and regulatory challenges in business innovation.
- AI Lands in the Workplace - Recent Contributors to The National Law Review - AI in HR streamlines processes, improves decision-making, and enhances employee experience. However, risks like bias and misinformation require robust governance.
