The Rise of Social Media
Over these few years, the rise of social media has left a big impact on society today as you can see for yourself. I say this because social media has changed the way people influence one another and that's not even the start of it. Social media helps and also is changing the way we interact with people.
Social Media Apps
Let me elaborate, social media has increased the influence of an average person which was not possible in the past. Take TikTok for example, since its founding in 2016, the number of users has increased exponentially to 1.23 billion users monthly according to “www.businessofapps.com”. If you don't know already TikTok is a social media platform for creating, sharing, and discovering short videos. The app is used by young people as an outlet to express themselves through singing, dancing, comedy, and lip-syncing, and allows users to create videos and share them across a community. That's not even the end of it, TikTok is used to promote businesses, share wisdom, and also help people with similar problems with household appliances. Even though it was only made a couple of years back this is really the most used app out now because it’s different, loaded with tons of information, and fun.
Mental Health
Even though social media might seem like a harmful environment for kids and teens to be in due to the fact that some dangerous things happen on the internet such as predators contacting young children and cyberbullying, it has also helped many get through the hard times in their life because they use it as an outlet to, in a sort of way, be free. Let me explain, many kids use social media as an outlet to talk about their feelings because they might not feel comfortable talking among family members or friends. Many caregivers and parents have seen that social media actually helps. Social media gives these kids a voice to express themselves when they feel like no one understands them. Also, many text suicide prevention hotlines have been created to give people the chance to talk things out, which traditional media never did.
Social Media In Action
Let's talk about how social media has a big impact on the expansion of business nowadays compared to traditional media such as magazines and newspapers. This is because when businesses use social media channels in creative and fun ways, they can expect incredibly positive results. For handmade or vintage items including jewelry, bags, clothing, home décor, furniture, etc., the platform Etsy has been great in its usage of social media. They know the role of social channels and their importance to digital marketing and use their visually pleasing product range to their advantage. Not only does Etsy use TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest effectively by using promoted pins, but people who arrived at Etsy from social media had on average a higher increase in business. What's fun about promoting online business is that the company gets its audience to send in a snap of their purchase with the promise of receiving free stuff or a discount on the things from the site. The results of this were amazing. The order value for customers was up 16% on the site average in the first quarter of 2016. An excellent example of a brand using social media to its advantage. After all, Etsy which started pinning on Pinterest way before the masses did - utilizing a growing platform early on saw sales for sellers grow by 20% a week.
It's plain to see just how powerful social media can be. It will be curious to see which networks are following in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter to emerge as big business and audience draws and which ones have the potential to prove valuable and influential for businesses in the near future. What do you think?