The Social Media landscape is as dynamic and volatile as any financial market as of late. Nevertheless, overall sales and marketing trends still influence the general direction in which the digital landscape evolves.
Throughout the history of products
and services, we have seen an evolution in the relationship between customers and businesses. Here, customers have demanded increasing value and as a result, businesses have adjusted accordingly to become more customer-centric over time. Historically, the standard example of this shift has been that of the manufacturing industry – most notably that of Ford’s Model-T and its limited color choices during early production compared to what standard offerings are today.
In the current economy, we have not only seen this shift in manufacturing, but in other areas as well; how businesses are formed (startup weekend), funded (Kickstarter, Crowdfunder), and even in the types of payment they accept once in the revenue stage of the business lifecycle (Bitcoin). As this shift away from a manufacturer’s “assembly line” mentality continues, strategic marketing will accordingly become more agile to custom tailor communications. Today’s marketplace demands that businesses deliver personalized styles and bespoke value propositions to customers as businesses facilitate higher conversions or engagement among their targets.
Enter social media.
Over the last 10 years, we have witnessed major platform interface changes, the birth and death of new and existing platforms, functionality mergers (Instagram and Vine, Snapchat and SMS, etc), more robust data interpretation methods, and higher adoption rates/shorter life cycles than ever before. This “race” to be “functionality first-movers” among developers has only complicated the job for brand mangers when examining the litany of digital marketing solutions available.
With the focal shift to digital in recent years, we know that digital methods HAVE to be included in overall marketing plans, but what really matters anymore? How do we track performance and what are our key performance indicators? Likes? Followers? Spend? 
What does “engagement” really mean? Sponsored Social is the next iteration in methodology that consolidates all of the “wins” from previous disciplines and will allow leaner marketing departments to maximize their spending efficiency by simplifying the work-flow. Not only is the messaging more credible as a result of more robust targeting and market feedback, but customers are also actively participating in digital crowd-sourced marketing campaigns for the first time in history. These factors and others have influenced a major increase in KPIs across campaigns—which is garnering much deserved attention from marketing professionals.
Sponsored Social workflow is revolutionary within this space as it essentially converts loyal customers to digital brand ambassadors who perform word of mouth style campaigns via their social media channels. Brands are leveraging and monetizing their social media fans, creators are getting compensated for endorsing brands they generally already do, and everyone wins as their respective networks are growing at their discretion. Scalability is built into the incentive architecture of Sponsored Social, and for that reason — it is the next big thing.
About the Author: John Costa is part of the Business Development Team at IZEA.
