It’s all over the news; the end of Facebook is near!
Is Facebook headed the way of the Dodo like MySpace, Friendster, etc? No, at least not anytime soon. It is still very much a social media powerhouse. But Facebook is not invincible and it certainly cannot sustain perpetual growth.
According to an article in Business2Community.com, Facebook has lost 6 million users in the U.S. Growth among users in other countries is on the rise but stateside Facebook may be losing some of its luster.
Another recent article in MediaPost points to a possible saturation point for Facebook in the U.S. Facebook is now needs to rapidly monetize its current user base, the article also points out. So, look for more aggressive marketing efforts from Facebook most likely at the expense of user privacy.
So, could this spell trouble for the Social Media Juggernaut? Sure, in some ways it does. But the real lesson here is one we’ve seen before. Clinging to trends as a marketing solution is not a solid strategy. Taking advantage of trends and using them based on solid market research and planning makes more sense.
Social Media is not and will never be the one solution for all of your marketing woes. Social Media platforms are in constant competition with each other for your business’s ad dollars. They are constantly trying to outdo one another. Just take a look at Google’s latest attempt at Social Media, Google+ in this article from Search Engine Journal.
No one social media offering or new technology product is going to magically solve all of your marketing problems. Social Media isn’t going to make marketing and engagement a “snap”, it takes work. These things are tools that are to be added to your marketing toolkit.
It’s important that you have some control over your message and your marketing efforts. It is good to diversify your efforts making use of all the appropriate resources at your disposal. But ultimately you should be driving them to a property that is uniquely yours, like a web site or mobile page/app. This is where conversion happens.
In another article from BusinesstoCommunity.com they reference the “Commit to Quit” day back in May where numbers of users committed to cancel their Facebook accounts in protest of the ongoing privacy issues Facebook is having. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Don’t get too caught up in hype. Stay smart and market using common sense. What works is knowing your audience, marketing to them where they are, and driving them to a place where you can convert them to a customer.
Do you market with Facebook? What do you think about their decline in the US?