In 2007 “Web 2.0” was, without a doubt, the IT term of the year. ”Social media” is without a doubt the IT term of 2008. But is it all hype?

Stompernet, Ed Dale, John Cow, Yaro Starak, SEO Chicks… Everybody’s talking about it! Every body is optimizing it, everybody is speculating about it and I am no different. I got my own theories and views on this, so I’m bringing them to the table, here- on SEMHints. Why should you care what I think? Because I care about what you think! I want you to use this comment section to tell me what you think about the future of social marketing. I want to know what your thoughts on this issue are!

What prompted this?
I just read Eric Cho’s Article “What Are The Biggest SEM Challenges For 2008?”, in which a few marketers share their views on… Well… the biggest SEM challenges for 2008. I found the following hilarious:

“Eytan Wiener (SalemGlobal): Being able to really grasp and act on the tremendous potential of social media.”
“Aaron Wall: Many marketers will be misdirected by hype pushing social media.”

Kudo’s to Eric for placing them one after the other . By doing so, he has brilliantly empathized this burning issue: Social media- tremendous potential or misdirecting hype?

My take
I love the internet. It proves anarchy works. All people want to do, on the web, is find like-minded people, listen to music and swap information. Without the help from police or a judicial system, these communities make up their own rules, and if someone breaks these rules, he’s ostracized from the community. Very simple and very right. Because of this, I, not only, believe social marketing has got potential, but I just love it.

Social marketing is the only legitimate way to sell. Think how many times you’ve cursed, when you had a TV commercial shoved in your face, adds on the street, in your magazine, on your phone! On the other hand, think how grateful you were, when a friend recommended that perfect laptop, or hosting service, or ebook!

The above concept is not new. It’s called “targeting your audience”, and it’s been done since the concepts of effective marketing were defined. The above concept is in perfect sync with social marketing. And that’s why I believe social marketing is here to stay.

In Eric’s article Jeff Quipp is quoted to say:
“social media will dedicate more and more time to identifying and penalizing voting blocks within their networks, so their algorithms will evolve considerably.”

I believe the social networks and bookmarking sites that will survive the hype bubble and it will only improve with time. Making social marketing even more targeted - and as such - more effective.

That’s all from me, what’s your take?

About the Author
Tali Shapiro is a freelance artist and writer, who learned the need for internet marketing, through a lot of bad personal experience. Now, after a few years of self-online-education and self-offline- discipline, she can pass on her wily experiences and worldly teachings
through the wonderful medium of blog. Catch up with Tali’s marketing exploits on The Marketer Review.