Internet Marketing Social Media And Evolution

By Author: Mel Joelle
Total Articles: 4304
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No, I am not going to write about Survival of the Fittest, The Origin of the Species or Charles Darwin. However, I think it's time for a brief history lesson as a compass to the future. It's a matter of connecting the dots. So check out this ever so brief timeline of the Internet, Internet Marketing and the winners online.

Early to mid ‘90's - AOL dominates with Yahoo looming. In a way, AOL was the first important social community and with subscriptions numbering more than 32 million out of an estimated 100 million online, AOL owned the internet. Yahoo leaped onto the stage in the mid-90's offering more in the way of content and a more open system not requiring any monthly fees and making a wide array of information and online functionalities available.

Late 90's - Google - yes, the 800 pound gorilla. However, the way they became the 800 pound gorilla is what is really important. Firstly, Google realized that the online user was online to find information and that neither Yahoo nor AOL had very credible or repeatable methodologies to generate the most relevant results to the consumer in the shortest ...
... time possible. In other words, provide the fastest, bestest results instantly. They did this by concentrating on content, not just keywords for the sake of keywords. To do this they focused on backlinks as a voting methodology or unit of measurement for determining the best measure of relevance. If website owners linked to another website, without asking for a link in reciprocation, this Backlink became highly valued by Google. While an over-simplification, those websites with the greatest number of highly relevant, naturally occurring (no tricks) backlinks, got the most points and therefore the highest ranking for targeted keywords. So, it became the delivery system of content along with the targeted keyword(s) within that content that was the basis of relevancy measurement.

The strategy proved to be very successful as anyone following the stats, the growth, and stock price of Google clearly already knows.

The ‘00's - Google still king but

Google continues to rock and roll by generating huge revenue by selling ad space for top page visibility on the same page as those who actually earn their organic rankings.

However, over the past few years, the social media is offering a completely new approach to finding targeted and valuable information online. Are they becoming the new search engines? Well, not yet. But consider that Facebook is growing like wildfire and what this tremendous growth offers to information seekers online. While Backlinks are much more relevant than keywords on a page, Social Media portals like Facebook offer online users a unique, highly human, highly social, highly networked way of gaining information that may well prove to be superior to that provided by algorithms of the traditional search engines.

Consider what you can do on Facebook:

1. Personalized Registration

2. Connect with similar members on the social network using any and all manner of variables; geography, local area, local interests, employment, personal and professionals skills and affiliations, past and present colleagues, past users of a product or service, etc you get the picture.

3. Create a dialogue about a product, service or any other point of decision criteria. Get your own reference rather than get the reference from a manufacturer or service provider; immediately more credible. The seeker initiates the discussion rather than the seller. This is yet a deeper level of inbound marketing where the buyer exercises more control and gains a more credible, more reliable source of information.

While powerful for consumers, it is equally powerful for online marketers. Anyone who has a website with any business objective will find the social media including Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. extremely valuable for developing new business by simply participating in the social media; making themselves available and accountable is just one example. The possibilities are endless. Consider the use of user groups, customer service forums, and new product portals with unique privileges.

Internet Marketing continues evolving to include real human interaction. Facebook won't replace Google but it will prove to be a growing factor in how real people seek information and make purchasing decisions online. Google will measure this activity so it will remain relevant. Social media is gaining influence every day.

Make sure that when you seek Internet Marketing Services and Search Engine Optimization that the Internet Marketing Company includes, by definition, Social Media Optimization and Utilization.
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