Noted futurist and successful entrepreneur Jason Hope remains keen on the power of social media to play an ongoing role for company owners who want to sell more products. For example, he compares the way social media sites display data as compared to a business website. On Instagram, Hope said, the first thing people look at is how many followers an individual has and how many “like” clicks and other response activity it is getting.
On an ordinary company website, however, that kind of “instantly recognizable data” is not available. True, some websites put a counter on their sites to show how much traffic it gets. But even if this is the case, a website, even a popular one, can’t command the massive numbers that appear on social media sites; thus, Jason Hope said that social media marketing is still “where it’s at.”
That doesn’t mean a marketer should abandon her website. What it does mean, however, is that it should have strong tie-ins and interactions with social media platforms. Jason Hope also reminds entrepreneurs that the mobile phone factor has become more important than ever. Sites like Facebook and Twitter (now X) were once mostly accessed by a desk or laptop computer.
Today, 91% of all users do the majority of their social media activity with their smartphones. The lesson, Jason Hope says, is for marketers to focus their resources on things like mobile apps and software that make interaction between social media and smartphones the easiest way for customers to shop, buy or learn more about products and services (Crunchbase).
What about Facebook? Many believe that this social media behemoth’s best days are behind it. Jason Hope agrees that Facebook is finally losing some of its power and “charm,” but it’s far too early to count it out. Facebook will “remain a major player” at least through the next few years.