The evolving face of Social Media – from socialising to the Metaverse

The power of Internet has really transformed the world and today, social media has become a very lively and dynamic platform for engagements. In the earlier days, we had the telephone followed by telex machines and then the fax machines, but today, the Internet has revolutionised the world of communication. Right from individuals to corporates, everyone today is very much present on social media to stay connected.

Today, social media has become the most important way of engaging as it allows you to reach out to, nurture and engage with your audiences on the go. For brands today it has become the go-to medium to quickly spread their message to their target audiences. In fact, people use social media for an average of 144 minutes every single day. Because of its impact on society over the years, Social Media Day was born on June 30, 2010, and it has continued to grow in popularity year on year.

The earlier notion of using social media to manage your brand reputation and drive traffic is no longer the only purpose. The present times show how social media is able to help in a two-way conversation. Customer engagement and with two-way conversation has always helped brands to deeply understand their customer well. With the introduction of social media chatbots, the response time and the close engagement with your stakeholders have further enhanced and brands are able to provide better service and value to their customers.

Social media today can drive users through an effective campaign to generate leads and possible conversions which was always a challenge in the traditional media. With the growing influencer community across various categories, and with the use of powerful video and strong creative expressions, brands are able to close the sales loop faster with the customers today. But it is the strong and effective social media content that should be compelling for consumers to look at your brand to be part of their consideration set.

The pandemic brought about a change in consumer expectations, which has also changed their behaviours and preferences. With the new generation glued to the small screen, constant reinvention in terms of social media strategy will keep emerging. Today’s generation, that is, the Millennials and GenZ, are more comfortable to newer concepts such as the metaverse and will continue to spend an increasing amount of time online for socialising as well as for work.

However, many brands today struggle in creating engaging content to reach their target audience. While the platform provides you targeted reach, it is the right and compelling content that will help you engage with your audience. Therefore, brands today will have to work extra hard to understand this new consumer and the shifts in behaviour and find out ways to closely engage with them with interesting content. We will notice new trends such as the metaverse, which is growing fast and will continue to evolve in the coming years with more knowledge and advancement on the technology front.

Sharing his views, Karthik Srinivasan, communication strategy consultant and social media expert, said, “After almost 15+ years of living with social media, I believe there is no dispute about its sheer power and impact. The impact is akin to giving every human a megaphone to shout out to the world. This makes social media enormously powerful in all ways, good and bad.”

He added, “Powerful mediums in the past had gatekeepers (print, TV, radio, etc.), who protected their use. But, ironically, a medium more powerful than those mainstream media, is completely free of any gate-keeping. The other powerful media vehicles required people to learn their usage either formally (in colleges and schools), or professionally (as part of their work). But a media more powerful than mainstream media is available even to a child via a phone! This is what I believe will be the focus going forward. More calls for gatekeeping social media, and more structure around learning what to do, how to use it, and why. This would also perhaps include the next evolution of social media with the advent of virtual world. The first iteration of virtual worlds, pioneered by Second Life, didn’t last long, but this time around, with the impending development of better VR gear, it seems more promising.”

Gaurav Mishra, Director – Digital, Adfactors PR, observed that the dramatic growth in the adoption of social media platforms has indeed been a powerful driver of change in business and society. The social networking platforms have not been the unqualified force for good we once imagined them to be. Still, the ability of creators to build audiences on social media and monetize them has been transformative for thousands of careers. Governments and businesses now also have been building and protecting their reputation and creating opportunities for advocacy from employees and key opinion leaders (KOLs) on social media at the top of their change agenda.

According to Mishra, “The use of Hindi and Indian languages on social media has opened up a new world of possibilities for millions of Indians. In the future, both individuals and organisations will seek to become better at separating the signal from the noise on social media. Individuals will gravitate to social networks that help them stay connected with friends and family or explore opportunities for learning and growth, without being inundated with memes, self-promotion, and negativity from people they never followed. Organisations will use analytics to find the 100 considered opinions about them hidden in the firehose of 10,000 social media mentions and build relationships with key opinion leaders who can become advocates for them.”

Modern customers prefer to communicate through multiple channels and the pandemic has only heightened that need. Karan Bhandari, MD, Integrated Media Strategy, Weber Shandwick India, noted, “As people clamour for convenience and refuse to change devices to access content, the success of a communications plan will depend on its ability to meet customers where they are in the customer journey, capture the platform they prefer, and seize their attention. Social media is one such channel that is ubiquitous, can rapidly disseminate and amplify the reach of content and can lead informal conversations, making it a powerful communication tool.”

As the Metaverse continues to evolve and mould itself into an all-encompassing extended reality, brands that want to be communication leaders are embracing early adoption to grab the opportunities that this next-level, web3 presents. The Metaverse presents brands with the opportunity to lay consumer foundations for an all-new digital revolution with the potential for big returns. 

Adding further, Bhandari said, “With the Metaverse, every brand is invited to create its own interactive virtual space to reach new audiences, boost brand awareness, and increase brand loyalty, making it innate to every brand’s overall digital transformation strategy. Many brands currently exploring the Metaverse are looking to ease their transition with content types that are still relatively new, but not unknown. Augmented Reality (AR) is already being used by many brands and is a great starting point for your Metaverse marketing strategy.”

Arun Devanathan, Senior Director, Social Commerce, Myntra, pointed out that social media has clearly emerged as one of the most powerful ways for creators and brands to connect with their audience. There are many new age and emerging brands who have built their brands almost exclusively on social media with little use of traditional mass media. Given how deeply younger generations are engaging with social media, it is no longer an optional brand building channel, it is essential to brand building. “At Myntra, to engage with this new and emerging community of consumers, we are leveraging the fusion of content and commerce with our M-Live and Myntra Studio propositions where leading influencers are driving engagement via interactive and shoppable content coupled with style hacks and tips on social media and more,” he added.

Devanathan further said, “We believe companies which effectively use social media and social commerce will be the ones who are able to tell their stories better, deeply connect with their audiences, build communities and eventually create powerful brands.”

The most powerful contribution of social media is that it enabled us all to move people by spreading ideas across the world. According to Anish Dasgupta, Senior Director, Digital, BCW India Group, “Today, social media is also a driving force for creating a sense of community and belonging in an increasingly fragmented world. In the last few years, there have been challenges as well, with misinformation, deep fake and other manipulations leading to a distrust in social media’s power for good. But ultimately, I believe, social media, when used responsibly, gives us humans that much needed connect that we crave. The past two and a half years bear testimony to that. While most brands are fighting for engagement and reach, the more progressive ones go beyond marketing and use it to listen to what people are saying and leverage those learnings to tailor their products and services.”

Continuing further, Dasgupta said that traditional social media platforms enabled audiences to speak to each other and share their thoughts. The metaverse adds a new dimension to interaction by allowing them to ‘do’ and ‘be’ together and share a common experience. This immersive experience transforms communications from storytelling to storyliving. “At BCW, we see that the key dimensions in which this comes alive are New Humans – the avatars and digital humans to influence virtually, New Events – to create and participate in metaverse events and emphasise community-driven digital relationships, and New Objects – virtual possessions and digital goods, and experiment with NFTs,” he added.

Social media today has become much more than creating eye-catching content that make brands look more relevant and less antiquated. Malvika Sinha, Senior Vice President &Technology Practice Lead, Ruder Finn India, remarked, “Social media has now become a channel for building brand advocacy. For example, a first-time mom starts following groups on social media for advice on the best skincare products for new-born babies. In other words, social media and the content on social media has become one of the most efficient growth hacks for marketers looking to bring new customers in their fold. With a proper framework and clear social media strategy, brands can demarcate the role of every channel and how it will cater to the brand messaging pillars.”

Adding further, Sinha pointed out that today metaverse is creating exciting new opportunities and dimensions for brands to engage and interact with their audiences. While it can’t be predicted precisely which metaverses will reign supreme and which might fail, the rising competition and attention has started generating FOMO for brands, such that it has created a positive flywheel effect. With the metaverse experiences gaining popularity, many brands and businesses too have started incorporating metaverse in their social media marketing strategies.

Khushaal Talreja, Head - Marketing, Mintoak Innovations Pvt Ltd said, "Context and creative drivers have become key in a social media age where the attention potential of individuals is questionable. Every brand wants to be seen and heard. And while social media has helped brands accelerate their marketing & communication efforts, it has put a lot more responsibility on brand marketers to make brands sound distinctive in a noisy landscape. Contextual marketing has never been this important! While there is value exchange during content distribution, driving consistency in brand messaging will continue to influence the long-term brand image. In the endless scroll world of social media, simple and targeted content can humanize the brand to build the trust factor as well. At Mintoak, we're creating an authentic and empowering brand that resonates with our community across financial institutions, business owners and the talent pool. We're leveraging social media to amplify campaign messages around #MintingTheFuture & #GoingBeyondPayments. This elevates the overall guiding principles behind what we want the Mintoak brand to represent and build more familiarity with our offerings."