This short article is intended to explain why and how social media marketing is actually a continuation of tried-and-true marketing principles that have been used since mankind began effectively communicating with each other, and by extension, marketing to each other. After all, marketing is nothing but another form of communication, whether person-to-person, B2C, B2B, etc.

1. Social Media Marketing – Evolutionary, Not Revolutionary
This short article is intended to explain why and how social media marketing is
actually a continuation of tried-and-true marketing principles that have been used
since mankind began effectively communicating with each other, and by
extension, marketing to each other. After all, marketing is nothing but another
form of communication, whether person-to-person, B2C, B2B, etc.
Over the last decade or so, social media marketing (SMM) has taken the
business world by storm. With the advent of nearly instantaneous
communications, an individual located virtually anywhere in the world could
broadcast his thoughts, comments, ideas or beliefs to people across the globe.
Power to the people was now literally at hand via SMM.
People could now recommend places, products or things to their friends.
Comments could be made about how something worked (or did not). Videos
could be posted online by people who previously would have had to have a
studio to develop that type of content. Anyone with a computer, smart phone or
tablet could now literally reach a global audience.
The age of the techno-geek was upon us.
How did this come to be? And is social media truly a
revolutionary communication technology, or is it
more likely an evolution of the previous
communication technologies that came before it?
Let me first posit that all communications
technological developments have basically been
outgrowths of what came before them. Each was
built to some degree upon the previous. Social
media is no different. The framework of each new
technology was laid by the previous generation’s improvements over what came
before them.
This brief history shows how communications technologies have developed over
the course of human history:
(The Extremely Short & Generally Accurate History of) The Evolution of
Communication
 Sounds / Spoken word
 Yelling / Beating on hollow logs / Beating on drums  sound travels further
 Written symbols, logos, pictures, etc.
 Morse code

2.  Signal flags / Smoke signals / Signal lights  communicate over greater
distances
 Printing press / Carrier pigeons
 Telephone / Teletype
 Radio / TV / Fax
 Computers / Bulletin boards / Email
 The World Wide Web and Internet
 Cell phones
 Blogging / SMS/IM
 MySpace / AOL / Friendster / Second Life
 Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
 Smart phones / tablets
 Other modern social media sites
So to summarize…
In the beginning was the word, and the word was spoken (well, maybe grunted at
first) and thus communication began. That little development was the genesis of
all future communication, which in turn led to the development of civilization,
which in turn led to the development of marketing as we know it today (okay, I
took some liberties there, but you get the idea).
With each of the above advancements in communication technology, a newer,
faster, better, or cheaper way of communicating was developed that provided
people with the ability to communicate faster, over greater distances, more
conveniently, more effectively, more efficiently, or at a lower cost.
Almost all of the above forms of communication was, in its time, also adapted by
(take your pick): the church, the emperor, the government, the military, or
businesses and used to communicate their message to the people, customers
and potential customers (aka, marketing). For instance, written advertisements
dating back to the Roman times have been found1 that tout a certain gladiator or
event.
Each new technology was considered revolutionary during its time, but each was
ultimately an outgrowth of the previous technology. Without the scientific
developments that had previously taken place, the newer technology would not
have been possible.
Social media is simply the latest in the long line of
communications technologies that have been
developed as an outgrowth of previous
technologies and used to communicate with a
large audience over great distances. Without the
framework laid by ARPAnet, to CompuServe, to
Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) to Usenet to

3. Prodigy and then onward, leading to the World Wide Web (the ubiquitous “www”
in URLs that we are all so familiar with today) the backbone for internet
communication would not exist. Without that, social media would not exist.
Social media marketing therefore is simply the latest iteration of adapting the
newest communication technology to the needs of business.
Marketing departments began to realize the power that they now had at hand via
social media. Even better, this medium typically had very low (if any) barriers to
entry, combined with extremely low costs (especially when compared to the high
costs of a typical marketing campaign). How could they not begin to take
advantage of this?
Once businesses began to realize what a powerful communication medium
social media could be, then they began to jump on the social media bandwagon.
Tentatively at first, perhaps via such simple actions as blogs or tweets and then
branching out to other, more interactive mediums such as Facebook, LinkedIn,
YouTube and Pinterest, businesses began to see the power of social media
marketing. This new medium allowed them to reach a large audience at low cost
almost instantaneously. What could be better?
As a result, over the last decade, social media marketing has taken the business
world by storm. Most businesses today use social media in some form or
manner, even if it is only something as simple as having a Facebook or LinkedIn
page. It allows them to communicate, connect and interact on a real-time basis.
So yes, social media marketing is an incredibly useful tool and should absolutely
be part of a marketer’s tool chest. However, it is not something so revolutionary
that it eclipses all else that has gone before it.
As stated at the beginning of this article, social media
really is an outgrowth of the technologies that went
before it, and as such, social media marketing truly is
evolutionary, not revolutionary.
© Richard Hatheway – 2014
(1) http://purplemotes.net/2009/09/20/mass-media-in-ancient-rome/