Social media, as author Pete Blackshaw puts it in his article A Short (and Personal) History of Social Media, is a breathtaking and disruptive development in marketing and communication. In his article found in Advertising Age, Blackshaw gives a brief overview of this history of social media from his perspective and makes predictions about what may be coming next.

There is no doubt that Social Media is big — really big. In the not-so-distant future, expect to hear much more about “enterprise social media” strategy. Good, old-fashioned customer-relationship management will take on new meaning and resonance. This is because half of the game of social media marketing is understanding the relationship between existing business processes (service, training, product performance) and conversational output. Strategies and tactics must then be adjusted accordingly.

Marketing organizations will continue to undergo a dramatic transformation, as social media softens all silos, unleashes both friendly and hostile departmental and agency competition, and sets new standards of accountability thanks to the radically transparent nature of the content.

In the future, companies and brands will also be forced to step out of the fog and work with much clearer boundaries. Like it or not, FTC rules on testimonials and disclosure will force us to clarify who’s behind the recommendation or conversation sans ambiguity. Indeed, Paul Rand, CEO of Zocalo Group and recently elected president of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association, notes that we are in a new era where ethics and clear disclosure in word-of-mouth and social-media communications are “inseparable from the brand-building mix.” Newly appointed Council of Better Business Bureaus CEO Steve Cox tells me social media has set a “dramatically higher bar of expectations around trust.” They are right.

Brands will need to work extra hard to remain credible in this environment. In this consumer-controlled surveillance culture, brands have no shortage of vulnerabilities and exposure points. That puts a massive premium of what Blackshaw is fond of calling “The Six Drivers of Brand Credibility”. These six drivers are: trust, transparency, authenticity, affirmation, listening and responsiveness. Brands will need to work much harder in this environment to earn consumers’ loyalty and advocacy.

On some level this all sounds pretty basic. Social media isn’t a shiny new object. Foundations matter. The boring basics keep things sustainable.

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