Over the last few years social media has become something of a ‘buzz word’ amongst the marketing community. We’ve seen the rise in the demand from clients requesting social media marketing skills to complement traditional marketing skills for marketing vacanies. Unfortunately the growth of one marketing channel tends to lead to a fall of another. Mediums such as newspapers can be traced back to the 1605s and they are losing popularity everywhere not just in the UK. With the fall in circulation, so does the appeal for traditional media buyers / advertisers. We’ve seen a steep rise in the number of companies recruiting for roles such as PPC, SEO and PR over the past few years. Going back only a decade to the 90s; newspaper advertising was a must for businesses both large and small to attract customers.

The ‘golden days’ of print seem to be a thing of the past. With an ever increasing demand for digital media, newspapers have to find new formats to deliver their product, as well as develop new revenue streams. The Yorkshire Post for example (chosen because it’s opposite the Network Marketing office on Wellington Street in Leeds) originally dates back to 1754 when it was originally known as the Leeds Intelligencer, before being renamed as the Yorkshire Post just one year later. On a side note I’m writing this blog from the former gatehouse of Meanwood Hall, which was once owned by the same family as first chairman of the Yorkshire Post - William Beckett-Denison from the Leeds banking family who owned the famous Beckett’s Bank.

Newspapers such as the Yorkshire Post have to adapt to this digitally focused market and have recently introduced an Ipad App to attract more digital consumers of news. In a similar response, many businesses are using social media to attract new customers. In March 2012 a new phenomenon hit businesses in Yorkshire. The weekly Twitter ‘power networking’ event ‘Yorkshirehour’ uses the hash tag #yorkshirehour to allow people in the region one hour every week to easily and quickly network using social media. From humble beginning #yorkshirehour is now attracting over 1,000+ tweets from individuals and businesses. Founders Angie Aspinall (@Aspinall_Ink) and Helen Massey (@RomanticCotHols) certainly know a thing or two about the power of social media. As the appeal of social media rises as a marketing channel, just how far will it go?