Traditional media was considered as the fourth estate. Any print piece that got readership could earn money from brands as well as from individuals who wanted to advertise.
The scene has changed quite a bit. With the advent of social media, the pages and brands can target the audience directly instead of paying money to the publishers of newspapers and magazines.
This change can be gauged by the number of people who have liked a celebrity page on Facebook or the people who are following some brand on Twitter. You will notice that pages of individuals and brands have more likes or followers than the pages of media houses. In fact, this has given a good opportunity to new players in the new media to make their business.
Consider the example of film actors and actresses. They have around 3 to 4 times the audience that the largest media house has in India. What does this mean? It means two things:
- They can talk to their audience directly.
- They can charge money to endorse a product on their profiles just like they do on print media TV.
The brand pages can also charge or collaborate with other brands for cross promotion or advertising opportunities if they have a huge fan base on their FB pages or Twitter profiles.
So, media instead of getting paid by these celebrities have become a tool to earn money.
There is still a huge potential in social media that entrepreneurs can tap. The mantra lies in getting the idea right and contextual.
