That social media is a phenomenon that is here to stay and is a force to reckon with should come as no surprise anymore. If you have been in business for the past few years and have given it more than a cursory thought as to how you plan to promote your business and appeal to the millions of eyeballs lurking out there online, you have started it alright and are on the right track – social media is a phenomenon that you can ignore completely at your own peril.

But the problem is, not many people, be it the seasoned marketers of the old economy or the self-professes management gurus of the digital age, actually know what the power of social media is, nor do they understand how to tame this whole new species whose characteristics are still subject to experimentation and observation. It’s one thing to know that you have a wonderful tool at hand that would do magic for your business; it’s quite another to know what you can do about it and how to go about it! Worse still would it be if you are not sure if you are on the right track and if you doubt if social media really would deliver what it promises to – and more importantly, if you can ever make money online using social media sites.

Before we get on with how to wield the handy weapon that you have, you should know more about the weapon itself and you need to know where in the industry cycle you are in as far as social media is concerned.

The Social media Industry Lifecycle: Every industry has a life cycle, which is a trend in which the industry develops – depending on which industry it is, it may have an initial slow or a sharp rise, a slowing down to the form of a plateau that keeps steady until it starts falling and ultimately may cease to exist. Needless to say social media is an industry by itself and it invariably would have to go through this trend of product lifecycle. As someone who tries to sell products online or who tries to promote your website or your services online, it is essential that you know where exactly your industry is at this point in time, how is it going to fare up in the near future as well as in the medium to long term and if there is any future at all that you can bank on.

The Initial Phase: The first phase is very much over and behind you in the product lifecycle of social media as an industry. If you have been among the lucky few who jumped on to the social media phenomenon as it launched itself to prominence and have still stuck on with it till date, you are likely to have got your share of limelight and success with your venture. In this case, the rise was pretty sharp and it shot up with amazing speed catching the public imagination as it did.

The Growth Phase: This is where social media is. The initial phase was so short and rapid that the social media lifecycle immediately caught up with the second growth phase. The growth was indeed fast but right now, we are well into the growth phase. The characteristic of the growth phase is that, with time, growth starts to taper down, till it merges with the third phase, becoming a plateau.

The Third Phase – Plateau: It would take time before we reach the third phase and social media as an industry becomes saturated and refuses to grow. At the moment, however, social media is still growing, though it has started showing signs of a slowdown in the rate of its growth.

Making Money Online: Many serious players in the social media industry may actually have got frustrated at the rate of growth, the intensity of competition and the prospects of making actual returns, out of the business of social media. Getting back to the industry lifecycle, social media as an industry has the peculiar nature of catching up with end users in a rage but would take time to pay off. Invariably, money would start trickling in as it gets to the later second or the third stage of growth, which is a plateau. In the third stage, with growth rates having declined significantly, the market would have got saturated and there would not be many new players into the industry – and even if there were new entrants, they would find it hard to sustain.

It would take only those who have sustained in the long run and have been patient with the industry lifecycle and characteristics to actually make money online using social media. By the time the social media industry reaches the third phase of growth, many existing players would have called it quits and the industry would have matured. That would be the period where companies would make their money with social media sites.

But to get there and make money, it requires perseverance and sustenance. For those who have seen it all, there is an opportunity out there to make the most of it. But you can be sure of one thing – social media as an industry is here to stay and if you have been patient enough to get this far, it’s worth a bit more patience and perseverance.