The Impact of Social Media on Hunting

With more than half of the entire world’s population using social media actively, there’s no doubt that social media platforms greatly influence people’s lives. You can also find avid hunters on social media sites where they share their hunting activities regularly. Whereas, others also use these sites to share reviews on different hunting equipment and gadgets. For example, you can easily check out the most suitable scope for your hunting firearm by clicking on the link of a reliable Scopes Reviews Website shared by Instagram or Facebook pages to save your time and money.

However, with the good comes the bad. Although social media is influencing the hunting industry in a good way, it also has its cons. Keep reading this article to explore!

The Positive Impact of Social Media on Hunting

1.    A Platform to Support the Efforts of Wildlife Conservation

State’s Wildlife Conservation helps in balancing the ecology by controlling the under or over-population of certain species in a region. It also facilitates preserving wildlife through encouraging legal and ethical hunting.

Several organizations support this stance using their social media platforms, and they raise awareness to ensure better wildlife conservation efforts. You can find plenty of such organizations on Facebook and Instagram!

2.    Helps You Stay Connected with Other Hunters

Not only do you get to share your remarkable hunting milestones on social media sites with your family members and friends, but you also get a chance to connect with other passionate hunters like you or even inspire some to start hunting.

You get to share your journey, tips, and advice as a hunter through your social media pages right at your fingertips and also learn some new techniques by following other hunters.

3.    Allows You to Invest in the Best Hunting Equipment

As you can follow many pages on social media platforms that recommend different hunting gear, you can get your hands on such items that best suit your needs and preferences without having to spend your money in vain.

For instance, many hunters review a product on their page or even recommend a gadget that helped them upscale their hunting game, so other hunters can also invest in the right items.

The Negative Impact of Social Media on Hunting

1.    The Source of Information is Not Always Accurate

There is a plethora of information available on social media platforms from users all around the world. Therefore, you can’t really blindly trust any kind of information shared on these sites.

For example, some influencers may be recommending hunting equipment to their followers, just for the sake of money. Unless it’s a credible influencer, there’s always a need to do your own research online afterward.

2.    Hunting Tutorials Don’t Equate to Having On-Field Hunting Experience

Although there are plenty of guides and tutorials available on YouTube for novice hunters, you shouldn’t overlook the importance of having hunting experience in the real world.

Many beginners will start thinking of themselves as pro hunters just because they have watched several videos related to hunting equipment, process, weapons, etc. This surely doesn’t mean that you are ready to go hunting, as you can risk your life and your hunting fellows.

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Where Marketing is Headed in the Next 5 Years

If you ever needed evidence of how quickly marketing can change, just look at the emergence of social media. It’s true, social media changed everything but the evolution of this social landscape has  also changed drastically during the past ten years in particular. Needless to say, social media is sure to evolve over the next five years and marketers will need to stay right on the cusp of these changes.

But that’s just part of the story…

With this in mind, let’s start with social and look at where marketing is headed in the next five years:

Where Marketing is Headed in the Next 5 Years

  1. Social Media will Evolve and Marketers will Follow

Think about it:

Facebook and Twitter might still be going strong but the fall of Snapchat and rise of Instagram tell a different story. As you may know, Snapchat took the world by storm in 2011 but the arrival of Instagram saw the platform become a “flash in the pan’ and distant memory for online users.

Anyway, the point is, change is fast and inevitable with social media. Marketers will need to spread their time between various channels but not so many that they spread their attention too thinly.

  1. First-Party Data will Remain at the Forefront of Marketing

Believe it or not, data is widely expected to be the most valuable asset to marketers over the next five years. More specifically, first-party data about your target market will prove invaluable and this goes for extracting data through social media, websites, mobile apps, email and every other channel.

In case you might be asking yourself, here are some things to consider:

How do you collect data for the purpose of marketing?

Where do you store this data?

And how will you use the data?

Either way, the importance of data driven marketing cannot be emphasized enough and this refers to both B2C marketing and B2B marketing.

  1. Voice and the Changing Role of SEO

When Google released the Medic Update, there was a clear preference for authority websites and long-form content. In many ways, according to the Website Magazine, this was Google trying to discourage spam and improve the process of SEO in such a way that the search results were more accurate for online users.

Although guerrilla marketing tactics can be effective, Google continues to stamp out black hat techniques. At the same time, organic and authentic content is being rewarded more and more which is something marketers have needed to respect.

On the other hand, did you know that one in three search queries via voice? It’s true, voice search is ready to make great strides and the emergence of voice technology is evidence of this trend. As for how this might change marketing, it means that marketer must adopt their strategies to voice search and watch closely as this trend becomes a major driving force of SEO.

  1. Augmented Reality is Likely to Impact eCommerce in a Big Way

As you may know, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are already implemented in various industries and reasons such as cinemas, gaming and even pharma marketing (good summary article here). In fact, this technology is disrupting every aspect of retail and marketing, while improving the quality of service for online users.

For instance, IKEA offers an excellent VR experience which allows customers to see how a product might look in their own home. Amazing, right? It’s just the beginning. As for AR, shoppers can try on clothing and see 3D images of their style and appearance before spending any money.

While talking about VR and AR is common in recent years, the next five should demonstrate the power of these technologies and marketers will need to pay great attention to this shift.

  1. Mobile Device Usage Will Continue to Dominate

You already know about “mobile-first” and this term still gets bandied about by marketers all the time. At the same time, most businesses and organizations have adopted this approach and even developed apps, wearables, notifications and devices to cater for demand.

However, we should see this mobile first terminology change to “mobile only” in next five years. For this reason, marketers will need to keep testing strategies related to mile and piloting ways that can improve the mobile experience for online users.

  1. Digital Money is Likely to Impact eCommerce and Transform Social Media

Forget about bitcoin, for now. Facebook recently announced Libra, a digital currency that will make sending money online cheaper and faster. While Libra is sure to meet resistance in the SEC, it’s no secret that digital money is on the horizon and certain to be implemented in the near future.

What’s more, Facebook has partnered with many large organizations for this endeavor including Visa, Paypal and Booking.com. In other words, the chances of implementation are high for Libra.

In terms of social media, this will mean that users will start transacting via digital money as opposed to traditional currency. And guess what? More than 50% of online users will follow brands on social media to see their latest products and services.

For marketers, this also means that advertisements and promotions will be managed through Libra but if online users are favoring digital money, this is surely enough reason for marketers to follow suit.

  1. Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Finally Deliver

Personalization is a big thing for marketers but the same can be said for every other business owner and consumer. For this reason, automation and AI might take time to deliver but these machines are improving drastically by the day. That is to say, machine learning is now coming to the point where AI can get the job done, while matching or improving the human capacity for personalization.

But what does this mean?

It means that automation and AI will finally start to deliver and become an integral part of how people react in both the real and online world that we know today.

 

Final Thoughts

While social media will change, the importance of data will continue to form a stable foundation for marketers over the next five years. That being said, while nothing lasts forever, marketers need to think carefully about the above and treat these factors as though they are here to stay. Not sure where to start? You can always team up with an agency in the field. Here’s a great list to start with.

Author bio

Marina Turea works as content manager at Digital Authority Partners, a consulting agency out of Chicago, Il. 

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