The previous post in this blog questioning  the role of organic social media marketing once Facebook closes the “Like Economy”, generated a lot of comments on FB, Twitter and this blog from people whose opinion I value.

• Some of the respondents questioned whether there really will be any role for organic SMM going forward as all platforms seek to monetize.
• Some like Jason Falls said that organic will always be central to a social media marketing effort.
• Dave Kerpen and others said that the market has already shifted to “pay for play.” Content and engagement will continue to be important but promoted posts and ads will be essential for reach. Content and engagement become part of the “digital IMC” mix.
• Mark Schaefer pointed out that “post-Like SMM” is consistent with his warnings about “Content Shock” – content losing impact because of a glut and limited audience attention. Both forces could lead to digital marketing that is more expensive and has scale advantages for large companies.

The evolution of SMM in a post-Like world of Content Shock will be a recurring theme in 2014.

What should a business do now? I would urge four steps for the present:

1. Maintain engagement with your community – do not lose any momentum you have going.
2. Continue to produce great content.
3. NOW is the time to get up to speed with Facebook promoted posts and ads, LinkedIn ads, Twitter ads and even Google ads!
4. EXPERIMENT with the ads. Google will give you $150 of free ads, Facebook $50. At $5 a day that is 10 free days of experimentation. Find out if some approach or target seems to produce results.

How do you see social media marketing evolving?

What actions would you recommend for a business today?

For more on these issues see my original post on the post-“Like Economy” and Mark Schaefer’s series on Content Shock.