Major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn will undergo substantial modifications. Now is the time when business owners and managers evaluate their social media performance over the past 12 months. Like with most things in the internet, social media undergoes rapid evolution. Marketers must always be assessing their methods to see which ones worked in 2014 and which ones should be scrapped in the coming year.
Some of the most pressing social media developments for the future year are detailed here.
Marketing With Content
Keeping your focus here has always been a must. Content that is primarily textual is giving way to content that is primarily visual. Video posts are garnering three times as many likes as text posts, and people are responding enthusiastically across major social media sites. Regarding these points, the content marketing trend is unmistakable. Smaller postings that are targeted to a specific audience, provide useful information, and are made to be shared generate significantly more interest and clicks than their larger counterparts that don’t meet these criteria.
The Age of Mobile Devices Has Arrived and Is Defeated the Desktop
Using mobile devices like smartphones and tablets to access the internet has become increasingly popular in recent years. There will be a dramatic uptick in this tendency. Mobile Internet access is helpful not just for those with hectic schedules, but also for those who work for themselves as freelancers or entrepreneurs. Internet access on the go is a breeze with the help of today’s crop of smart phones and tablets.
We have found that a sizable percentage of users, which is only expected to grow, favour accessing and interacting with social media via their mobile devices. Hence, when organising their social media initiatives, marketers should prioritise mobile web accessibility. Instead of solely catering to those using desktop computers, they should concentrate on making designs that are compatible with mobile devices.
The social uses of mobile devices are simply one subset of their overall popularity. Customers are also increasingly using their mobile devices to make purchases online. Companies are increasingly allocating resources towards developing apps and mobile-friendly websites.
Allocating Resources to Improve Social Media Outcomes
Businesses that have tried to promote themselves on Facebook know all too well the ups and downs that may occur in this arena. Fans of Facebook pages are seeing fewer updates from those pages as Facebook’s organic traffic reach has dropped significantly. Promoting Facebook posts costs money, so marketers must budget for it. Facebook’s ad prices are likely to increase despite user pushback against the new reality.
Although advertising prices will continue to rise, it is not the only pattern you can expect to observe. You may have noticed that certain posts on Facebook and Twitter now include “buy” buttons, allowing readers to make a purchase without leaving the social media site. This requires a shopping account, but whenever Twitter and Facebook release their beta versions of the new apps, shopping while tweeting and posting will be a fascinating new trend to observe.
Look Out For LinkedIn
Among LinkedIn’s many noteworthy 2014 developments was the introduction of a user-driven publishing platform. LinkedIn is well-known in the business-to-business sector, and it now provides additional avenues for organisations to develop their brands as credible and trustworthy sources of information by providing their followers with interesting and useful content. Individuals can exhibit their expertise on a variety of areas thanks to the publishing platform.
LinkedIn is already being used by 88% of B2B marketers, and many journalists are active participants on the platform. As a result, LinkedIn is poised to become the only reference needed by employers and employees. The fact that LinkedIn relies on subscription fees for revenue sets it apart from other social networking services. Both the number of LinkedIn’s premium subscribers and the number of connections made by its users are predicted to grow.
What Functions Does Google + Serve?
Perhaps you’ve heard that Google terminated the Authorship programme on Google Plus. It’s possible that Google Plus’s creator, Vic Gundotra, resigned because he saw no reason for people to use it instead of more well-known social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter. One of the few redeeming qualities of Google +, “Hangouts,” is now its own, independent app. Thus, you shouldn’t put too much stock in the Google + platform, but you should make an effort to keep an active profile there anyhow, since this will assist drive visitors to your site. Be active on Google Plus by updating your profile frequently.
In the years to come, social media will be paramount
There is a finite duration to any SEO and social media fad. Any trend could become the market’s most sought-after model the next year, only to go away the year after. Every website and blog will have instantaneous polling capabilities by connecting social media platforms. If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that social media will become the single most significant and influential tool for marketers and advertising. With the advent of social media, one of the most important channels for reaching a vast audience of potential buyers has opened up. Multimedia advertising, comprising moving images, text, still images, and sound, will be within the reach of marketers. The analytics software will be upgraded.