We already know that social media has changed our lives. Google has placed emphasis on its importance. They want engagement levels through these platforms to determine SEO rankings.
Today, all businesses have to concentrate on social media. If they don’t, they will never rank high with Google.
Social media changes every year, though. Stay informed by taking a look at these five social media predictions for 2014.
1. You Become the Marketer
Traditional marketing has involved professionals pushing information towards people. The key to success is to get others to share it. This increases exposure and enhances your SEO value.
In 2014, your audience will become the marketer. It follows the principle of viral content. Spending lots of money on forcing content on websites is a thing of the past. And it can even take away from your SEO value.
Now the core of your audience will do the sharing for you!
2. Social Integration
Social media will no longer be viewed as this entity separate from other forms of marketing. It’s something you have to integrate into your brand through your campaigns. Weave everything together for the best results.
And here’s an additional reference to prove this. 50% of all consumers now regularly watch TV through their smartphones. This provides ample room to increase social media exposure.
3. Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing
Growing your email marketing list is a key performance indicator. It’s how you speak directly to individual consumers. The more sign-ups you get the higher your chances of making a sale.
In the past, it was a case of putting a little toolbar on your webpage. People could sign up or they wouldn’t.
In 2014, social media will become the main method of email marketing. You’ll use it to actively encourage people to subscribe to your newsletter.
For example, the holiday company Kahlua grew its email list by 16,000 just by using social media to promote their newsletter.
4. Social Commerce
If we look at social media and business, we would call it a tool for promotion. The standard goal is to send people through these channels to your website.
No longer.
2014 will be the year where social media takes on a new role. It will become a vehicle of commerce. More and more studies show that we’re using social media in our purchasing decisions over company websites.
Companies that want to increase sales will use social media to do this. It’s nothing fancy. They’ll essentially do something similar to what they’re doing now. Rather than sending people to their homepage, they’ll send them to a different sales landing page.
5. Diversification
This is a trend that’s developed over a number of years. The increasing diversification of the social media market will force firms to make changes to how they promote themselves.
Facebook drove the social media industry into the mainstream. Twitter managed to join them. Beyond these, the majority of us have no other social media accounts.
Trends have demonstrated that this has steadily changed. The likes of Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn continue to take bigger slices of the market. This diversification has a big impact on companies.
Companies will have to diversify their social media campaigns. And they’ll have to make some tough decisions on how they promote themselves. Here are some of the reasons why:
- A limited amount of time. There are only so many hours available to promote yourself through social media.
- Monetary resources. Most networks have paid advertising campaigns. You will have to allocate your finances accordingly.
- Social media network value. Each social media network has a different value attributed to it. Some are better at driving sales than others, purely due to their design.
With these reasons in mind, 2014 will be the year where you have to take an enormous risk. Make the right decision, though, and your profits will soar.
