The New Year is upon us and with it comes predictions of who and what will dominate the social media marketing landscape in 2015. Here are some ways to make sure your business keeps on top of its social media game in the months ahead:
- Content will need to be increasingly concise. Customers and clients will continue to depend on content that connects, educates, and inspires but they will be moving away from long copy. Time is of the essence and clients and consumers are becoming much choosier about what they will spend their precious few minutes reading.
- Standing out from the competition has always been important but businesses need to find new and better ways to do it. Creative videos, infographics, and other original data representations will be the key to getting noticed in an increasingly crowded online marketplace.
- Testimonials will evolve into videos and vivid stories that will bring a more visual and personal nature to the brand experience. Telling stories has always been a great way to engage consumers but now consumers are expecting a lot more from those testimonials.
- Local content will be the key to success for many small and mid-sized businesses. Mom and pop shops, restaurants, and other businesses want content that appeals to people where they live and work. This means more emphasis will be put on content that speaks to specific audiences in particular geographical locations.
- Research and development goes online. Monitoring social media sites and asking users questions about what they want out of products or services will become the model for marketers. The days when products are rolled out and customer reactions are gauged after the rollout are fading fast. Marketers will now use input they collect on social media sites before they begin work on a product.
- Paid placements will become the norm. Like it or not, it will be harder to reach consumers and obtain new business leads through social media without paying for it. Promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter ads are two examples of how businesses will begin to pay to get noticed.
Of course, as is the case with most New Year’s predictions, when 2015 comes to a close 12 months from now, there will be some trends that never materialized and others that we never saw coming! Whatever the case, 2015 promises to be an exciting year for consumers and marketers alike.