Circling Five 2014 Social Media Predictions

  Five 2014 Social Media Predictions  

I love what social media brings to business. I enjoy training, predicting, consulting and executing digital marketing programs and I love happy clients. In fact, 2013 was a rapid period of growth here at Thrifty Momma’s Tips and Thrifty Mom Media too.

In the past year, I built numerous successful case studies and programs tailored to a wide range of clients seeking to understand social.  I don’t, for a minute, rest on past accomplishments. The last few weeks have been spent strategizing and predicting where my business needs to go in 2014. A huge part of that is predicting where social is going in this next year.

So, with an eye to building knowledge for my clients and readers here are my 2014 social media predictions:

Five 2014 Social Media Predictions

1. Circle Me – Google Plus 

Google Plus is going to be a big winner in 2014.

Anyone who spends enough time with an ear and eye to Facebook has seen this coming for a few months. Google Plus has not been a sexy overnight social media success story like Pinterest or Vine. As Facebook evolves to force people and businesses into paying for posts to be seen, many are becoming less than enamoured. Many have decided they’ve had enough.

But, Google Plus is Google and the potential for search engine optimization on Google Plus is not to be ignored. Google Plus Hangouts and communities are growing as Facebook groups are drying up. Integration with gmail, blogger and google.ca is simple and so slick most people don’t even realize it’s all tied together. Take a moment to reacquaint yourself, and your business with G+. Google Plus looks sexier by the day. C

2. Facebook Fail: 

All Facebook marketing is becoming a paid transaction. There’s nothing very social about that. Paid digital marketing has a place in social, but it makes Facebook for businesses challenging and means some of that digital budget needs to be set aside for Facebook ads. There is limited ability to make things reach people on Facebook anymore – organic reach is down.

Paid reach is still proving itself. I will still advise some of my clients to set aside money for Facebook ads, if they are right for their campaigns. I anticipate Facebook will continue to be useful, but marketing there is less straightforward than it used to be, or maybe it’s more straightforward than ever. Pay and be seen. Period. The numbers mean maybe it still makes sense but aggravated masses mean you are now marketing to people who are annoyed.   

3. Snapchat 

Snapchat stories. This is new and a slight departure from the initial immediate gratification mandate of Snapchat. Potential is high here as teens are spending a lot of time on Snapchat. Visual sharing platforms grow fast and are simple to use. They lend themselves beautifully to contesting and to multiple brands. Snapchat may never be a huge marketing function for me. But you can be sure I am watching what it does, and so should you.  

4. Content will still be King

You want to build a plan, a strategy, buzz? You want to share your messaging widely? You need the content. Blogging brings the content. Writing brings you the content. Blogger outreach is crucial. I wrote a few posts about what that looks like this year. See Before Your Ask Bloggers to Write for Free and Five Reasons Why Your Blogger Outreach Program is a Fail.   

5. Visual Wins:

Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and Snapchat? Need I say more. If you haven’t got half of these on your smartphone yet, then you need to get with the game. Pictures and videos share best. Everywhere. They up your exposure and engagement across platforms. So now what are you waiting for?  Instagram needs you.

Also: related – get working on your photos and videos and your comfort level creating and sharing videos and photos. It’s driving the future of social right now. Instagram, Pinterest and Vine all share beautifully to Facebook and Twitter (my first and favourite social media love.)

Twitter remains reliable and hot and mostly free. Pictures plus twitter equal smart social media strategy.

Got all that, but not sure what you do with it? Well, that’s why I am here. I help build strategy, twitter parties and blogger outreach programs through my business Thrifty Mom Media. @inkscrblr for more information or email me: inkscrblr@rogers.com.