In the last few years, social media marketing has become an integral process in every business promotion strategy. From big companies, to medium and even small businesses invest in social media marketing. But are they all doing it right? For a lot of people, the concept of social media marketing is limited to creating a facebook page and a twitter handle and making their business visible on these platforms. Eventually, such companies fade away from the face of social media networks and do not benefit much from this marketing strategy.
If you want to realize the actual power of social media marketing, you have to do things a little differently. It can no longer be an ‘after-thought’ marketing strategy. The year 2014 has seen tremendous growth in social media marketing and it is a good enough indicator that, social media will gain even more importance in 2015. Below are some probable predictions for social media marketing trends this year.
1. Self Hosted Videos
Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc will prefer videos that are hosted on their platform. This means, as a marketer, you could try uploading comprehensive videos about your business or company on these individual social media platforms, instead uploading your videos on youtube and sharing the links. Video marketing will go beyond youtube channels.
2. Better Filters and Apps
There will be more apps like Zite, that will help the users to filter through their choice of content. As a marketer, your challenge here will be to get your message across to your target audience through such filters.
3. Visual Content will Rule
There is a high probability of development of newer forms of content such as interactive videos, short visual snippets etc. that will go viral, all over the social media. Also, image based advertising will rise big time. Social media networks such as instagram, pinterest, tumblr etc will no longer be restricted to selfies, or for sharing recipes. As a marketer, you must capitalize on these platforms to create visual stories of your brand and reach out to your prospective customers. This will be an effective way to foster interpersonal relationship with your customer base and also boost your brand visibility.
2015 will mark the union of social media marketing, public relations and advertising and will accelerate at a much faster pace. The whole purpose of digital marketing will focus on customer experience across the various social media channels. More businesses are expected to leverage on the power of social media with maximum participation marketing and social network engagements.
