Social media has played a pivotal role in our lives for some time now. Whilst this is unlikely to change any time soon, the way that we use social media, what it can do for us and how best to exploit opportunities are all set to evolve over time. Here are seven predictions that determine what we can expect this year in the world of social media.

More focused Facebook efforts

Industry experts tout that marketers who use Facebook will need to become more focused in the way that they use it in order to be heard and gain the most followers. This could involve focusing more on publishing content that followers would find interesting and appealing, as well as integrating other marketing channels to encourage followers to share branded content. Many firms using Facebook may also steer towards developing a blog this year, which can be tied in with their other forms of social media.

The growth of fusion marketing tools

Fusion marketing is likely to be a hot topic this year with regards to social media. For anyone not yet in the know, it’s the process of being able to access, create, launch and manage traditional and social media campaigns in one place. Fusion marketing tools will become more widely available and cheaper, meaning that organisations of any size can capitalise on marketing efficiencies.

Image-based media

Research suggests that social media posts containing images or videos have much higher impact than likes, comments, shares or retweets. With this in mind, visual-based content used in social media will gain increased momentum in this coming year. If an organisation wants to gain attention, it needs to develop creative, eye-catching images and video in its social media.

Interactive video

Leading experts hint that this could be the year that social media users can manipulate video by tagging it or adding a comment whilst watching it, so that snippets of video could be searchable, rather than the whole thing.

The social business

Traditionally, businesses have used social media to simply communicate with their customers. In 2014, there will be a growing trend for businesses to become completely social. By that, they need to incorporate every aspect of their business within the social media process, including their systems, planning, product development, operations and customer service. Social media will take a higher priority within a company’s goals and values, with all employees being a part of the social business.

Paid social media

Successful organisations will need to gain a wider understanding of paid social media in 2014. Increasingly, social networks will introduce payment models for marketers, so that the organic marketing benefits of social media will diminish, with special features for paying customers continuing to rise.

Advertorial growth

Social media gurus believe that the days of free marketing for companies using social media are on the decline. Increasingly, this year, advertorial will become commonplace within social media, so that companies wanting to reach their customers will need to splash the cash to do so.

About the author:

Connect with Clicksure for more information.