I don’t know about you…. but I have been overwhelmed by the amount of noise/information coming from Social Media…. It seems like it has become a battle of the Facebook, Google+ and Linked In Forums… plus podcasts and webinairs.. And the problem is- it’s all good stuff. But something has to go.. something has to be prioritized.
Reading all the information while good is time-consuming.. if you like me are trying to run a business and do your own Social Media Marketing and trying to decide where to invest your time and or staff time into where will you get the most bang for your buck not just for today and the future.. check out this Social Media Predictions which can help you make a decision on where to go and what to look for.
For me.. I needed to take a step back and re-focus.. In order to re-focus, I went to Social Media Examiner to check out what they had to say where do they think the future lies? Here are their Social Media Predictions for 2013.. Read the full and great story here.
#1 Social Media And Social Business Grow Together- I think you can see that especially if you are involved in Facebook. The Graph Search.. coming soon, Pinterest for Business. Most of these Social Media are adding ‘business services’ and they will charge.
#2: Visual Marketing– It is all about images (see #6, #10 too) Images and Visualization. This also related to Content Marketing (Blogging). because content is alot about images.. and
#3: We’ll See Media as Either Active or Passive
#4: Facebook Offers Better Tools for Businesses- We will definitely Facebook adding business tools, after all it’s where the money is… and the battle between Facebook and Google. will be interesting to see the outcome next year… Facebook Search, Facebook Gift Cards.. Facebook Premium, Facebook Promoted posts and purchasing product via Facebook.
#5: Content Marketing Is the New Social Media Marketing (see #13 Every newsletter we receive on Social Media is all about blogging is growing (not dead) because content is king.
#6: SlideShare Is the Fastest-Growing Social Network– again images
#7: Twitter Personalizes Your Twitter Feed and adds Vine.. for Video
#8: Google+ Is a “Must” Place to Be– I just heard from my nephews.. Google Hangouts is the place to be.
#9: Google+ Appeals to Niche Segments-
#10: Instagram Grows Bigger- Note Twitter Vine, (as a response to Facebook Instagram, Flickr, Picassa (Google).. Again, Images..
#11 Marketers Focus on Email list-
#12: Marketers Use Fewer Social Sites- Like us, where are you going to spend your time and importantly, who and why do you want to interact? What medium do you want to interact in? They say the trend will be to focus your marketing efforts on 2 sites.
#13: The Content Marketing Arms Race Continues and Gets More Heated– This is #5 where blogging comes in, podcasts, webinairs, and ebooks, and YouTube Videos.. The days of a static website are pretty much over.
#14: More Industries Get Serious About Social
#15: Social Media Advertising Becomes a Necessity
#16: A New Social Site Rolls Out- I would agree to this. I first heard about Pinterest a year before we went on it.. I knew images were big.. but had no idea and didn’t want to spend the time starting a new site.. I was wrong.. The next site could be MySpace, it could be Vine.. it could be Digg.. What we know.. keep your eyes open.
#17: The Number of Podcasters Doubles- I think we have seen that already in our industry!
#18: Facebook Ad Network Will Make Waves
#19: Marketers Increase Social Media Spend
#20: Social Media Focuses on the Business– Social Media networks need to make money and the money is in the business world..
#21: Social Brands Shift to Social Business
Bottom line.. for you (and us) after looking at the above.. it really comes down to several things, like with your business, it is hard to be all things to all people. Pick 2 Social Media to Focus your marketing on and pick 2 Social Media to learn retail strategy. Don’t get distracted by the noise..
Have some fun.. while you are at it.
