Social Media took a giant leap forward thus far in 2013, with more and more businesses utilizing the potential inherent in many of the social sites on the web. Things move so quickly though, so it’s always worth trying to stay a step ahead of the game. Here’s what we think might happen with social media in 2014.
Community building will become even more important for major companies. There’s no doubt that this is going to happen. In fact, it’s happening already. Just today sportswear giants Nike announced that they were bringing all of their social media marketing in house in an attempt to get closer to their perceived community. With the fragmentation of social media, it is becoming more and more important for companies to have a range of specialists on hand to deal with the different areas of social media – farming this work out is not going to be as effective in the future, but one thing is for sure – creating a strong community of online followers is going to be more important than ever.
Social will financially integrate into other areas of business. We may have expected companies in the past to have a singular budget for social media, but it is now such a large part of business that all areas of business are likely to indulge in social media work, which means the budget for such work will be spread throughout different teams amongst the workforce.
Content creation becomes more important than ever. With more social space to fill than ever before, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to have a strong idea about their output. More and more companies are likely to employ content creators solely for the purpose of filling up social media space. Any big company is going to need several online voices, and plenty of things to say. We can expect plenty of editorial specialists in the market place, offering themselves social media content gurus. We will also see less generic content, with more emphasis on targeted custom messages stemming from behavioural data.
Social TV may come to the fore. Web integrated TV’s are everywhere at the moment, and it’s likely that social TV could finally take hold in the mass market place. People use social networks to talk about TV and current events, so it makes sense that companies will look to create an integrated experience that works.
The explosion in Tablet sales is going to continue throughout 2013, and the popularity of the Wii U so far probably means that we will see developments towards an augmented TV experience in the very near future.
In the last five years, we’ve seen large brands investing just a little bit more each year into their social media marketing teams. 2013 will be the year when a small group of savvy businesses will start integrating social as a vital piece of their business functions. It will form a crucial part of the wheel, a set of functions and principles critical to all parts of the business. In short, the fore sighted companies will realise next year that social is going to be one of the driving forces of their business for the foreseeable future, and they will act accordingly.
Here in Detroit we’re always looking forward, hoping that the next year is going to be as positive as the last. The best way to bring success your way is by staying one step ahead of the game. Speak to your Detroit SEO team to find out how they are going to keep you ahead of your competition during 2014.
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