Social media trends for 2013 – the gurus are out in force with predictions, paths, ideas and directions – yet for many small businesses, the questions remains the same. How can we use social media effectively to drive business?
There is a lot of information available on social media – how to use it, when to be active, what platforms to engage on.
This can be confusing, and the ideas shared conflicting or difficult to see how to adapt or how to choose the best tactics for your specific business given the ever shifting social media space.
Let’s look at the trends and direction of business, and then consider a solution that can help you adapt and prepare for business success in the new year.
The latest trends for social media and marketing in 2013
It’s important to understand social media marketing – it will help you thrive and stay ahead of your competitors. Here are a few of the ideas and strategic directions being bandied about that can and will impact your small business:
It’s Everywhere: “Companies will begin to see social media as something akin to a telephone that can be used in multiple ways by multiple departments.” – Jeremy Goldman, Entrepreneur, strategist, & author of the upcoming book, Going Social – @jeremarketer via the Future of Social Media.
New Customer Expectations: ”Now that the majority of society has adopted social, expectations have changed. Those expectations will dramatically affect customer service, marketing and sales.
- Customer Service – People know they don’t have to wait on the phone to get help, they can tweet. This makes it easy for the customer to let the brand know about any and all problems. …so companies will start adopting it out of necessity. If a customer who doesn’t want to talk to a machine or wait on hold for 20 minutes, they are going to reach out via social.
- Marketing – Having a presence on social media has become (or will soon) as important as having a website. Not being on social means you’re missing out on big opportunities in search engine real estate and with your customers. More firms will add social media…it’s an essential part of a successful media mix.
- Sales – Social media has become a powerful tool for both B2B and B2C industries. It can generate leads and drive buyer traffic to a specific product. Sales teams will evolve … as location isn’t as much of an issue when you’re running a powerful social platform.” – Mike Bal, Creative and Digital Marketing Director at Baseline21 – @CreativeIthink via Future of Social Media.
Big Data and Analytics: ”Focus on developments with big data and analytics. We need to begin to turn our attention toward distilling wisdom and marketing insight from the vast amounts of information coming at us from our social media activities. Those who master this and can react quickly will create competitive advantage.” — Mark Schaefer, author of “Return On Influence” from PRDaily.
Integration: ”Integrate. We’ve got to stop looking at social media in a silo. Leverage your other communications channels to drive your customers to more deep connection points (social media) and leverage your social communications to support the other channels (point to deals, advertisements, promotions, etc.). A healthy mix of the two—engagement and calls-to-action—and integrating social as the close-to-the-bone connection point will help us be more integrated in our approach to social.” — Jason Falls, CEO of Social Media Explorer via PRDaily.
Less Words, More Visual: ”The future of social media lies heavily in images, video and interaction for the user. It is exploring our senses further with sight, sound and touch.” – Caroline Kornowicz, Social Media Manager for CliqStudios Cabinets – @CarolineSofiaK via Future of Social Media.
Enhanced CRM through Social: ”New social profiling and scoring tools will allows marketers to analyze and apply custom segmentation logic to their social databases to meet specific customer acquisition and conversion goals. As a result companies will see a tangible social marketing ROI – increase in sales and customer retention.” – Mike Lewis, VP of Marketing and Sales at Awareness, Inc. – @bostonmike via the Future of Social Media.
Drive to Action: “Use social media to deliver service, enlist help, or share something spectacular, make what you share about how it benefits the people you want to move to action.” — Liz Strauss, founder of Inside Out Thinking as shown in PRDaily.
What do these social media trends mean for YOUR business?
There is one thing that can help any organization wade through the immense amount of information and disinformation surrounding social media and it’s relevance to their organization: start with a plan. Figure out what you want to achieve, and then identify how social media can support and enhance your existing efforts to reach that goal.
By beginning with a plan, you choose a direction and then select and engage on the most relevant and effective tools and techniques in order to meet your objectives.
We help businesses and organizations add social media to their overall marketing and sales efforts – let the experts navigate the changing landscape of digital media so you can focus on what you do best. Contact Strategic Social Media today: (704) 301-0135 or send us a note.