2011 is fully gone, and 2012 has rolled in without missing a beat. The social media industry is growing in leaps and bounds. I often hear people say social networking is like the Wild Wild West! So answer this question for me personally. Would it be valuable if you knew the future social media marketing trends for 2012? How wonderful would it be to know what trends are in store for the coming year? Could you adequately plan this rapidly changing industry? In this post, I provide my 2012 predictions for the evolving trends in the social-networking industry. It’s always gratifying when my predictions become a reality. My predictions are not predicated on any type of special powers. They are based on my industry research, what I read and what I see happening each day in my own work. My accuracy rate in the social media marketing industry has been about 97 percent. However, even though I’m wrong it’s only because my timeline finished up being longer than I thought it was going to be. I have a knack for spotting social media trends. And this article lists four powerful trends unfolding at this time. You can benefit from what I say or ignore me, the choice is yours. Either way these trends will unfold as the year progresses. So read on and heed my advice. Prepare your social media marketing campaigns to make the most these trends for 2012 and beyond.
Prediction #1) SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Networks and Marketing will continue to grow at an alarming rate.
Last year Facebook grew from around 600 million to 800 million users depending on whose numbers you believe. Twitter and LinkedIn also both showed growth and added many new features, (not to mention that they both acquired several new partners and internet assets). Increase this, Google started Google+, and Microsoft is said to be in the works of building their own social networking. The adoption rate of small company will lead the way, but expenditures by large corporations will exceed that of both small and medium-size businesses. My first advice to you is; create and implement “an employee social media use policy” to regulate business hour usage. Second, create a social media marketing plan to reach and engage this enormous market. Combining both engagement and pay per click campaigns work best.
Prediction #2) One of many largest players in the social media arena will make a “miss step” in 2012.
I believe that one of the very best four SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Network companies will make a costly mistake causing them to lose significant market share. Right now several of the larger social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all share one crucial flaw. They try to make it extremely difficult to talk to them. Take Facebook, for instance. They do not list any contact information other than a Facebook page. Sure they will have lots of help pages. Yes, Facebook has a blog, lots of YouTube videos, but provides no phone number where one can call and speak to a individual? They do have a Facebook page it is possible to enter suggestions about, but that’s it. What happens when you get a strange message from Facebook, or you’re having trouble together with your account? You post a message and never get yourself a reply! Twitter and LinkedIn are not much better. They don’t really list a contact phone number or address either. However, I’ve found that they do answer your email and posted messages, though it sometimes takes as long as seven days to acquire a reply.
In my opinion, of the top three social media companies, LinkedIn supplies the best service. Google is new in this game. It’s not as an easy task to lump them in with the rest of the social media marketing giants yet. However, I can tell you that Google includes a notoriously poor customer support reputation. It’s been my experience with Google that the quality of service you receive depends upon the person you get on the phone. Fortunately that you can get someone on the phone! Google does list contact numbers. My advice to any business is simple, be ready to make changes to your social media marketing campaign if need be. Furthermore, if you’re using the top four social media marketing services, make a backup of your data. This is in the event you decide to make “the switch” and ditch one of these players.
Prediction #3) Google+ will become one of the top 3, in the social networking arena by the finish of 2012.
I know I’m going out on a limb here, but I really believe that is inevitable. Google’s share size and current customer base allows Google+ to cultivate at a considerably faster pace than other social media marketing sites. The exact number of Gmail users is not public, but we can say for certain that it is huge! I have read estimates which range from about 190 million to 250 million accounts. Furthermore, Google owns so many internet properties, they can easily integrate the utilization of these properties into their social network. This adds value to their social network. Increase this, the fact that Google owns Google Search, Google AdWords, YouTube, Blogger and Picasa. Are you starting to obtain the picture? Google is gigantic. Google controls the lion’s share of internet traffic and advertising dollars.
Google has also had the opportunity to produce a social-networking product that is simple to operate, internet search engine friendly and innovative. These qualities’ have made them the internet leader they are today. I am not sure that they can keep this frantic pace forever, but also for 2012, it’s a done deal. My advice for you is to review where you are spending your advertising money and see if it seems sensible using any of the Google properties. If you’re an individual, and also have been waiting on the sideline with Google+, stop what you’re doing and take the ten minutes to set up a Gmail and Google+ account. In Luxury Travel Experiences that you curently have a Gmail account, this can only take you about five minutes. The bonus here is you can even set up a Google+ Brand page with out a lot of fuss.