End-of-the-year analyses and reports have their own logic. And it’s looking ahead. Trying to predict the future, in a way, based on what has already been, happened, changed and so on. In fact, it’s not so much predicting, as it is aiming to adapt and achieve, by being flexible and embracing the new. And it’s true of any domain of activity. Setting trends has become somewhat less important than following them. Not being mainstream, but managing to shift and transform in the pace that is expected – by your customers, readers, partners, collaborators.
Social media is no exception. In fact, it is the perfect example. So here goes: here are some social media predictions for 2014, put together by entrepreneur.com and Mashable.com.
- Storytelling will become more and more visual. Companies will choose shirt videos for branding purposes, customer acquisition, user retention and what not.
- “Fandom” will translate into “free” word-of-mouth marketing to an even greater extent.
- Google+ will continue to grow in importance and relevance among the social media.
- Contextual marketing will be the norm for an increasing number of advertisers. Creating and delivering “contextually relevant content” will be key, the audience is already expecting it.
- Paid advertising on social media will be used by more and more business for promotion purposes.
- Social Media expert jobs will be more available than ever before.
- Hashtags will be incorporated in more than just social media posts.