2011 is gone, and 2012 has rolled in without missing a beat. The social media marketing 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 trends for 2012? How wonderful would it not be to know what trends come in store for the coming year? Could you adequately prepare for this rapidly changing industry? On this page, 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 predicated 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 industry has been about 97 percent. However, even when I’m wrong it’s only because my timeline ended up being longer than I thought it was going to be. I’ve a knack for spotting social media trends. Which article lists four powerful trends unfolding right now. You can profit from what I say or ignore me, the choice is yours. Either way these trends will unfold as the year progresses. So continue reading and heed my advice. Prepare your social media campaigns to take advantage these trends for 2012 and beyond.
Prediction #1) Social Media Networks and Marketing will continue to grow at an alarming rate.
This past year Facebook grew from around 600 million to 800 million users based 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). Add to this, Google started Google+, and Microsoft is reported 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 intend to reach and engage this enormous market. Combining both engagement and ppc 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 top four Social Media Network companies will make an expensive mistake causing them to reduce significant market share. At this time several of the larger social media marketing giants like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all share one crucial flaw. They make an effort to make it extremely difficult to communicate with them. Take Facebook, for instance. Luxury Travel Guides don’t list any contact information other than a Facebook page. Sure they have plenty of help pages. Yes, Facebook includes a blog, plenty of YouTube videos, but provides no contact number where one can call and talk to a individual? They do have a Facebook page you can enter suggestions on, but that’s it. What happens when you get yourself a strange message from Facebook, or you’re having difficulty together with your account? You post a message and never get yourself a reply! Twitter and LinkedIn are not much better. They don’t list a contact phone number or address either. However, I have found that they do answer your email and posted messages, although it sometimes takes given that seven days to acquire a reply.
In my opinion, of the most notable three social media marketing companies, LinkedIn supplies the best service. Google is new in this game. It isn’t as an easy task to lump them in with all of those other social media 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. The good news is that you can aquire someone on the phone! Google does list contact numbers. My advice to any business is simple, be ready to create changes to your social media campaign if you need to. Furthermore, if you’re using the top four social media marketing services, make a backup of one’s data. This is if you happen to opt to make “the switch” and ditch one of these players.
Prediction #3) Google+ will become one of many top 3, in the social networking arena by the finish of 2012.
I know I’m going out on a limb here, but I believe this is inevitable. Google’s share size and current customer base allows Google+ to grow at a much faster pace than other social media marketing sites. The exact number of Gmail users isn’t public, but we do know that it is huge! I have read estimates ranging from about 190 million to 250 million accounts. Furthermore, Google owns so many internet properties, that they can easily integrate the usage of these properties into their social network. This adds value with their social network. Increase this, the point that Google owns Google Search, Google AdWords, YouTube, Blogger and Picasa. Are you starting to get the picture? Google is gigantic. Google controls the lion’s share of internet traffic and advertising dollars.
Google has also been able to produce a social-networking product that is user friendly, internet search engine friendly and innovative. These qualities’ have made them the web leader they are today. I am not sure that they can keep this frantic pace forever, but for 2012, it’s a done deal. My advice for you is to review what your location is spending your advertising money and see if it makes sense using any of the Google properties. If you’re a person, and have been waiting on the sideline with Google+, stop what you’re doing and take the 10 minutes to create a Gmail and Google+ account. If you curently have a Gmail account, this can only take you about 5 minutes. The bonus here is you may also create a Google+ Brand page without a lot of fuss.