Social Media predictions for this 2012

Guest post by: Mark Scott
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Social Media predictions for this 2012 - By Mark Scott

We are a month in to 2012 and already we are ready starting to see a number of changes in the social media world. Here are my predictions for this year.

Facebook

The first change, which has been provided by Facebook with them introducing the timeline and ticker This has seen a change in what is shown in the news feed. Brands will have to produce for engaging content to spark more shares and interactions, whether that is likes or comments. Brands also need not only start the conversation to also interact with the fans who comment.

This is one of my pet hates, that I see brands creating engaging content and having a 1000 comments but not one been from the brand. You don not start a conversation and just sit back, which is the case for most brands/businesses.

Within Facebook, brands will shift from wanting a mass of likes to a more quality of likes. I know having a page with 1000+ likes is better than a page with say 30 likes in a kind of popularity or social proof. It can argue this can damage the engagement of a page and with the introduce of the ‘people talking about it" shown to the world, brands will have to ensure that they are engaging and interacting.

Another prediction for this year will be there will be a massive increase of brands increasing their budgets in social advertising. This is another introduced of Facebook adding ads in to people news feed will have to see how this pans of out as it gives the users the option to see which ads they are happy to see.

With the introducing the timeline which is still continuing to roll out across Facebook I think will see more and more apps been integrated in to the timeline. We have already seen apps such as Pinterest, which is a favorite of mine. This shows that

Facebook are working worth other social networks and making Facebook a step closer to becoming the only place you need to visit on the web for all of your social connections. Will we see this by the end of 2012?

Not only ill we see more apps but more social games been added to the Timeline, which we will see a increase brands advertising within the games.

Looking at Facebook in terms of privacy I think we will see the privacy becoming more secure, no more leaking of Mark Zuckerbergs personal photos. We may see more control over the sponsored stories with people having to allow for their names to be used within the ads as currently there is no option for this.

Lastly I think there is still more to come from Facebook and I think the rest of 2012 will be exciting times at Facebook. Wish I was a fly on the wall in Facebook HQ.

I think Facebook will continue to be the market leader and I am looking forward to the advancements Facebook will bring to us by the end of 2012 or early 2013.

Google+

I am a big fan of Google+ and interact on both Facebook and Google+. I think we will see bigger things from G+, I hope so. They have to introduce something new to be able to compete with Facebook.

I think G+ will integrate Adwords in to G+ and may be follow the route that Facebook have taken and may be even within the social search.

Google+ need to allow for developers to create apps for users to add to their personal profiles and also to brand pages.

Another feature I would like to see would be to allow customers to have a hangout with a brand. This could be used in a way of finding out what the customers are wanting, or a customer service issue.

Across all social media channels brands/business need to use these as a communications channel rather than just another place to advertise. I am not saying you cannot advertise just not that is all you post. You need to communicate with your customers and shift them to being a brand loyalist.

Twitter

As with my predictions for Facebook, I think we will start to see more advertising tweet or promoted tweets within our twitter feeds once they open this up. I still think Twitter need to add more to the platform, as with Facebook growing and becoming a central hub then Google+. I think we need to see more from them.

I know it is a fantastic tool for businesses to spread blog content, interact with customers, even find new ones but how about twitter Apps. I would love to see an Angry Bird app.

I know Twitter have updated the profile pages, but I think we need to see more how businesses can use the page, may be this will be something they are planning on but then again would this just be another Facebook?

A lot of brand have already woken up to this but there is still many business/brands that have not in 2012 will see these brands been left behind in the social media world. Social media is the new relationship marketing.

I think that brand will need to increase the monitoring of their social media accounts to not only respond to customers but to manage their online reputation and to where the conversations are happening. Brands think they are on Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube and have a blog but that is not enough there is a bigger picture to social media. There many be niche forums, blogs and other social networks that may be talking about their product or service. Just because a social network is not as big as Facebook or Twitter but it doesn't say people aren't talking about your brand on there.

Another way I have noticed social media been used towards the end of 2011, is to use social media platforms for personal branding. This is becoming more popular every single day.

For people who want to develop their personal brand will take more time on Twitter to creating the right perception about them. Remember Twitter is not just for the GaGa's of this world. Other social media platforms such as LinkedIn and a blogs are helping people create a personal brand.

Not only are using social media platform to develop a personal brand but are using them to monitor their personal reputation online. As I mentioned previously brands need to monitor their mentions and as to do people on a personal level. Do you know what happens when you type your name in Google?

Finally I think brands/business need to look at measuring their social media marketing campaigns.

Brands and business need to measuring positive results such as an increase in sales or brand awareness and see where these positives are coming from.

A lot top brands have developed fully integrated social apps in to their Facebook pages, but these are extremely expensive especially if they do not develop a return. They need to look at what ROI they are getting back from investing in a social app.

I can't stress this enough that all social media campaigns need to look at getting a return.

Throughout 2012 this factor will become more important and will sort those campaigns that can develop a return from those who cannot.

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Social Media predictions for this 2012 - By Mark Scott

About the Author: Mark Scott

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Mark Scott has an extensive Social Media marketing knowledge gained within the digital marketing industry. Working with various clients, from various sectors he has been able to develop effective Social Media strategies that have generated brand following, customer engagement and most importantly income
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