2011 is fully gone, and 2012 has rolled in without missing a beat. The social media industry keeps growing in leaps and bounds. I often hear people say social networking is similar to the Wild Wild West! So answer this question for me personally. Would it be valuable in the event that you knew the future social media trends for 2012? How wonderful would it not be to learn what trends come in store for the year ahead? Could you adequately plan this rapidly changing industry? In this posting, I provide my 2012 predictions for the evolving trends in the social-networking industry. It certainly is gratifying when my predictions become a reality. My predictions are not predicated on any sort of special powers. They are predicated on my industry research, what I read and what I see happening every day in my work. My accuracy rate in the social media industry has been about 97 percent. However, even though I’m wrong it’s only because my timeline ended up being longer than I thought it was going to be. I have a knack for spotting social media marketing trends. Which 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 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, (in addition they both acquired several new partners and internet assets). Add to 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 for you is; create and implement “a worker social media use policy” to control business hour usage. Second, create a social media marketing plan to reach and engage this enormous market. Combining both engagement and ppc campaigns work best.
Prediction #2) One of the largest players in the social media arena will make a “miss step” in 2012.
I believe that one of the most notable four Social Media Network companies will make an expensive mistake causing them to lose significant market share. Right now several of the larger social media marketing giants like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all share one crucial flaw. They try to make it almost impossible to communicate with them. Take Facebook, for example. They don’t list any contact information apart from a Facebook page. Sure they will have plenty of help pages. Yes, Facebook includes a blog, lots of YouTube videos, but provides no contact number where one can call and talk to a individual? They do have a Facebook page it is possible to enter suggestions about, but that’s it. What goes on when you get yourself a strange message from Facebook, or you’re having trouble together with your account? You post a message and never get a reply! Twitter and LinkedIn aren’t much better. They don’t list a contact contact number or address either. However, I’ve found that they do reply to your email and posted messages, though it sometimes takes provided that seven days to acquire a reply.
In my opinion, of the top three social media companies, LinkedIn provides the best service. Google is new in this game. It isn’t as easy to lump them in with all of those other social media giants yet. However, I can tell you that Google has a notoriously poor customer service reputation. It has been my experience with Google that the quality of service you receive depends on the person you obtain on the phone. Fortunately that you can get someone on the telephone! 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 any of the top four social media marketing services, make a backup of one’s data. This is if you happen to decide to make “the switch” and ditch one of these brilliant players.
Prediction #3) Google+ will become one of the top 3, in the social network arena by the end of 2012.
I know I’m going from a limb here, but I believe this is inevitable. Google’s share size and current customer base will allow Google+ to cultivate at a much faster pace than other social media sites. The exact amount of Gmail users is not public, but we can say for certain that it is huge! I’ve read estimates ranging from about 190 million to 250 million accounts. Furthermore, Google owns so many internet properties, that they can easily integrate the use of these properties into their social network. This adds value with their social network. Increase this, the truth that Google owns Google Search, Google AdWords, YouTube, Blogger and Picasa. Are you currently starting to obtain the picture? Social Media Management agency is gigantic. Google controls the lion’s share of internet traffic and advertising dollars.
Google has also had the opportunity to make a social-networking product that is simple to use, 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 is a done deal. My advice to you is to review where you are 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 ten minutes to set up a Gmail and Google+ account. In the event that you already have a Gmail account, this can only take you about 5 minutes. The bonus here is also you can setup a Google+ Brand page without a lot of fuss.