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 business 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 Motivational Content 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 come true. My predictions are not based on any kind 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 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’ve a knack for spotting social media marketing 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. Ready your social media campaigns to make the most these trends for 2012 and beyond.
Prediction #1) Social Media Networks and Marketing will continue steadily 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 said to be in the works of creating their own social networking. The adoption rate of small business 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 “an employee 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 pay per click 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 extremely difficult to talk to them. Take Facebook, for example. They do not list any contact information other than a Facebook page. Sure they have plenty of help pages. Yes, Facebook includes a blog, lots of YouTube videos, but provides no phone number where you can call and talk to a individual? They do have a Facebook page it is possible to enter suggestions on, but that’s it. What goes on when you get yourself a strange message from Facebook, or you’re having trouble 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 contact number or address either. However, I have found that they do reply to your email and posted messages, although it sometimes takes as long as seven days to obtain a reply.
In my opinion, of the very best 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 the rest of the social media giants yet. However, I could tell you that Google has a notoriously poor customer service reputation. It’s been my experience with Google that the quality of service you receive depends on the person you get on the phone. Fortunately that you will get someone on the telephone! Google does list contact numbers. My advice to any business is easy, be ready to make changes to your social media marketing 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 in case you opt to make “the switch” and ditch one of these 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 that is inevitable. Google’s share size and current customer base will allow Google+ to grow at a much faster pace than other social media marketing sites. The exact amount of Gmail users is not public, but we can say for certain that it is huge! I’ve read estimates which range from about 190 million to 250 million accounts. Furthermore, Google owns so many internet properties, that they can easily integrate the utilization 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 currently starting to obtain the picture? Google is gigantic. Google controls the lion’s share of internet traffic and advertising dollars.
Google has also been able to make a social-networking product that is simple to operate, internet search engine friendly and innovative. These qualities’ have made them the web leader they are today. I’m not sure they can keep this frantic pace forever, but 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 a person, 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 the event that you curently have a Gmail account, this will only take you about 5 minutes. The bonus here is you can even create a Google+ Brand page without a lot of fuss.