Social media changes to keep in mind for 2015

Social media is continuously evolving and rapidly changing. For example, 2014 saw Facebook’s controversial changes to its algorithm, which reduced the organic reach of business pages. social media image

As 2015 approaches, marketers need to be ready with more personalized and, of course, quality content that is also in tune with the way users will consume content. Here are some trends to keep in mind:

The world goes mobile

Mobile devices continue to gain more share of consumers’ attention. Increased convenience, lower prices for better phones and better features have led to users doing everything on their smartphones — social networking, shopping, messaging, etc.

World population is growing in developing, high-growth countries, and communication is all mobile due to lower prices and convenience. According to eMarketer, mobile phone penetration will rise from 61.1 percent to 69.4 percent of the global population by 2017.

Video trumps photo

2014 saw the rise of visual content marketing. This year will see the rise of video content, in its true sense. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have adopted video, to great result.

Videos on Facebook now become almost as popular as they would on YouTube, sparking rumors of Facebook even overtaking the latter in the video space. Instagram and Vine’s short videos have also become increasingly popular with users.

Increased Internet penetration, improved speeds and cheaper rates have and will only help the cause.

Content gets personal

Marketers now have more information and tools than ever to be able to execute personalized campaigns. Digital advertising features like audience retargeting, similar audiences, etc., have enabled marketers to effectively reach their target audiences.

Messaging will also be a key factor of how businesses interact with customers directly.

Not just measurable

Digital advertising will not only be measurable, but also accountable. With the availability of new, deeper features in reporting tools, marketers should be ready to learn, adopt and integrate the metrics that fully denote ROI from campaigns. And they can do this in a way that can make sense and show results for the objectives of the campaign.

Shareable, quality (and paid) content

Marketers have (and will) always, been tasked with making content go “viral.” 2015 will see the rise of “shareable.” With Facebook reducing organic reach of businesses, assigning budgets toward social media advertising is now not just an option, but should be a priority.

The optimal mix of good quality content and effective targeting through advertising the content will result in content marketing success.


About the Author
Mayur Kisani is a new-age marketer specializing in social media and interested in digital marketing and technology. You can reach out to Mayur on Twitter or on Linkedin.

 

To learn more about using Facebook for your trade show, check out our article on increasing Facebook reach without paying advertising.