Six trends in social media next year

Summary: HootSuite chief executive Ryan Holmes Social media management tool HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes (Ryan Holmes) has published an article predicting the six major trends in social media in the 2013 years, with the theme still mobile social

HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes

Ryan Holmes, chief executive of HootSuite, a social media management tool, has published an article predicting the six major trends in social media in the 2013 years, with the theme of mobile social networking and corporate social Ryan Holmes.

The following are the main contents of the Holmes article:

Can Facebook continue to dominate the social arena? Can corporate investment in social media make a higher return? Will the CEO eventually start sending Twitter messages? Here is the most important trend in the next year of social media.

Mobile social media usage continues to climb

In September this year, Facebook disclosed an important message in its filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission: "We expect mobile usage to grow faster than personal computer use for the foreseeable future." "In the US, mobile internet users will overtake wired internet users in 2015 years, but on social platforms, the shift will come sooner."

What does that mean for the future of social media? Web sites that make it easier to move and socialize have huge advantages, especially a visual-sharing platform like Instagram, which actually Instagram mobile subscribers more than Twitter. At the same time, the traditional network must better make its own desktop and mobile experience to achieve differentiation, to ensure that the mobile interface is simple and practical, fast loading speed, while fully utilizing GPS, near-field communication technology, and even to fully utilize the surrounding geographical function.

At the same time, the development of practical advertising technology for mobile platforms is more urgent than ever before. So far, it has become a serious problem in this area, and even Achilles, that advertising has been effectively put into a narrow mobile device screen.

Second, social advertising continues to develop and improve

To address mobile revenue challenges, social networking will explore new social advertising patterns next year. Traditional banner advertising and intrusive advertising will be gradually reduced, replaced by innovative advertising, such as Twitter "promotional messages" (Promoted Tweets) and "sponsored Stories". What's unique about these so-called local ads (native ads) is that they don't look like ads at all, and they're like a built-in, user-selectable alternative.

Some users are very dissatisfied with ads hacking into their screens, and local ads are expected to make the brand contact them based on customer preferences and needs. Behind this is an aggregation idea that advertising and content can be substituted for each other. For example, companies have started sending Twitter messages to their followers through their own social media channels. Use analysis tools to determine which message readings are the highest, and then selectively expand the scope of these messages, such as sending "promotional messages" to turn content into advertising for wider coverage.

Third, the international and minority social networks to achieve great development.

In 2013, the total number of social network users in North America is expected to grow by only 4.1%, while growth in the Asia-Pacific region (including China, India and Indonesia) is expected to be as high as 21.1%, Latin America growth of 12.6%, Middle East and Africa growth of 23.3%.

Large social networks will continue to stride into international markets, and last year Facebook's number of users in Latin America grew by 47%. But localized social networks, especially those that rely heavily on mobile users, will also experience significant progress. For example, the number of Sina Weibo users in China has recently exceeded 400 million, while the only two-year micro-letter has 200 million users.

At the same time, niche social networks that are focused on providing deeper, more single-minded functionality and are often overlooked by big companies will continue to experience explosive growth in North America and the international market. For example, after Instagram was acquired by Facebook, social media traffic increased by 17,319%, while Pinterest traffic increased by 5,124%.

What does that mean for brands and businesses? To maximize coverage, you need to keep up with social networks in North America and around the world. There is also a huge need for social media management systems, including simplified monitoring and posting.

Iv. social media outreach to sectors other than marketing

Over the next year, companies are expected to be more receptive to social media tools, including internal networks, live chats, and more, extending their use beyond familiar marketing and community-building areas. This has the potential to greatly boost economic interests. Last year, McKinsey published an eye-opening report, saying that untapped social technology is worth as much as $1.3 trillion trillion in the corporate marketplace, most of which comes from increased office productivity.

We've seen human resources use social media to simplify application procedures, sales teams use social media to nurture connections and oversee sales channels, and operations and distribution teams use social media to track supply chains in detail. In addition, HootSuite conversations and other internal network tools can enable enterprises to share professional technology.

At the same time, the way social media are deployed in big businesses will change radically. Social networking has so far been driven primarily by grass-roots staff, large social media and community managers, but more and more CIOs, CEOs and CMO (chief marketing officers) will also see the value of social media for businesses and begin to adopt them. Social media management systems can also be an integral part of corporate office software and customer relationship management software as the top management of the enterprise has developed a social media strategy Top-down.

V. Large data continues to develop and is more manageable

Social media provides companies with an unprecedented amount of information about customers and buying trends. From data giant Facebook to small businesses active in social media, the challenge is to deal with the data and translate it into appropriate actions and policies. It should be noted that a survey by Oracle revealed that 93% of North American executives said they would lose part of their revenue if they did not make the most of the data.

"We need to build strong systems to analyze these massive social media data and connect them to the intersection of consumers and brands," explains Marita Scarfi, a digital analyst Marita Scafi. ”

A lot of new software and tools will emerge over the next year to accomplish these tasks. The new social Media Control center will track data from a number of social platforms in real time, including Twitter messages, Facebook "Praise", and user sentiment, allowing businesses to quickly upgrade user services, predict future buying trends, and simplify internal communication and productivity. Nestlé has started using these social data to boost customer satisfaction, and GE uses the data to speed up the maintenance of the grid, which Wall Street uses to predict its share price movements.

Vi. social media education on the right track

According to a recent survey conducted by the Harvard Business Review, only 12% of companies using social media feel they can use it effectively. As social media is becoming more and more widely used in the business world, professional training is increasingly needed to maximize influence. It's not enough to know how to send a Twitter message or build a buddy relationship on Facebook. The university is expected to offer more social media courses and specialized social media MBA training in 2013. New York State University, Columbia University, Harvard Business School and dozens of other universities have begun the quest.

At the same time, while corporate employees have a richer social media knowledge, companies will still expand the scale of social media education for employees by one-fold, similar to the skills education of the 1.0 era of the Internet ten years ago. Social media skills will become the basic skills of an enterprise in the digital age, along with e-mail. Perhaps the most important thing about social media training is education-sensitive industries, such as finance and healthcare, where employees are strictly complying with regulations while making the most of the convenience that social media brings.

This year is widely seen as a year of social media jumping from college dormitories to boardroom boardrooms. By 2013, companies will begin to see the return of social media investments, driven by rising social technologies, innovative advertising patterns and an expanding global user base.