Would it surprise you to discover that some experts think Google GOOGL +0.21 %+ is on its way out, that MySpace is making a last-ditch attempt to re-engage users, or that Foursquare is in the middle of an extreme overhaul?
Late last year, I made some forecasts for social networks trends in my article, The Leading 7 Social media site Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014. In this post, I'm going to analyze where things are now that we're around the mid-way point of 2014, and evaluate how my predictions have fared so far.
Forecast # 1: Financial investment in Social network will End up being a Need, not a Luxury
With 92 % of business owners recently suggesting that social media is essential to their company (up from 86 % in 2013), this prediction seems on track. Businesses are continuing to re-allocate budgets far from conventional methods of advertising towards social networks and other incoming marketing techniques.
A major issue amongst entrepreneur continues to be measuring the ROI for their social media efforts. Other problems that may be hindering the effectiveness of social networks for some businesses consist of an illiteracy and skilled workers-- making it hard to efficiently perform day-to-day social networks jobs (never ever mind planning or tying social media sites into wider business goals).
Prediction # 2: Google+ will certainly End up being a Major Element
With simply over half of online marketers utilizing the platform, and 61 % of companies intending on enhancing their Google+ activities this year, Google+ is plainly still top of mind for marketers. But while more and more business owners think that a financial investment in Google+ is a necessity, numerous are still having problem with making the platform work for their business.
With Google announcing earlier this year that social signals are not part of their ranking algorithm, some business owners are questioning whether a financial investment in Google+ is as valuable as formerly thought. Contribute to this the recent decision to eliminate Authorship images from the search engine result, and it's not surprising that some marketers are confused about how Google+ is various or much better than Facebook or Twitter TWTR +6.22 %.
With the head of Google+ social efforts Vic Gundotra unexpectedly leaving the company in April, and reports of Google+ being 'walking dead', the future of the platform is unclear. For now, entrepreneur need to continue to concentrate on utilizing the platform as a method to get in touch with potential customers, however possibly more significantly as a primary technique of developing Author Rank and authority for their material. For more on this, see my post Is Google+ Actually Walking Dead?
Prediction # 3: Image-Centric Networks Will See Huge Success
Image-centric social media networks like Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat may not be severe competitors for Facebook, but they remain to draw in a loyal user-base, which might ultimately be the secret to their success.
Pinterest, for instance, is experiencing some pretty amazing retention rates: according to current study by RJ Metrics, while 2014 has actually seen a drop in male pinning activity, women actually appear to pin more the longer they're on the platform. Robert J. Moore of RJ Metrics composes, "While the typical female user posts 42 pins in year 1, by year 4 she is up to 152! If you set out to develop a habit-forming product, that is exactly the type of trend you're trying to find.".http://cferoutaouais.ca/
pinterest-graph.
Companies continue to find creative methods to use image-centric networks to reach new, younger audiences: for example, Mashable recently announced that MTV would be using its Snapchat account to reveal the candidates for the Video Music Awards.
According to Global Internet Index data, while Facebook still remains the clear winner in terms of its user base, amongst social networking websites Instagram experienced the most significant increase in active user numbers between quarter 2 and quarter 4 of 2013; it will be interesting to see if this trend has actually continued into the very first 2 quarters of 2014 and beyond.
Prediction # 4: We'll Witness the Rise of Micro-Video.
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