My Social Media Marketing Predictions for the New Year

What social media trends should businesses pay attention to in the new year? I explain the major trends that will help your business continue your social media success into the new year.Key Highlights[01:35] Trends Emerged in 2013 that I Think Are Going to Get Stronger in 2014.[01:55] The Strategic Initiative of Employee Advocacy[04:33] The Year of Google Plus[05:27] Companies that Leverage Google Plus[06:19] Paid Social Will Be Fully Mainstream[07:51] More Emphasis on Content Creation[09:15] It's All About EvolutionNotable QuotesNow, companies are always looking outside corporate walls for brand advocates and social media. But many of your most passionate advocates are also those who have deep ties to your company. They're your employees. Each individual employee has influence in their own unique social network, their own professional and personal graph. The more employees that can help share your social media messages. The broader reach a company can yield and social media. I do see that creating a successful employee advocacy program. It has its challenges. But the evolution of both social business, as well as employee advocacy platforms and tools should progress this program forward in many companies in 2014. Once companies realize that Google Plus is not just a community, like other social networks, but it's also a social layer for all things. Google with many entry ways leading into Google Plus, it becomes an absolute no brainer to establish a presence on the site.Social media was never free, due to the fact that an investment of time and resources was always needed, right. And if online ad budgets are available, it only makes sense to shift some of this money into social advertisements to help make your social program more effective.I still believe paid social is one of the most underutilized aspects of social media marketing. But 2014 should see more companies utilizing paid advertising on more social networks, to help make sure above and beyond their legacy social media program, that they are found by relevant audiences throughout social media.At the end of the day, okay, it is unique, branded content, whether it be in the form of a blog post, a photo, a video, audio, presentation, or other medical format. It's these types of contents that become a shareable corporate asset in social media.Together with the rise of content marketing, a content centric social media marketing strategy will become all the more important to help businesses rise above the noise, and be more effective in their social media practice.It's all about this evolution. And the evolution is caused by more and more people using the sites, using them in different ways, and the site's themselves maturing.Learn More:Buy Digital Threads: https://nealschaffer.com/digitalthreadsamazonBuy Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Growth: https://nealschaffer.com/maximizinglinkedinamazonJoin My Digital First Mastermind: https://nealschaffer.com/membership/ Learn about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/cmoDownload My Free Ebooks Here: https://nealschaffer.com/books/Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/nealschafferAll My Podcast Show Notes: https://podcast.nealschaffer.com