Five Big Social Media Trends for 2014
Aaron Everson
2013 was a big year for social media as more organizations
than ever turned to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and Pinterest to learn from and engage with their
customers. As we enter 2014, it’s important not only to look
back at the past year to determine what worked and what
didn’t in social but also to think about the year ahead: What
major trends will persist, which new ones will arise, and
how can social marketers make the most of the changing
landscape?
Social marketers shoul d keep in mind the following five
insights to help their brands and organizations prepare for
and succeed in 2014 by connecting with customers.
1. Clever, smart marketing is more important
than ever
Recent trends have forced brands to compete for consumer
attention unlike ever before. Audience behavior is
fragmenting, people’s personal and professional selves are
merging, and there is a tremendous shift in how consumers
make purchase decisions.
To successfully address those changes, brands must first
understand their audience. Despite the ability to pull all kinds
of customer data, many brands fail to uncover meaningful
audience insights. Making use of customer data allows brands
to determine their audience’s preferences, and, accordingly,
how to effectively engage them.
In addition, increasingly marketing must come from a place
of helping, rather than selling. As we move into the New
Year, we’ll see brands continue to focus on content that’s
useful rather than solely promotional.
2. Social data will guide the future of relationship
intelligence
Millions of actions are taking place on social networks every
minute, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity.
The challenge lies in actually analyzing and developing
meaningful insights from the data, to take advantage of
the great opportunity to learn and strengthen customer
relationships.
Whether it’s high-level, mid-level or individual-level data,
information from social sites, campaigns, or other customer
interactions can provide brands with the data necessary to
accomplish their goals.
Brands are fully expected to have a social analytics team in
place so they can effectively monitor and engage audiences
they’re trying to reach on social media platforms, especially
because community managers cannot fight this battle alone.
3. The next phase of social business is integration
Social media can no longer exist as an entity separate from
the rest of the business. Altimeter found although 78% of
companies have a dedicated social media team, and the
number of employees on those teams is expanding, there is
still work that needs to be done. Coordination and integration
are missing: Just 26% of companies currently approach
social media holistically, according to Altimeter.
Marketers must connect social data to other enterprise data
sources to deliver actionable insights.
As 2014 approaches, there are several important factors to
identify around effectively integrating social media, including
which channels are relevant for your messaging, how social
data should be handled, and what technology tools you need
to implement the tactics behind your strategy.
4. Online meets offline for customer engagement
As brands take advantage of social tools to encourage local
customer engagement, online and offline will collide. Unique
campaigns that focus on bringing online content to the real
world will excel and make a splash in the significantly noisy
social media world. Moreover, these types of campaigns
allow brands greater integration with the communities where
they want to have an impact. That said, brands will need to
listen locally to determine what the community cares about.
5. Relevant, real-time content marketing is here
As we move into 2014, it’s important to keep in mind that
more content isn’t the key; it’s relevant content that counts.
By waiting for the moment, acting in the moment (think,
Tide’s Shark Week tweet), and anticipating the moment,
brands and marketers can drive traffic, engagement, and
high-quality leads. Smart brands already have a handle on
acting in the moment, but the trend is only going to grow in
2014. Who will be this year’s Oreo at the Super Bowl?
We’re not exactly there yet, but what if your team could
anticipate what topics your customers will be talking about
and have content ready for them when they need it? Moreover,
brands would be able to not only stay ahead of topical trends
but also determine which devices to optimize campaigns for,
what product users are likely to enjoy next, and what the
most effective calls to action will be.
2014 will certainly be an exciting year for social media!