5 Facts about the Future of Social Media

There’s no doubt that it’s going to be a big year for social media, and there are no signs of social media to die down any time soon. As social media continues to grow, keep these five things in mind to help your own social media strategy.

1. SEO rankings will be more affected by social influence

Google is clearly the top-notch search engine that rewards good influence by single digit rankings. Marketers have watched Google over the years to examine how it determines what is influential, and worthy of being shown in search results. Now, the same thing is happening with social media influence. Social media content already has a huge impact on search engine results pages. Now the question becomes which content is going to have the most influence. Marketers need to monitor the influence of this content to stay successful.

2. Revenue related metrics will be measured more

At social media’s beginning, the emphasis was on the number of “likes,” fans and followers. Marketers now realize these fans and followers are real people who have given their time and support to certain brands. Brand awareness is certainly important, but solid ROI numbers should be attached to this awareness. In the year to come, stronger metrics platforms will be used that will come with real revenue numbers with each social media brand. These improved metrics will give marketers stronger data, which will in turn lead to better content and stronger campaigns.

3. More attention and spending will go towards social media

This seems like an obvious fact given the growing importance of social media. Companies are seeing the value of social media and are realizing that there’s so much more to social media than witty Tweets and Facebook “likes.” Social media is now more than brand “fluff” and has become a major part of marketing campaigns. Social media is now being taken more seriously and it is sure become a standardize practice across businesses everywhere.

4. Social sharing will become standard on all websites

Online publishing became one of the first industries to capitalize on social sharing, as sites started putting sharing options to their content leading to more page views and higher SERP rankings. This year, more companies will see that viewers are unlikely to share something unless they see the option to share it. With this in mind, adding sharing options to pages will ultimately lead to greater brand awareness.

5. Social and search will become one in the same

The line between social and search are blending more and more together. It will be interesting to watch Google+ as a leader in this arena. Marketers should watch and see if Google+ really challenges Facebook. Google+ will most likely integrate with other platforms and find its balance, but is likely to gain more importance if Google buys into a social media management system.

These social media trends are sure to be seen through this year. But in this fast moving industry, be ready for surprises around all corners of the Internet marketing world!