2014 social media marketing trends (video)

This great three-minute video by Engage Target Media highlights some key areas to watch out for in 2014. In summary:

1. You must have a social media presence and integrate the strategy into your marketing plan.
2. Watch out for Google+. Its user base is growing, and Google+ pages have higher SEO rankings.
3. Create content that focuses on images and videos, because it is more likely to engage your audience than text alone.
4. Expect an increased use of micro-videos, like Vine and Instagram, in small-business marketing.
5. LinkedIn’s Influencers Platform will allow for greater content curation and sharing, boosting LinkedIn’s share on the market.

While social media should no longer be new to a business strategy, it needs to be fully integrated into a company’s communications, marketing or public relations plans. As that happens, you need to start thinking about measurable goals and ways to track your success on social media. Ultimately, this means that social media may not be the free medium it used to be. While there are many social media monitoring an analytics tools on the market, many come at a cost when you want to receive substantive data.

Keep this in mind as you plan your budget for 2015 and beyond. Some of my favorite social media monitoring and analytics tools right now are HootSuite, Twitonomy and Followerwonk.