Social media and social networks have completely revolutionized the current landscape of businesses and brands, and the way in which they now relate to consumers. Many are the paradigms that have been transformed, but after all, it is time to ask ourselves. Where did all this evolve? What’s next? What has the new year prepared for Social Media?

Many professionals at the international level are clear about what this immediate future will be and how the new trends associated with social media will affect specific areas of business such as marketing, sales and customer service.

It will be necessary to design an integrated strategy, which includes content marketing, advertising campaigns in social networks and other actions of Social Media, such as interactions. A whole set of actions with a single objective, giving rise to what some experts like Jason Stein comes to call “media convergence.”

High segmentation will be achieved, which will allow conversion goals to be achieved. For Mike Lewis, VP of Marketing and Sales in Awareness, “new tools for monitoring and managing social networks will allow better analysis of statistics and design a strategy optimized to reach a specific market niche, more likely to obtain the expected result.” Meanwhile, experts in digital content such as Joey Beachum, show the proliferation of smartphones will increase their connectivity and presence in social networks, which will exponentially increase their exposure time.

Social Media will be essential, not optional. Natalie Bidnick is so pronounced in this sense.  Of Zen Group, pointing out that “there is no longer any choice for companies, it is already an imperative that they develop an effective presence in social networks”.

Social Media will not be an end in itself, but a means. It will be considered as a useful communication tool, whose implementation will be carried out in multiple departments. This is the vision of Jeremy GoldmanWho also adds that both the marketing department, the customer service or the sales department will use social channels to establish a more direct and effective relationship with the consumer. They must work together to show unity. For this it would be highly recommended to have a single social infrastructure, run by a person in charge to orchestrate the actions and needs of the different departments.

From the general to the particular, even the individual. As Kelby Bricpoints out, thanks to Social Media, it is possible to foster more direct and personal relationships between companies and clients. Meanwhile, Molly Glover, VP of Marketing at Compass Labs, encourages us to forget about ROI for a moment and think about what have I learned from my clients today? The future is to abandon the idea of ​​selling, marketing, and begin to converse with the audience. This will have a significant impact on the degree of engagement.

Social networks will be consolidated as a customer service channel. Many experts like Mike Bal, Kevin Ohashi and Brittany Dowell agree that the companies will have employees dedicated exclusively to connect with customers through the main social channels, noting that investment in this area You will see it duplicate.

Users will only accept quality content. An important issue highlighted by Kurt Uhlir, Co-founder of Buzztastic, who points the option enabled by Facebook so that users can deliberately hide updates that are not interesting, which is the previous step to stop being a fan, if the contributions of the brand still have no relevance. Experts agree that customers are constantly demanding fresh and quality content, so companies must be agile and have an adequate content strategy.

You will need a mobile marketing strategy. The experts emphasize the importance of the mobile as a new support with its own characteristics, which requires an adaptation of the contents; Both technically and in terms of the objectives it pursues. Carrie Peterson says that 2013 will be the year of Social Media Mobile and tablet apps, offering the ability to offer personalized experiences, which leads to greater guarantees of success.

With respect to social networks,  linkedIn will continue to gain integers by becoming the ideal social network to build a strong relationship between companies, in addition to gain credibility with customers, and attract potential customers.

The world does not end on Facebook. There are more social networks, without a doubt. Valerie Jennings, CEO of Viral Bolt Media, indicates that one of the major changes this new year will be the shift from the current perception of focusing exclusively on Mark Zuckembert’s social platform as a social marketing tool and include other programs and strategies to generate sales through Of Pinteres, Google+ and even FourSquare , and if they are not able to deliver the expected results, there are sure to be new social networks that are.

Social networks can even replace the website. This aspect brings some connotations for the companies and according to the experts, our clients will judge us based on how they can contact us through your pages and social profiles. The information about your brand and its products, collected in your social profiles, will be more valuable than the information published on the official website of the company.

Everything indicates that the Social Media will enter its stage of maturation, taking a turn in search of an approximation and a more direct treatment between the brand and the client. It will enable the you to you relationship between both parties. It is no longer a question of sending a general message, but of initiating a conversation with the users. In this regard, content marketing will be essential to provide quality experiences, increasingly tailored and personalized.

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