Social media is exploding. But will it be as important next year?
In this post, 16 industry experts weight in why social media will be important in 2014.
Social Media Important 2014
Google is Social Media
“Search engine algorithms have long been gamed and social media signals are a way for the engines to add another quality signal to the mix in regards to ranking sites within the algorithm. With Google, the use of Google+ is already being integrated into their search results – with one of their future (stated) hopes being to increase the use of Google+ signals, Authorship and Publishership within their algorithm. If you want to do well with SEO in 2014 and beyond, you’ll want to get ahead of the curve in regards to building a social media presence and following.
Rae Hoffman
PushFire CE
The Conversation is on Social
“Social media’s influence is going to continue to increase in 2014. The fact is that conversations have shifted over the last 5 years. Conversations about brands, problems, experiences and personal preferences have found a home on social media. That isn’t going to change in the coming year.”
-Tim Welsh, Social Media Supervisor SEO Sales Pro
Image Based Networks will be Hot
“Image-based networks have continued to grow in importance, and could be the key social media networks in 2014. Instagram and Pinterest are adding thousands of new users a day, and the companies who understand the visual style and tastes of their audience will see massive rewards for being smart about how they use these networks. People want content that is interesting and/or educational, so if you can tap into that, they’ll be more forgiving if it’s a little promotional, too. If you’re a company trying to reach customers, or a single person trying to expand your network, stick with those ideas and you’ll have a good social media foundation going forward.”
– Christopher Forsythe, Internet Director, David Stanley
It’s Importance will Grow
“Social Media will become much more important in 2014 with the development of Facebook’s graph search (the internal Facebook search engine). More and more people will turn to Facebook to do their online research – and making
sure that your business shows up and is well ‘liked’ will be incredibly important for online conversions and brand reputation. Having your business Facebook page achieve the necessary steps to show up in Graph Search should
be a priority in your 2014 online marketing strategy.”
Carly Webber
Senior Social Media Specialist
Volume 9 Inc.
Increases SEO Rankings
“Social media is becoming increasingly important-actually crucial-for search engine ranking success among your competitors and website traffic. According to the Moz 2013 Search Engine Ranking Factors survey, the number of Google +1’s and total social media shares were among the highest factors that were correlated with high search rankings. This does not necessarily mean that social shares directly improve rankings, but the more your content is shared, the more people will see it, and site visits, as well as links back to your site may increase, which can improve your site’s overall search ranking. Make sure your company’s leaders and authors who write articles for industry publication sites have Google+ authorship enabled, linking their author bios appropriately to their Google+ profiles. Include buttons to share content from your website’s resources and blog pages, and include a strong social media strategy for sharing your company’s knowledge and insight with more people and you might see your site traffic and rankings increase.”
Rebecca Otis
Content/Social Media Manager
Digital Third Coast Internet Marketing
Mobile, SEO and Social are One
“As consumers continue to adopt mobile devices in greater numbers, the next big trend in social media will be the use of “social searching.” Traditional search engines are geared towards terse keyword searches, not the long-form voice searches that are common with mobile devices. Social searching will use these conversational searches to pose questions to users’ own social networks, generating reliable and relevant search results by crowd-sourcing the search algorithm.”
Robert Gurley
Marketing Programs Manager
MobileSmith
Social Will Die
“It won’t. Technologies only become truly historically meaningful when they are ubiquitous, everyday, common things. The next wave of important social media events won’t be social media events any more because they will just be events.”
Daniel Faltesek, PhD
Assistant Professor of Social Media
Oregon State University
Big Data Will be Key
“Just when you thought Social Media couldn’t evolve anymore, a new year begins; social media continues on a meteoric rise – with 40% of the world connected to the internet with mobile internet usage surpassing desktop use in 2014. As the digital landscape changes, prospects make their purchasing decision long before they reach a business’ door. In 2014, social media experts will have to unravel big data, so they understand the customer throughout the buying cycle, enabling thorough and correct answers to the most commonly searched questions. Marketers must be innovative and customer centric, curating compelling, creative and non-biased content that turns leads into customers and customers into loyal brand advocates. Social media is no longer a luxury, but a necessity in achieving success in this enlightened digital age.”
Jared Fletcher, CMO
Arise Virtual Solutions Inc.
It Connects Companies
“Social media gives a company a face or faces to connect with. We are moving towards a time when it not only matters how an organization interacts with us, the consumer, but also how they support and interact with their employees. Social media provides the window into office life that has long been hidden, allowing us to choose organizations that do more than supply paychecks and products. At Groopt we feel it is essential for to us to be sharing through social media who the team of people are behind the computer screen.”
Ginny Hunter
Groopt
More Focus on Content Creation in Business
“I think we’re going to see a greater emphasis on building out the social media/content creation department of businesses. With the many successes in the last year of businesses big and small on social getting headlines and eyeballs, businesses know they need to be there. 2014 will see a shift towards businesses realizing the fuller extent of how they should be there. That means serious content creation, refinement for appropriate channels, and a constant fight for influencer status. Smarter mid-sized businesses are already advertising for social media strategist positions like crazy and as the fruits of those positions start yielding even more customer advocacy returns, more businesses will start recruiting them. The growth for this position will parallel an upward sloping economy and as it remains to become fundamental, in the event of a downturn it’s more than likely that these will be the first roles cut or minimized, since their results usually
take half a year to a year to start showing serious returns. However, I don’t see that happening unless Facebook and Twitter take a huge unprecedented dive.”
Vin Ferrer
Social Media Strategist
Graphic D-Signs, Inc.
Helps Connect Customers
“Social Media will continue to be important in 2014 because it will continue, and in fact expand how businesses and their customers connect. Social Media was created for people; for the ability to make human to human connections. This has in some ways left businesses at a disadvantage. In 2014 as businesses continue to become more savvy about their use of Social Media and with an increasing focus by the platforms on business, revenue and profit those business to customer (whether B2B, B2C or other) can’t help but grow.”
Jeff Echols
Architect of the Internet
Visual Social Platforms will Grow
“Maintaining a successful business in the social space in 2014 and beyond will involve staying ahead of the curve and adapting to the evolving nature of the medium. Tablets and mobile devices are now mainstream ways of accessing information, so having and implementing mobile strategies and websites will be imperative. On the social network front, the popularity of visual platforms Pinterest and Instagram will continue to rise. Building owned media outside of Twitter and Facebook will also become imperative, and blogging is a great option that serves many purposes in terms of both social media content as well as SEO.”
Debbie Miller, Founder
Social Hospitality
The Explosion of Content Marketing
“Content marketing is exploding, and Google’s search algorithms are getting smarter. Without multiple social media presences linked together, marketers (or anybody with a business) will find it tougher to rank higher in the search engine. ‘Relevance’ will be the word of the year. An active social media presence is key to beating the competition. Discussing and engaging on content relevant to your industry and interests will make you the more “relevant” source out there, and therefore boost your web page/profile rankings for your targeted topics.”
Andrea Francis
Growth hacker/social media manager/PR for Twoodo
Cost Effective Marketing
“I believe social media will be important in 2014 because it will continue to be one of the most cost-effective ways small businesses can build their brand, connect and engage with their customers, and generate sales. Social media is a powerful customer service tool. Companies that respond to negative comments can diffuse a situation and turn an unhappy customer into a loyal fan! And companies who ignore social media run the risk of losing business to their socially savvy competitors. If your customers are on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, it’s in your company’s best interest to be there too.”
Gloria Rand
SEO Copywriter & Social Media Consultant
Great Way to Scale
”Social media remains the cheapest and fastest way to scale any business. Over the past years, it’s become essential for businesses of all sizes to participate on social media channels, just to have a digital presence beyond their standard websites. Now, more innovators and entrepreneurs are experimenting with how to bring in new customers through these open platforms. If global businesses expect to be operational 24 hours a day on the Web, digital marketers must strategize about how to keep up with that pace. Social media keeps everyone in touch and in tune.”
Danny Groner
Manager, Blogger Partnerships & Outreach
SHUTTERSTOCK
Finally, Social Keeps the Tail Wagging
“I’m a pet blogger and social media professional. My blog is Keep the Tail Wagging. Friends and families have scattered over the past 20 years and social media has brought us closer to each other and people around the
world. I’ve met many of my best friends online. With this exposure comes more awareness of what’s going on in our community, our country and around the world and social media is going to play a key role in raising awareness
of important causes (for me, it’s the human-canine bond), because we now have an audience of millions who share our passion.”
Kimberly
Keep the Tail Wagging
