Social Media Marketing for Business

New year, changing social media rules. As 2014 came to a close, we saw a shift in social media demographics that are changing the face of social media marketing. Coming into 2015, there are a few things the savvy marketer should keep and eye on. Marketing bloggers and researchers from around the net have talked about the trends that will hog the spotlight this year – in this article, I will look at three of the major contenders and offer advice on taking advantage of these updates and trends.

As social media marketers, we can talk about mobile marketing plans until we’re blue in the face – the fact is and has remained that mobile is king. If you do not have a mobile plan for your marketing strategy, you will be left behind. Amidst the complicated web of the Internet of Things emerging out of the smartwatch tide of 2014, security concerns on so-called anonymous social media, and the hints at social wallets in Facebook’s future, it can be hard to discern what information is useful to social media marketers.

Below are a few of the social media trends for 2015 that you should know before reusing your old social strategy. For a more extensive list, check out this blog post from JeffBullas.com and Hootsuite’s trends report.

Shopping on Social

We’re all aware of the ever present, cookie tracked ads on Facebook that show users what they were last looking at on Amazon. But what if you could place an ad and have users purchase your product with a single click?

Buy buttons have made their way to Twitter and Facebook, at least in the beta stages. While these buttons are still being tested, they herald a shift in online purchasing. Social media is the ideal place for marketers to run one-time-only deals and sales, specific to particular audiences. This sales method has benefits because your audience is already super focused on your brand, and much more likely to hop on specific deals. Promotions like this have the added benefit of being ‘limited-time’ – potential new clients are more likely to hop on a new deal if it will vanish soon.

According to Hootsuite’s social media trends, this sort of e-commerce is likely to feature heavily in social media this coming year. To take advantage: If and when these buy options go public, offer deals that are specific to your audience that no other user can take advantage of. Make your fans on social feel like they’re getting an exclusive deal, and you’ll increase engagement and brand loyalty for deals in the future.

Pinterest Promoted Pins

This is a new one; Pinterest announced this week that it’s promoted pin option, previously available to select brand partners, will be open to all advertisers this year. In Pinterest’s announcement, they reported that Promoted Pins performed as well as, or better, than organic Pins on their site. Because the platform puts emphasis on discovering interests and giving fans the tools to pursue those interests – as the announcement put it, “Pinterest focuses on the future” – this is an invaluable tool for brands with a Pinterest presence.

To take advantage: Work promotions into your Pinterest strategy, but keep in mind the platform. Pinterest is for the visual – create promotions around high quality images, that will be interesting to your audience, rather than just reposting the same promotion your use on Facebook. Check out Lauren’s post on making Pinterest work for your business for more suggestions.

New Social Networks?

New social media networks began to spring up over the course of 2014, including new sites, like Ello, and older sites with surging popularity, like tumblr. But should you be jumping on new marketing opportunities on these sites? The simple answer is that it’s too soon to say, and the struggle that sites like Ello face is the same gloomy outlook Google+; the new network is likely to seem like a ghost town to all but it’s niche users. Google+ has many merits, especially for tech companies, and some of these new social media sites focused on specific interests could hold potential if your company fits that niche.

The best thing to do is wait – some newer sites, like tumblr, are working to help companies promote and run ads on their niche platforms. Time will tell if new media sites survive long enough to foster businesses like the current social media giants.

What about you?

What changes do you think will affect your social media strategy in 2015? Let us know in the comments below!

Meet Emily Goodrich

Emily Goodrich is a Technical Writer at Heyo. She is a Senior studying Creative and Professional Writing at Virginia Tech.