Tag: social network marketing

According to recent research, marketers will be spending more on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other networks.

The results of a new study has shown that B2B marketers have every intention of giving their social media marketing budgets a boost this year, when compared to the amounts that they spent in 2013.

The reason is that there have been a number of important developments in social media networking for business.

In fact, a study that was conducted by IDG Connect showed that IT buyers believe that social media marketing will provide some of the most important online content – for both personal computers and mobile devices – particularly when it comes to influencing buying decisions. This means that businesses seeking to develop the most awareness and appeal will need to develop their online and mobile marketing strategy using the right networks to reach these buyers.

The importance of social media marketing is finally coming to the point that it is measurable with some accuracy.

Vendor created materials and white papers are both given greater weight than networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and others. However, research has been consistently showing that starting this year, this trend will begin to reverse itself, to the point that it will actually flip within a span of two years when it comes to the buying process. Companies that are hoping to stay on top of their effective marketing efforts will need to make sure that they have established themselves on the right networks.

Furthermore, recent surveys are suggesting that this trend will apply in a broader sense to other B2B industries. Therefore, marketing budgets in business to business will begin to dedicate a greater share of their funds to creating and maintaining valuable content over social media.

A survey from AdAge showed that they anticipate that B2B marketing firms will boost their overall budgets this year, and 80 percent of them intend to raise the amount that they are spending over digital channels. It can be accurately assumed that a strong percentage of that will be directed toward social media marketing. The network that is likely to benefit the most when it comes to B2B is LinkedIn.

The experts in the industry are seeing a bit of a bumpy ride for advertisers and promoters using this channel.

Now that 2013 has come to a close, analysts are scrambling to assemble their data to help them to decide what 2014 social media marketing is likely to involve, including the most effective trends and the changes that will occur regarding actual usage of the networks.

The results of these efforts are already coming in and are helping marketers to rethink their strategies.

Following the trends from last year, the shape of 2014 social media marketing trends is starting to become clearer. There have been a number that have already been identified and that have been making technology news headlines since the start of the year. What is clear is that it will certainly hold a position of notable importance within any successful online and mobile strategy.

The evidence and data from last year are helping to provide a more solid shape to 2014 social media marketing campaigns.

Among the strongest predictions for this year have been the following:

• Images supporting statements generate the most attention, with comments accompanied by pictures receiving 53 percent more likes than image-free posts on Facebook. On Twitter, tweets with supporting images received 18 percent more clicks and150 percent more retweets and 89 percent more favorites than text alone.

• Snapchat and Instagram will carve out a bigger share for themselves in terms of business uses for reaching consumers. Instagram is already the fastest growing network with every day bringing 40 million photo uploads from its 150 million users.

• Mobile marketing will be a vital part of an online strategy. Simply having a website that is smartphone or tablet friendly will not be considered enough for the necessary impact. Features that can be used in store – such as mobile coupons, product reviews, etc – will be among the most popular efforts in this direction.

• 2014 social media marketing will become a serious effort for a growing number of brands. These techniques are already being used by 93 percent of marketers, but the actual focus on the presence they hold on the networks will increase considerably.