The Social Media Landscape 2014 PREDICTIONS
1
Foreword It is difficult to believe how young social media actually is. MySpace was founded ten years ago in 2003. In 2006, Zuckerberg et al opened up Facebook to the general population and in the same year a little microblogging site called Twitter also launched. It is also easy to forget just how disruptive these digital phenomena have become. In June 2006, MySpace had more visitors than Google in the United States. Every minute, 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube and over six billion hours of video are watched each month. Facebook, the most-used social network on earth, grows by 180 peta bytes per year, equivalent to 38.5 billion copies of the entire works of Shakespeare.
180 000 000 000 000 000 OCTETS PER YEAR GROWN UP FACEBOOK
6 000 000 000 000 HOURS OF VIDEO ARE WATCHED ONLINE EACH MONTH
3 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
Social media has fundamentally redefined human interaction; making the process of communication truly ubiquitous and instantaneous, regardless of age, sex, race, time zone or language. With such a rapid paradigm shift in communication, it is perhaps not surprising that many, if not most, organisations are still recoiling from the business implications. Marketers have had to rip the rulebook on best practices and those not willing to do so, have quickly realised that they have resigned themselves to the history books.
As we approach 2014, now seems a good time to take stock of the social media landscape; how it is affecting businesses and what we can expect in the year to come. To be as transparent as possible, this whitepaper has been prepared by design and marketing agency. However, we hope that as one of the country’s leading agencies, we can offer unique insight into the industry.
Brands are now made and broken in real time via social networks. Sales and customer service are no longer something that can be hidden behind closed doors, but are instead public, instantaneous and ever lasting.
4 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
What is ‘social media’ (marketing)? This is perhaps a good time to clearly define what is meant by social media. Wikipedia points to a definition from Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, which defines social media as
“
a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.
“
However, this definition overcomplicates things unnecessarily. Social media is, for all intents and purposes, digital media which allows people to communicate and collaborate. It refers to all of the digital tools that society uses to interact with one another.
Using this as the core definition, it becomes apparent that social media extends far beyond the Facebooks and Twitters. Granted, these are central tools in the social media movement, but when looking at marketing specifically, we must first widen our net to include all social interactions - be they via forums or email. Because social media covers all types of digital interactions, social media marketing must cover all areas of the business and it is this concept that many organisations are still failing to grasp. In order to successfully embrace social media, social marketing must permeate every facet of the business, from product development and customer care to press relations and advertising. Businesses that have embraced social media effectively are reaping the rewards and 2014 is likely to be the year that most organisations recognise the benefits that a social media marketing strategy can offer.
5 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
The social media landscape in 2014
34% OF ALL SOCIAL MEDIA LOGINS
Google+ The one to watch in 2014 is undoubtedly Google+. While uptake was initially slow, Google has the advantage of being at the heart of the digital revolution and so it is impossible to discount any service that it chooses to persevere with. The search giant has a clearly defined strategy for Google+ and it is quickly paying off. The network now has over 343 million users and counting, more than LinkedIn and Twitter. It accounts for 34 per cent of all social logins.
This is significant importance to marketers as it increases clickthroughs, while at the same time gathering key insight for marketing campaigns. Social sharing is becoming a key component for Google’s search algorithms. Google Author Rank and Authorship are becoming dominant factors in content marketing for organic traffic and this trend is likely to continue as the search engine places increasing importance on social signals.
343 MILLIONS OF USERS
THE ONE TO WATCH IN 2014
6 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
Twitter With the micro-blogging phenomenon recently going public, the pressure is now on for the company to begin generating a profit. While this is something that - to date - it has not yet managed to achieve, it does have a few aces in the hole. The first one it has decided to play is to extend its advertising platform to SMBs in the UK as well as several other countries. This is significant as until recently, the only companies that were able
to utilise the advertising platform were major international brands with very deep pockets. Twitter has also announced that it intends on opening up more analytics functionality, allowing marketers to gain valuable insight from the platform. It is likely that in 2014, Twitter will go from strength to strength and further cement its place as critical element of social media marketing.
7 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
1 Facebook Still the dominant force in the social media space, Facebook has more active users than any other network. To many, it is the bread and butter of social media and remains the darling of all the platforms.
has introduced a range of tools for marketers and advertisers to take advantage of. To deal with the former, the company has focused on a ‘mobile first’ strategy, refining the Facebook experience for smartphones and tablets.
However, it hasn’t been entirely plain sailing for Zuckerberg and his band of merry men. The company has had to refine its strategy in order to remain relevant and generate revenue.
Both strategies appear to be paying off and Facebook will likely remain at the forefront of the social sphere for the time being.
NUMBER ONE
REFINING THE EXPERIENCE FOR SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS
To deal with the later, Facebook
8 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
Trends to watch
A new era in SEO
Sharing
It finally looks as if Google has the upper hand in its relentless battle with Blackhat SEO. Its Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird updates have had a significant impact on discounting low quality links and poor quality websites.
Google is placing increasing emphasis on social signals. How much of a role they play in organic SEO is still the topic of much debate, but one thing is for certain - their significance is increasing.
The net impact of these updates is that legitimate SEOers have had to adopt a much more holistic approach to achieve desired results. In the new era of SEO, there are several components driving results.
Social signals have both direct and indirect effects on search rankings. For example, the number of Facebook shares or Twitter followers a business has, can and does have a direct impact on rankings.
However, an increased number of shares also increases the number of inbound links, improves site visibility and brand awareness. While it is difficult to quantify exactly how much impact social interaction is having on organic search, it is becoming apparent that it is moving ever closer to one of the defining factors.
9 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
Content The ‘content is king’ mantra that has echoed around the offices of digital marketers for several years now has never been more true. While the mantra remains the same, the quality of the content needed to produce results has become infinitely higher. Content marketing is about producing highly relevant, engaging and well written content, usually with the view to driving traffic to the website. Google is placing increasing emphasis on fresh, regular and original content
and this is a trend that is only set to continue. At first glance, content marketing may not be directly related to social media but content is the fuel that powers the social engine. Without engaging content, social channels are void of engagement.
CONTENT IS KING
10 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
Best practice The key to successful SEO these days is the following of best practices. Mark-up language should be on point, design should be well thought out, usability factors such as site speed and
navigation should be considered, site indexes should be created, meta data included; and that is just the tip of the iceberg. While historical techniques such as link building still carry weight, the links must come from relevant domains with a high degree of authority in order to carry value.
USABILITY
SPEED
NAVIGATION
11 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
Trends to watch
Sentiment analysis The rise of the Big Data phenomenon has seen businesses scrambling to understand how they can best put it to use for them. Many have fiddled with it like a reluctant child playing with a toy and many have failed, precisely because they did not fully understand exactly what it was they wanted to achieve. Slowly but surely, businesses are waking up to possibilities that data holds, one of which is in the field of sentiment analysis.
Sentiment analysis or ‘opinion mining’ allows marketers to harvest and analyse data from social media feeds, ultimately better understanding their target market. This technology is still in its infancy and back in 2010, when sentiment analysis first appeared, it was woefully inaccurate. However, it has begun to add tangible value to a wide variety of organisations.
and sell data from Twitter, is now achieving 70 per cent accuracy. Adobe has now launched predictive analytics as part of its Adobe Social package. The software gives marketers insight, suggests times at which social interactions will garner the most engagement and estimates the number of responses any given post will generate.
One of the industry leaders, with permission to analyse, repackage
12 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
70% MOBILE DATA TRAFFIC INCREASE IN 2012
Mobile Mobile has simply sky rocketed over the past few years and shows no signs of slowing down. Mobile data traffic grew by 70 per cent in 2012, while average smartphone usage grey by 81 per cent. The number of mobile devices will soon exceed the world’s population and global data traffic is set to increase another 13-fold by 2017. This shift to ‘always on, always connected’ has seen digital marketers and industries at large having to renew their strategies, putting mobile at the heart of activities.
Facebook and Twitter have both been aggressively pursuing a mobile-centric approach to their platforms, while other social networks such as Instagram, and are a direct consequence of mobile technology.
70 % SMARTPHONE USAGE INCREASE
Marketers and advertisers need to prioritise mobile above all else in 2014, if they are to ride this Mavericks of a wave. GLOBAL DATA TRAFFIC IS SET TO INCREASE ANOTHER 13-FOLD BY 2017
13 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk
Conclusion These are exciting times for social marketers. In a few short years social has transformed from a place where digital natives hang out, to one of the most fundamental elements of the modern social fabric. It has redefined how society interacts, it has reshaped how news is gathered, holding politicians to account - it has even been instrumental to revolutions. From a marketing perspective, social media has caused a paradigm shift in how businesses interact with their customers. It is no longer a one-way street. Customers have been given a voice and the businesses that are thriving are the ones that have embraced this and quickly learnt to engage in an open and honest way. 2014 will be an exciting year for social media marketers; the major platforms are all finding new and innovative ways to offer insight to marketers, mobile is becoming the heart of interactivity the Big Data movement is offering new and wonderful opportunities for businesses to tap into. While it is impossible to predict the future, expect Google+ to become an increasingly key player and while Twitter has plenty of room left to grow, Facebook may finally begin to slow. Regardless of which social networks are in vogue, marketers should adopt a multi-platform approach, keep a keen eye on mobile developments and ensure that social is at the heart of all marketing strategies.
15 www.plugandplaydesign.co.uk