Will your entire social media strategy need to be reworked from the ground up in 2013? That’s the fear of a lot of marketers out there, but it’s not exactly the reality.
Yes, the Social Media Market is going to change significantly, with the expansion of the mobile market (especially if Facebook decides to roll out more updates), but as an average marketer you don’t have to worry about blowing up the building at the foundations. You just have to focus on preparation.
The thing about preparations is that you prepare as if you’ll need to survive a change, but more often than not the big change you’re expecting doesn’t come. So, don’t worry about what’s coming down the pike in 2013 too much. Sure, any changes are going to affect you and your brand, but your main goal should be to make changes that will help your brand succeed in any situation.
Contents
Different Ways to Prepare for the Coming Year in Social Media Marketing
Gear Your Marketing More toward Visual Aspects
Facebook leans more toward the visual than only text in terms of what’s trending, so try to keep most of your updates visual. Post more photos and videos when you have the content, and try to get away from text-based posts if at all possible.
Text still has a place, but a picture will increase your engagement.
Get Away from “Like” Harvesting and Focus on Relationships
Facebook removing fake likes isn’t the only reason you need to focus less on likes for your 2013 Facebook campaign preparations.
The sad fact—that many had to be dragged kicking and screaming to realize—is that a Like doesn’t really get you anything but perhaps more Likes in a social context (example). What you should focus on going forward is, building a strong community – be a relationship-first type of marketer whose goals are to engage with your base rather than to have them shoot you a thumbs-up.
Place Your Focus beyond Facebook
The king of social media Facebook may be, but you have to look beyond Facebook in the long term. You still have a main business site. You still have other social networks out there.
Facebook can act as the linchpin of your network, but it shouldn’t be the only area of your focus in 2013. Reach out to other mediums to bring people in; Instagram is slowly marking its way to get brands noticed (check out Instagram accounts of celebrities on how a single image can make a big change for a product). In other words, don’t let your overall Internet marketing lapse.
Don’t Show Bias toward a Specific Device
People log onto the ‘net via a range of devices, from a PC/Mac (home computers), tablets, mobile phones, and even gaming systems. What do they have in common? Well, besides taking them to the Internet, not much else truthfully.
So you cannot cater to one device more than another. There’s a new PS4 in the works. The 4G mobile market (and the mobile market in general) is greatly expanding. Tablets and smartphones are only going to keep upgrading. Be device impartial in your marketing because 2013 is the time that businesses should take Facebook on mobile more seriously.
Build Connections to Increase Your Reach
Without doubt, sharing via social sites is going to increase in 2013. What a social share is, in a business context, is essentially a recommendation. And you definitely want other people using social networks to recommend your brand to their friends via shared content.
Work harder to build connections in preparations for a changing market in 2013. Leverage these connections by encouraging people to share your content with their friends.
These tips aren’t necessarily dealing with any forecasts. Prophesying what may happen and giving you actionable tips you can instantly use are completely separate things.
Regardless of how the market ultimately changes in 2013 or beyond, the tips above will help you build more trust and increase your brand name throughout the realm of social media.
[This article has been contributed by Stanna Johnson from Qwaya.]
