Social Media Trends for 2012

The power of social media is here to stay. This cannot be overstated. In fact, it continues to grow at a rapid pace and companies must get on board the social media train to survive and thrive in the coming years. You can learn to harness this new medium and use it to your company’s advantage. Building a brand, advertising sales and specials, and creating a company image are all ways to use social media to your advantage.

There is not one department in your organization that cannot benefit from social media. Whether it is human resources and you are looking for the perfect applicant; an advertising department looking to broadcast the release date of your new product; or your publicity department looking to share how your company is donating money to a worthy cause. Whatever you are looking to share can be released via social media.

Where Social Media is Headed

The real goal is to look to the trends to see where we are headed with social media and how we can accurately use this to benefit our firm. Here are some insights from a Huffington Post article into the potential future of social media:

• Customer Service: Social media will continue to be on the front-line of customer service for 2012. We can quickly and effectively connect with our customers to receive praise on a well-received product, criticism on a faulty product, or just general dialogue. Whatever the case, social media facilitates better communications with our customers.    
• Approval Ratings: Social media sites are the benchmark for rating companies. Consumers can quickly scan social media sites to discover product reviews, customer resolution quotes, and customer feedback, good and bad.
• Videos: YouTube traffic and videos will increase a company’s presence and provide a platform for new product launch and information.
• B2B Sector: Social media will play an increasingly important role amongst businesses as each become aware of the benefits of online marketing.   
• Location Mapping: Mobile devices continue to increase the ability of a business to identify and locate potential customers at a moment's notice. This could literally mean a business could track a consumer’s location and drop sales advertising based on their immediate position. 
• Place of Business: The growing emergence of social media sites has opened the door for companies to sell their products on Facebook and other sites.
• Endless Opportunities: The cost to advertise on a social media is free. Your only charge for advertising is the labor associated with posting blogs and other relevant information. The substantial fees associated with television and radio commercials will drive additional businesses to social media sites where they can freely engage and advertise to their customers.  

What Do You See?

Please share your thoughts below on where you see the future of social media going for your business, industry, or the global environment. We’d love to hear from you!