What’s Next for Social Media and Content Marketing?

I am revisiting this blog post from back in 2012 to see how relevant old content is. This post is on trends in social media and content marketing.

I recently spent some time looking ahead to what we should expect beyond 2020 regarding the overall webscape of social media, content marketing, mobile and more. Like many others, we consultants want to share with you what we know about the web landscape, how innovations can help drive your social media marketing.

And what I’ve found (with the help of some other online experts) is that your company’s behavior, practices and consistency online in social, content and marketing will matter more now than ever before. Social media experts and web marketers everywhere are wondering…

• What’s next in the mobile web? What’s next in mobile device payments?
• What innovations in small business content and web marketing will we see beyond 2020?
• Will Google figure out a social network like Facebook or consider YouTube it’s big win and stick with tools like Google My Business?
• Does Pinterest matter for content marketing? How can companies best use photo service?
• Where and how does Facebook fit into all of this with its censorship, privacy issues and lack of transparency?

Let’s check out what the predictions and growth areas will be. Here is a recent article from April of 2020

The future of social media at the turn of the decade

Flashback thought:

I think we’re so already there, with everyone I know checking social media feeds and content opportunities online using their mobile devices. And need I say more about the ubiquity (and irritability) of social advertising? It’s already here, especially if you’re downloading free apps.

One area that has not changed is this: social media education is needed! Will there be a more formalized approach with companies for customer service and new business evangelism? 

Here is an excerpt from what we thought was the future back in 2013. 

“Social media skills will join email as part of basic business literacy in the digital age. Perhaps most critical of all will be social media compliance training to ensure that workers in sensitive industries from finance to healthcare uphold regulatory standards while taking advantage of social media’s benefits.”

If companies want to truly understand and take advantage of social media and content marketing benefits, they should also work with their agencies to bring in added value to the education process. Having experts bring their smarts to companies can result in a better overall understanding of how the Web works on a daily basis.

– JWT (well-known marketing agency) just released a new report “10 trends that will shape consumer mindset and behavior in 2013” which studied about 500 American and 500 British adults (and 50 U.S. teenagers and 50 British teens) in November 2012 to gauge their thoughts on a variety of cultural and societal factors.

What stood out for me was another look at how the Web is being embedded in all of our everyday objects (eyeglasses to socks to bikes) and how we will all be engaging with the Web in future years. This has implications for trends in mobile, social and data technologies, according to JWT, and how we as consumers choose to respond to all these tech pulls.

– And in another study, a UK firm found that 65% of British consumers surveyed say that they would stop using a brand that upset or irritated them as a result of their social media behavior. Did you read that correctly? Your firm risks losing customers if you don’t get your social media ducks in a row. Knowing when to find consumers online, knowing how to approach them and knowing what works with consumers with social media and what doesn’t will become a critical marketing point for your company in 2013.

Creating a holistic social media-content marketing strategy (or revisiting it) could be one of the best things your company can do right now. Knowing that a majority of your customers will be accessing your products or services online, and perhaps from their mobile devices, is a roadway you want to stay on.