Top Social Media Trends for 2015?!

I have been talking about different social media giants,who leads the market in 2014. I have shared their features, their pros and cons, and how you can be successful on those sites. Now, let's discuss what is the future, what 2015 is bringing for us? I will share some predictions I found.

1.) The importance of Mobile-First World will grow further!

Naturally the usage rate of cell phones are growing tremendously, but with that the average screen size of  smart phones are growing too. Millennials' never leave their phones, and their daily social media usage rate has increased by 15% in 2014. In 2015 marketers, instead of being mobile aware, be mobile first, in 2015 companies needs to start their marketing strategies with the mobile ads, then scale up for computer, television, and billboards.

2.) Pay-to Play Social World!
In 2015 marketers should not think social media as a free advertising, companies should definitely invest their time and money to identify the right audience.

Some interesting data about 2015!

3.) Social Content Continues as the Rising Marketing Star!
Keep doing great content, however be smart with it, make sure the content is share-able, and introduced in a very creative ways.

4.)The Social Splinter-net Will Continue!
The social diversity on the internet is a very big challenge for marketers, it is becoming more challenging when you are targeting the younger generation. It is essential for marketers to know when, and where their audience spend their time. Mass customization, personalization, will go even further.

All in all those are some basic predictions for 2015, but I will continue to research the best predictions for 2015!

What do you think will be the leading site for 2015? Any new comer?


Here is the link to read the whole entire article!
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2378721/top-5-social-marketing-trends-for-brands-to-watch-in-2015

Social Media Ethics at the Workplace.

The usage of social media is rising, and unfortunately people tend to use it unethically in their workplace, and with their colleagues, and friends.

They have surveyed US. workers who use social media actively compared to workers who do not, and the results are very interesting. First they answered several question, like sharing bad experience about your company, or do less work to compensate cut benefits, etc; workers with active social media answered yes on average 40-50% while workers who do not with an average of 10-15%. We can conclude that employees who use social media in more than 30% during its work time, tend to behave more unethically, but they tend to observe more unethical behavior, and they more likely saw someone to report it.

So what is the relation between ethics and social media?
First of all, this problem probably would not occur if some workers would not spend more than 30% of their  work time on social media. So when do they work, and what is the quality of their work?
The solution can be to incorporate a social media policy which includes set policies, training, and it would hold employees accountable.

All in all, employees at the workplace should be focused on to give their best to the place where they work, and not to spend 1-2 hours on blogging, Facebook or Twitter.


Here is the link to read the full article!
http://mashable.com/2012/03/17/social-media-ethics/

To be an Influencer on Google Plus!

If you would ask all the people around you to name one social media site, probably everyone would say Facebook, if not, then they would say Twitter or Instagram. However a lot of people, and businesses forget about Google+, which appeared later than Facebook. Google Plus is quite different than what we are used to, it has a simplified platform, however the activities you can do on it are very unique, and the fact that with the same account we can use all the other Google features is very fascinating.

Who uses Google+ the most!

Why businesses should invest their time on Google+, because its user-base is growing, and they ca reach different target market than on Facebook or Twitter.
Let's see the five best way to improve your business marketing on Google+.

1.)Just have a great profile-first visual expression is very important
2.)Be active with your sharing
3.)Know how to utilize circles-you can organize people into different groups so you can have very specifically targeted posts
4.) Take time to use Hang Out- unique way to promote, and to boost engagement
5.)Add value with your comments-people will look forward to see your future comments

To develop a very successful strategy takes time, however if you follow those step you will be able to start stronger than the others. Google+ is an unexploited social media site, therefore it has a huge social media marketing potential. It has a lot of different unique characteristic, and different audience, hence it is worth for businesses to engage with Google+.

Here is the the link for the whole article!:
http://www.business2community.com/google-plus/google-plus-marketing-tips-5-simple-best-practices-become-influencer-google-plus-0832296

LinkedIn as the most powerful B2B Marketing tool in the 21th Century!

 Everyone considers LinkedIn as the biggest professional networking site, and also the biggest platform for B2B networking. They have more than 300 million users around the world, and they have two new applicants in every second. Their user demographics is very diverse, however the usage rate of young professionals, and start ups are increasing greatly.
In the recent days I was thinking that  LinkedIn has all the information I would like to search for: people, companies,jobs, news, professional blogs, etc. Today I caught an interesting article of why LinkedIn is the most powerful marketing tool for businesses.

Top Companies on LinkedIN

The three main reasons are Media, Partnership, and Clients.

 1.) MEDIA:
Everyone knows that media exposure is critical to raise brand awareness, and to position your brand in the market. However those are very expensive tools, therefore why not to use LinkedIn. Companies can expand their networks, hence they can be in an every day touch with any other business for free. Which would allow them to raise brand awareness without any press release.

2.) PARTNERSHIP:
A good strategic partnership can boost any company, it can help by referring each other to the clients, or selling complimentary products or services. It is not easy to find the right partner to create an alliance or a joint venture, so where you should search? Of course LinkedIn.

SHORT STORY:

Martine Martinez, Founder of Entrepreneur Card, managed to set up partnerships with over 30 leading brands, get featured in over 10 media publications and attract 150+ entrepreneurs to his launch party. All through the power of LinkedIn.(Huffington Post)

 3.)CLIENTS:
 LinkedIn is a very powerful tool to search for clients whether of the industry size, location etc. There is another short story from one CEO's experience;  he said that they tried all kinds of marketing, TV, Radio, Newspapers, but they spent a tons of money, and time on those. LinkedIn helped them to connect with the right clients, and to build sustainable relationship with them. Which boost their revenue by $150K in 90 days with the cost of $1000 on advertising.


Of course the company is really serious about its future, therefore during a conference in San Francisco, they presented their future crucial strategies which are based on:  Identity, Networks, and Knowledge.

 I am really impressed about how LinkedIn built this huge professional network, and I am looking forward to see what they will bring for us in the future.

What do you  think will be their newest feature?


Here is the link of the original article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anfernee-chansamooth/why-linkedin-is-the-most-_b_5706017.html

Best Commercial on YouTube! Kobe vs. Messi (Turkish Airlines)

When was the last time you saw a great commercial in the TV or on YouTube, which caught your attention during the whole commercial?

Personally, I did not see one for a very long time; however when I saw the Turkish Airlines commercial with Kobe, and Messi I just could not stop watching it. Later on, this video became the most popular video commercial on YouTube with 139 million views. 139 million views is a huge number for a commercial, which was not even published during any major events.

Turkish Airlines is one of the newest major airlines, they have very new planes, and they have one of the most updated social media. They commerce themselves as the major airline who flies to more places than any other airlines. 

That is what they wanted to implement into their commercial, which ended up being brilliant. First of all, they use two people that a whole world knows. What a smart choice! Why? Because everyone in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia knows Lionel Messi, however in the USA where soccer is not the most popular sport, they have got Kobe who is one of the most popular athlete in North America. So they could already sell anything with this two person. However in the video, they could show all the amazing places all over the world you can visit with Turkish Airlines, and also during the video you can see their planes, lounges, crew, and onboard Internet accessibility.

Take a look at the commercial, I hope you will enjoy it.

It was the best commercial you ever seen from an airline, right? How did you like it? I would like to know your opinion!

The Top 7 Social Media Trends in 2014

It is always a big question that who will be the winner by the end of the year? 
 In social media the trends are changing very quickly, new competitors appear almost every month. In the recent years everyone would think that Facebook will continue to dominate, however, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Twitter are building huge user base.

So what actually happens in 2014?
Forbes has an interesting article about the top 7 trends in 2014. Here are the most interesting ones.

1.) Investment in Social Media will become necessity, not a Luxury.
In 2014, 92% business owners recently mentioned that social media essential for them. However they are concerned how the measure their ROE on their social media efforts, and small businesses have trouble of finding well trained personnel for their social media.

2.)Image-Centric Networks Will See Huge Success?
Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat has been building their user base, and their user loyalty. For example even MTV announced that they will use snapchat to announce their nominees.

3.)LinkedIn major player in B2B!
Just in 2014 the usage rate of LinkedIn jumped from 28% to 57%.


4.) The rise in using micro-videos.
Companies are generating high customer awareness, by posting their short, but actionable commercials.Here is a great vine commercial from AT&T.

Social Media has very competitive environment, companies has to be very up-to-date with all their features, while their platform has to be very user friendly. I am personally impressed how LinkedIn could perform this growth during 2014.


Here is the link for the entire article!!!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/07/23/the-top-7-social-media-marketing-trends-dominating-2014/

Brand Marketing on Vine! How to sell yourself in six seconds

I think Vine is one of the most unique, and interesting social media site. It is so amazing how people can shrink a lot of information into six seconds. I think people who are uploading innovative Vine videos are very talented. Companies who are uploading catchy six second videos are fascinating.

I was reading a very interesting summary about vine and marketing, it starts with saying how companies have to get the message right. Some people think that you can't deliver it in six seconds, but yes you can, just like in 140 characters.

The following video is a great example of how a company can attract people in 6 seconds.

 

As the article mentions those videos have some characteristics. They have two important points, first that, they actually leave the door open for you to return. They make you feel that you want to watch their next video. Second, great video ads, make you feel the that your six seconds were worth for creativity.

As the conclusion of the article, as long as big brands such as coke, or Honda, or Samsung put their weight behind Vine, Twitter will keep adding features to the platform. Another conclusion is that a format which encourage creativity, and fresh perspective so well, will have no doubt to have a consistent sport among the content marketing services.

All in all, I am day by day very impressed from the most amazing Vine videos, and I have huge respect towards the creators.

To read the article, and to check out great vine ads!
http://socialtimes.com/brand-marketing-vine-sell-six-seconds-2_b203119