Will that personal computer tethered to your desk soon become a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Well, maybe not so fast, but more people may be sharing a single device, sort of like the old landline in your home. (Remember landlines?) Consumers will have even more “personal” devices that they will use to regularly access the Internet. But then you will hear still them occasionally ask, “Mom, can I use your PC to print out this report?”
Forecast: Continued Struggles for PC Makers HP, Dell and Even Microsoft
The biggest overall social media trend we see during the next few months will be the continued rise of smartphones and tablets. Primarily Android and iOS devices, smartphones and tablets are now outselling personal computers. As a result, says Jayson DeMers, founder and CEO of AudienceBloom, “supporting mobile devices is no longer just an option; it’s mandatory.” Meaning: is your website optimized for viewing on these devices?
In its September 2012 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook said, “. . . we anticipate that the rate of growth in mobile usage will exceed the growth in usage through personal computers for the foreseeable future and that the usage through personal computers may be flat or continue to decline in certain markets.” According to NBC News, Facebook’s usage on mobile only —phones and tablets — shot up from 24 percent from June to 126 million at the end of September 2012. Nielsen’s Social Media Report 2012 found that 43 percent of U.S. users said that they now use smartphones to access social media, with 16 percent connecting via a tablet.
“Many commentators have marked 2015 as the year when mobile search and online activity will overtake overall static usage worldwide,” says Christian Arno, founder and managing director of Lingo24. “For social media the tipping point might arrive sooner than that.”
Let’s Look at the Numbers
Facebook should remain the undisputed worldwide king of social media for the near future. Still less than ten years old and now with annual revenues in excess of $5 billion, Facebook with over one billion active users has established the number one position in 127 of 137 countries surveyed by Alexa. China (where Facebook is illegal) and Russia are the primary holdouts.
According to Edelman Digital, every minute there are:
· 200 million emails
· 5.6 million texts
· 2.8 million YouTube views
· 2.1 million Google searches
· 1.7 million Facebook posts
· 275,000 tweets
· 200,000 Facebook pictures
In the United States, the top 7 social networks are:
· Blogger
· WordPress
· Google+
You Ought to be in Pictures
Social media users continue to love photographs. According to Edelman Digital, 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook each day. Visual sites, such as Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram will continue to surge in traffic and attention. Right now, it is possible to get up to five time higher engagement with visual content on Facebook. (I know that from my own experience. My most popular recent personal post on Facebook was that of my newly minted granddaughter displaying her St. Patrick’s Day outfit.)
The new darling among these sweet seven social media sites is Pinterest, a photographic favorite of females and fashionistas. Think: a great way to display the latest purse styles.
“Pinterest continues to experience exponential growth since its launch in 2011,” says Patricia Redsicker of the Social Media Examiner. “The platform had the highest increase in audience and time spent of any social network.” A May 2012 Harvard Business review article goes on to say that “Pinterest users reported a surprisingly high correlation between pinning and subsequent purchasing: more than 1 in 5 Pinterest users has pinned an item that they later purchased. In the social world, this is a high conversion rate. “
Social Media: Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile. Or Is It?
“The biggest change we will see in the next year,” says Mike Bal, Creative and Digital Marketing Director of Baseline21, “is that we are over the main hump on the adoption curve. At this point it’s not a specific demographic; it’s all of them from grandmas to elementary aged children.” The biggest gains in online gamers, for instance, is not coming from the ranks of those with tie-dyed hair, tattoo sleeves or pierced whatevers, but from among females 55 and over.
According to the Pew Internet Project, 57% of those 50 to 64 years of age and even 38% of those over 65 are engaged on at least one social network.
Why Social Media Will Continue to Matter
According to Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising report, nearly half of consumers around the world say they trust ads on TV (47%), in magazines (47%) and in newspapers (46%). While those numbers are impressive, they have dropped by 24%, 20% and 25% respectively, in a relatively short period of time – between 2009 and 2011 and should continue to do so.
On the other hand, for what many may not consider advertising at all, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know and trust and 70% trust consumer opinions posted online.
So How Should You Use Social Media to be Effective?
Rather than just reading about the next great social media tool, consultants are far more interested in how they should be using social media to promote themselves and to secure new business. How should they do that? The advice is rather simple:
“If you use social media just to post links to your blog or website, you aren’t going to gain much,” advises Jayson DeMers. “Be a person. Share links, post videos and photos, interact with communities, comment on other people’s statuses. Do what a person does naturally on social media. Without engagement, you leave your audience out of the equation. If you do that, you are nullifying the effect of your social media campaign. Be insanely useful before trying to market anything.”
Edelman Digital sums up the key to social media success: “One-to-one social engagement. People are PEOPLE, not just an email address or a phone number.”