Thank You to Business 2 Community for Publishing Valerie Jennings’ 2013 Predictions
Posted by: Katie Stumpf, Intern at JSMM
Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing and Viral Bolt Media, was recently highlighted for her 2013 social media predictions, along with 50+ other experts, in Brian Rice’s article published on Business 2 Community. Read the article.
The Future of Social Media: 50+ Experts Share Their 2013 Predictions
“Sales and marketing will continue to be impacted by organic SEO and SMO via social media. One major change may be the shift away from exclusively focusing on Facebook as a business sales and marketing tool and moving into more advanced programs including sales and marketing strategies that generate sales on Pinterest, Google+ and even FourSquare. If these platforms do not support sales and marketing strategies, other platforms via social networks will evolve quickly in the marketplace until there is one sold and remarkably profitable solution.”
Kansas City Social Media Marketing Company Shares Top Five Predictions for 2013 Including Pinterest, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter and Google+
By: Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
These are my top five social media marketing predictions for 2013. This list may not encompass the trends in the next months ahead, but it’s a fairly adequate outline of what the future looks like.
1) Pinterest continues to monetize social media. However, without an open API platform, it’s a little too soon to see its full potential. Overall, I don’t see any reason why all brands across all industries wouldn’t take advantage of this monetization platform. While social media isn’t just about sales, Pinterest offers brands real value via their pinners by building content that they love, feel inspired by and may feel inclined to purchase. It could be the next best e-commerce platform in the social media marketplace. It’s already one of the top social networks for referring website traffic. I would highly recommend it to all brands.
2) Foursquare will continue to offer monetization opportunities for brands via the check in feature. Foursquare’s recent modifications to allow franchise pages to have one brand a page is a nice addition to tracking data analysis, engagement and ROI. If Foursquare can monetize differently, other than rewards via their check in system, allowing for a more integrated social media campaign which effects all other social networks, it would open up the doors for a more targeted location based campaign. This would trigger insights in geographical markets where consumers engage more heavily via Foursquare. This would also allow the brand to have more confidence in a social media presence with a heavier emphasis on Foursquare where insights prove substantial engagement throughout a local zip code. While Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook synchronize, there is still room for improvement to determine a way in which the location-based model integrates more heavily with Twitter including viral tweets in targeted areas where Foursquare is performing very well for a brand. However, this could improve campaign functionality, engagement, monetization and ROI. Foursquare continues to be one of the best location-based tracking platforms in the social media industry for brands.
3) While Facebook continues to be the top social network for businesses, large and small, there are some challenges ahead for this platform. The first issue is that Facebook is trying to be all things to all people and brands, diluting its social network impact across engagement. This is attributed to the fact that the edge rank scoring model has been changed substantially, affecting a brand’s ability to engage with its fans. Even though brands have the option to engage more readily via the promoted posts, sponsored stories and ads, this is still a paid investment versus the natural model of displaying a brand post to those who have liked the page. Lately, we have noticed a distinct decline in the viral nature of organic posts without utilizing one of Facebook’s paid models across all pages, all industries and sizes from publicly traded to small businesses. If Facebook continues to push brands into the paid model to increase its edge rank score, then this is not a pure social channel. Facebook continues to impress my colleagues and myself, and we know that Facebook will evolve over time to improve its algorithm for brands to purely reach, engage and monetize with its user base. Social networks ads are one of the greatest opportunities to reach a new targeted influential and action-oriented audience. We utilize Facebook ads across all clients, industries and brands, both large and small. There is still great value in tapping into Facebook’s resources. We just hope that Facebook continues to recognize the importance of collaborating with its businesses.
4) Twitter will continue to improve its customer service support while maximizing its reach across industries and large and small brands. We see the best value coming from the customer service elements in which it is very easy to track and measure performance on Twitter while engaging with customers. Complaints on Twitter about brands continue to be the best opportunity for businesses to improve its customer relationship with its audience. While Twitter still doesn’t have the full functionality of Facebook for tracking, analysis, engagement and ROI, its short messages break through the clutter with custom hashtags, SMO and engaging with key online influencers. Key online influencers continue to drive engagement for brands, monetization and ROI. Twitter contests are still extremely valuable for large brands that need to improve engagement and rapport with consumers and influencers. However, smaller businesses are still suffering from too much fragmentation across social networks and will need to rely on Twitter for organic SEO, engagement with influencers and maximizing headline news. ROI is still important on Twitter, although it’s been transformed into more of an influencer metric versus an engagement monetization tool.
5) Google+ is here to stay. If we don’t engage on the platform in the near future, Google will probably erase us off the search map.
If you have any questions, concerns or comments about the 2013 predictions, please reach out to Valerie Jennings via email valerie@jenningsocialmedia.com or via Twitter @ValerieJennings. As always, feel free to leave a comment.
JSMM Reviews Record Setting Increase of Social Media Interaction During 2012 Presidential Debate
Posted by: Chelsea Lewis, social media manager at Jennings Social Media Marketing
The use of social networks for political issues was a fairly new concept during the 2008 presidential debate. The first presidential debate of 2012 already set a record on Twitter, but it’s not the only social network with increased activity. The New York Times examined the increase in social media interaction surrounding politics.
Facebook (and Twitter) create “authentic, two-way communication,” according to Adam Fetcher, deputy press secretary for the Obama campaign. Flickr and Instagram are virtual campaign scrapbooks while Tumblr and Pinterest highlight photos and other material from supporters.
Read the article.
In 2012, it is not enough for candidates to shake some hands, kiss a baby or two and run some TV ads. They also need to be posting funny little animations on the blogging site Tumblr.
If the presidential campaigns of 2008 were dipping a toe into social media like Facebook and Twitter, their 2012 versions are well into the deep end. They are taking to fields of online battle that might seem obscure to the non-Internet-obsessed — sharing song playlists on Spotify, adding frosted pumpkin bread recipes to Pinterest and posting the candidates’ moments at home with the children on Instagram.
Jennings Social Media Marketing Reviews Pinterest Top Picks & Facebook Face-Off
Posted by: Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
I think Pinterest just might be it for this year. I love this social networking site. Here are my favorite brands on Pinterest right now. Check them out and don’t forget to follow us!
I also picked a few new Facebook timelines that did an excellent job rolling out their brand, using a great cover photo, milestones and telling their amazing stories.
Pinterest Picks –
1. Kate Spade
3. Whole Foods
4. WSJ
5. Mashable
Facebook Face-Off –
2. Burberry
3. Coca-Cola
4. Old Spice
5. Red Bull
Pinterest: Women Key Influencers on Social Networking Site & Purchasing Decisions Says Study
Posted by: Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Women are the main decision makers in the homes, making an astonishing 85 percent of all purchasing decisions. Women are also the main users of Pinterest, using the newest social networking site for the latest recipes, crafts, and vacation spots. A recent pole of women shows that Pinterest influences 81 percent of their decision making, as they believe it is a trusted source. If companies want to continue being profitable, they should find new and innovative ways to market to women, as women represent $2.4 trillion of the market! It only makes sense for brand managers to take an interest in Pinterest.
This article written by Steve Olenski for Social Media Today: Why Brand Managers Need to Take an Interest in Pinterest, illustrates the importance of women in the market place, as well as Pinterest influencing decision making for women. There is a lot to be learned through social media, and capitalizing early with Pinterest, could provide large gains for many companies.
Why Brand Managers Need to Take an Interest in Pinterest
Two days ago I told you Why Women Are the Most Powerful Brand Ambassadors In the World.
Well consider this a follow up… you’ll see what I mean.
The person who makes the majority of household purchasing decisions has developed an affinity for the latest and greatest social media platform, Pinterest. And brand managers and brand marketers would be very wise to take note.
Earlier this year I wrote about the findings of a study done by the CMO Council and Lithium which revealed a major disconnect between Between Brands And Consumers In Social Media. That particular study showed that the reason consumers follow a give brand via social media is decidedly different than why brands think they follow them in the first place.
How Can Non-Profits Take Advantage of Pinterest?
Posted by: Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
I cannot believe how Pinterest has exploded. While it’s been around for a short-time, its user base has amassed quickly, making one wonder about why you should jump on Google+? They are different, but when Pinterest is said to refer more website traffic than Twitter, it’s sort of a no-brainer.
This article written by Mary Wider for Social Media Today: Pin It To Win It: How Non-Profits Can Tell Their Story on Pinterest, does a nice job highlighting how organizations can utilize this fabulous social networking for referring website traffic, momentum, fundraising and maybe recruitment.
Don’t forget to follow the new Jennings Social Media Marketing Pinterest boards.
YOUR MESSAGE
Use a board to explain your work. Put direct links to your website or to news outlets where your work was mentioned. This starts your non-profit story, who you are and what you do. It also gives you a chance to link photos and sites that fit with your message. In other words, you start to build a brand image and association. Building a story is incredibly important for non-profits. People want to know what you stand for and your motivation behind your cause.
EDUCATE
Set up a board that is solely for educating your followers. Resources, statistics and news articles that will let your followers discover more about you.
ACTION BOARD
Set up a separate board with call to action plans for your followers. Let them know how they can get involved with your organization. Spell it out via your pins and direct people directly to websites where they can take action.
COMMUNICATION BOARD – Show what you do.
Use this board to show the results of your work. Share stories from people directly affected by your work or showcase the projects you have worked on. If you can pin to a story in the word’s of people affected by your work, it’s an even better way to sum up your story.
Using these four board ideas creates a storyboard for your organization. Some more board ideas to add to your story include:
- Where We Work: show places in the world where your organization operates
- Faces: If you can share the faces and stories of people you work with, even better. When running a non-profit is it better to put faces and stories to your work. Hook followers in with an emotional connection.
- Donate or Purchase Board: If your organization focuses on donations or selling items that go towards monetary donations, use a separate board to set that up, sort of like the gift shop at the end of your story.
Above all, non-profits should start taking advantage of Pinterest and its ability to drive direct traffic to websites. Direct traffic drives up the search results for your site as well. It’s time non-profits started using all the social media tools at their disposal to spread their message and communicate with people globally. Pin it to win it.
Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, Provides 2012 Social Media Predictions
By: Valerie Jennings, CEO of JSMM
While these are not representative of all of the expectations for social media in 2012, these are the key takeaways that Jennings Social Media Marketing (JSMM) is expecting to impact the industry. To learn how JSMM can help your business best utilize these predictions and more call us at (816) 221-1040.
2012 Social Media Marketing Predictions
1. Google+ will evolve, expand and overcome its critics
2. Twitter will morph into a business tool which may increase its ROI
3. Facebook does the unthinkable and adds more features
4. Blogging becomes something of the past with the increased use of mobile devices
5. Facebook ads blow up and drive more ROI
6. Mobile ads enhance monetization to websites and QR codes enable the transition
7. SEO becomes something of the past. Thank you Google for introducing social media optimization (SMO)
8. Case studies die and YouTube videos with client testimonials move to center stage
9. Personalized messages become something we all yearn for, and mobile messages such as SMS increase
10. Connecting to strangers will become more acceptable, but we all know the dangers this can cause–boundaries will change, but companies will need to disclose who is behind their curtains
Valerie Jennings 
Cassie Stubs
Katie Stumpf
