The year 2014 started with new promises for social media marketing. Social media was all set to become the most important platform to take your business to new heights. Half the year has passed. Till now, the social media trends of the year reveal that these websites have lived up to their expectations. Moreover, during the year, several new changes have been implemented in the major platforms. They have also impacted business performances significantly. Here's a sneak peek at the changes and the effects that they brought about.
Google Plus also goes the Hashtag Way
One of the most important changes came from Google Plus. Everyone had anticipated it to emerge as a great social media platform for businesses in 2014. But even they might have not expected it to become so important over the course of the year. A major reason was definitely its introduction of the concept of related hashtags. This feature from Google+ is quite similar to those in Twitter and Facebook, but with some other distinctive features. While you can always add your own hashtags in your posts, Google+ will also act intelligently. It will generate its related hashtags to categorize the post perfectly. This will surely help you market your business more effectively. Your business needs to make the most of this feature to garner more profit.
Conveying Messages through Images on Twitter
Twitter means small short text messages, and nothing more. Do you still have this notion about the popular microblogging site? Then you surely need to give it a rethink. With the new avatar of Twitter, you can now share a number of images in your tweet. And the results are quite interesting. The information available on the change of clicks and conversion rates through tweets after the introduction of images include:
- Increase in visit up to 31%
- 55% increase in leads
- 36% increase in the number of clicks
- 33% rise in the conversion rate compared to visits
- 41% rise in retweets
This change implies that to see the photos that you are sharing, the other Twitter members will not have to click on the image. Instead, they will immediately be able to see them in your tweet.
Facebook Trending Keeping You Updated
When you are running a business, it is essential for you to know what the most important things at the moment are. For this, it is important to remain updated about the latest trends. This is what Facebook now helps you to do. It has introduced its new feature, Facebook Trending. With it, you can easily know, which topics are currently popular. In fact, Facebook Trending takes the experience a bit further. It helps to know the reasons as well for which the topics are currently popular. This helps to generate user interest and also ensure that you know all the in-trend topics in detail.
Clean Conversation with Facebook Direct Replies
Facebook's offering in 2014 did not end with Facebook Trending. Another major addition to the list of changes in the social media world was Facebook Direct Replies. It introduced the threaded reply option in the comments. Now, if you commented on a post, another person can reply directly to your comment. Earlier, replies to the comments under a post used to be quite confusing. For example, the reply to your comment might come after 10 or 20 more comments, making everybody wonder for which comment it was made. The introduction of threaded replies in Facebook will surely help to do away with this problem.
Completing the Stories with Instagram's Direct Messaging
The concept of Instagram is based on the concept - 'a picture speaks a thousand words'. The social media site takes it a bit further by ensuring that the videos are also included to share your idea. Earlier, there was no way the members could share the pictures and the videos privately. The introduction of Instagram Direct Messaging was a step towards solving this problem. It ensured that the businesses could now tell the complete stories with the help of Instagram. Besides, this tool can also be used for various purposes. You can target different types of users with it and can also reply to groups. Thus, the Direct Messaging option offered by Instagram has become extremely popular among the businesses to connect directly with their target audience.
Customizing with Pinterest's Rich Pins
When Pinterest was first introduced, nobody must have thought that it would become so popular this fast. It did. And now it has brought about a certain update, which is certainly one of the most important changes in its journey. Pinterest Rich Pins are meant to take the already popular activity of pinning to greater heights. It is designed to appear differently for separate types of items. For example, when you are pinning an article, the readers will be able to see its title and the description. However, if you use a product, its image and price or some other specification will show up in the pin. This update from Pinterest has gained immense popularity among the business owners, who are using it to reach out to their target audience in a more prudent manner.
Showcasing Offerings with LinkedIn
For every business, it is essential to create a page that specifies its offerings and functions as a platform to connect with different types of target audience. What can be better if it can be done on a professional network? LinkedIn, one of the most popular socially professional websites has now made it possible. Its Showcase Pages are the best way to reach out to clients with new products and services. And every company can have as many as 10 such pages. No doubt, a perfect way to take your business to the next level.
Different social media platforms have been bringing about various types of updates to their products and services. These updates have helped to enhance user experience and bring about a change in the way social media is used for businesses these days.