It's no secret that over the last couple of years Social Media has become inescapable. 2013 saw the growth of Twitter hashtags across all media - from TV adverts to billboards! And it's not just Twitter, we've seen increased use of Vine (video), Instagram (photos) and other more creative forms of Social media being used commercially. So if 2013 was all about the growth of creative material being developed for social media then what will 2014 hold?
At Lamb we believe the integration of social media channels into all forms of marketing and advertising will continue. Campaigns will become more sophisticated through being run across multiple channels simultaneously. The Xuber brand launch and AGCS Cyber Protect product launch showed good examples of this in 2014.
Further to this we believe that a wider sphere of the financial service industry will embrace social media this year. Financial Advisers and Investment Professionals look set to close the gap on the Legal and Insurance industries. The fear of interacting with financial service brands online or displaying an opinion is subsiding as people's understanding of the channels develops.
Finally we see 2014 as being the year of professionally created video content. The use of video from a marketing and public relations point of view came on leaps and bounds in 2013, with a wealth of content being developed by companies of all sizes. Unfortunately a large percentage of this content was not fully thought through and produced with poor sound and lighting, a rushed delivery or even an ill advised choice of tie. We believe that video is a hugely important tool in the marketing kit bag but it has to be well produced with value adding content in order to boost a customer’s perception of your brand. Anything short of this risks doing more harm than good.
If you agree with our predictions or have some of your own we'd be very interested to hear from you. Let's start 2014 as we mean to go on and continue the conversation on social media. You can find us here:
photo credit: Jason A. Howie via photopin cc
