As the end of the year draws near, it’s time to start evaluating your Social Media efforts and trends for 2012.

This past year we’ve seen a high rise in not only businesses continuing to jump into Social Media, but also a shift towards them hiring professionals to assist with their profile management.

The trend of referring to social media as free is over!  Large businesses learned that lesson in the beginning of 2011, now small businesses are catching up and realizing social media is far from free and the trend will be serious budget increases for creating content, automating tools, and human resources to engage with their audience.

Social media has proven its importance and is now the mainstream media.  2012 will continue to see social media grow into nearly everyone’s primary content and interaction source.  We are already seeing early adaptors being less about media or marketing and more about social.  Your social mix in 2012 will be engagement focused.  In-house managers or profile management agencies will move beyond advertising to their audience, and into focusing on real-time response utilizing tracking and alerts tools, and making their advertising content relevant, interesting and engaging.

In other words, competition will intensify in 2012, which means for businesses that don’t start embracing social media, 2012 might mark the beginning of their declining profits as they quickly lose market share to larger, on-line savvy, businesses.

You may have questions like:

• Which sites are best for my business?
• Is Facebook better than Twitter?
• Do I need a blog? If so, how do I create one?
• How do people manage all their profiles?
• I’m not an early adaptor, is it too late to get started?

There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, every brand is different!  There are many Social Media sites and tools emerging daily, but not every site or tool will make sense for every business.  Whether you’re looking to begin your social media presence or want to re-evaluate your current social media efforts, we can help take it to the next level.  First we’ll explore what platforms are best for your business, then, through our Profile Management service we will help you leverage that power to promote your brand, protect your reputation, and build your on-line presence.

Eben Design helps businesses connect using social media.  Our services range from training programs that empower you to manage your own social media presence, to our profile management services where we handle the day-to-day efforts for you.  We specialize in website design and development and offer a Brand Foundation™ process that has helped many companies discover, consolidate and communicate their brand assets with consistency through marketing and interactive media.

These are my observations. Share with us your experiences and vision for Social Media in 2012.

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About the Author

Charlotte Client Services

Filed under: Interactive, Marketing

Tags: Marketing, marketing mix, social media, trends