Almost every year, new trends emerge for social media. With 2015 round the corner, it’s time to have a look at some of the most anticipated social media trends for the year.

Social Media Marketing to Go Mobile
This one started quite a few years back and is expected to continue in 2015 as well. It’s not about being responsive. More and more people are going to access social media through their mobile devices. In fact, recent trends show that the rise in the number of users who use only mobile to access social media has been much more than those using any other form of device. So, social media platforms are expected to make their services more mobile-friendly.

A number of new apps for the social media platforms are expected to emerge. These are going to make it easier for the users to access social media, no matter where they are.

Use of Images to Gain Ground
The old adage still holds true: a picture surely speaks a thousand words. It’s proved that people respond more readily to image advertisements than text-based ads. This is because, images are among the best forms of communication and are used extensively in making it easier for the audience to understand the message. So, the use of images is surely going to increase significantly in social media.

It is a known fact that visual contents are easier to remember. Hence, they are likely to have more impact than their text-based counterparts. In 2015, companies are anticipated to use more images for spreading the word about their business.

Marketing through Short Videos to Become Popular
Visual content always have a major impact on the marketing endeavors. So, their use on social media platforms is expected to increase in 2015 as well. But the use of visual content on social media is not going to be limited to images only. With dwindling patience of people, short videos are also likely to emerge as a new mode of communication in near future. So, video marketing in 2015 is going to be one of the most important forms of marketing on social media platforms.

Companies are likely to create short but informative videos on their products and services. And this is going to be one of the best ways to connect with the target audience within the shortest possible time. Interactive videos are also expected to rule the roost in 2015. Sites like Instagram, which offer excellent video marketing opportunities, are likely to become more and more popular during the year.

Viral Marketing to Become More and More Craved For
The online world has already experienced the power of viral marketing. It is the best way to get plenty of shares, which help to spread the word about your company to numerous people. This surely increases the business for your company.

In 2015, more and more companies will look to create media that will go viral. Their aim will be to increase their businesses through those. And for this, they might even ask some communication agencies for help.

Companies to Use Real-time Marketing to Serve Customers
Social media is an excellent platform for the companies to connect directly with their customers. Most of the companies are likely to continue utilizing this opportunity to the fullest. And in addition, the concept of real-time marketing is going to become more and more popular.

So, the brands need to be uniform in their activities. Besides, they have to respond as fast as possible to the comments and queries that the end users and potential customers are posting on the social media platform. However, the companies need to be prudent enough to leverage different opportunities to remain connected with the audience on a regular basis.

LinkedIn and Instagram to Become the Most Important Platforms
LinkedIn and Instagram are expected to emerge as the most popular social media platforms. While LinkedIn is anticipated to emerge as a major platform for B2B audience, a large number of people will use Instagram for B2C communication.

Instagram will be one of the most important platforms for sharing videos. In addition, companies are expected to take LinkedIn more seriously in near future. Dedicated professionals are likely to be hired for maintaining the LinkedIn marketing policy in 2015. They are going to make it easier for the companies to leverage the benefits offered by this platform.

Creativity to be the Key to Success
No matter how much you are spending time on social media, it won’t fetch any result until and unless you are creative. You cannot expect the audience to react in an excellent manner to messages that are cliché and old. Instead, try to think something out of the box. Be it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any other platform, you will have to design the content in a manner as creative as possible. And once it is creative, the content is sure to be unique enough to attract numerous viewers.

Most of the major social media platforms, such as Twitter and others, are likely to remain relevant in 2015 as well. However, marketers will need to pay out more money to make their advertisements appear on platforms, such as Facebook. Hence, companies need to significantly increase their budget for social media marketing for 2015. Besides, they will also be focusing more in 2015 on using social media as the perfect platform for driving business revenues.

Original from: http://www.socialmediatoday.com