Where is Social Media Going in 2011?

All signs point to 2011 being another blockbuster year in social media. Will you be ready? Read on for our predictions about where social media is going, how it will change, and what that means for your business.

Social Media Networking is Mobile

Smartphones and tablets will shift the balance of social networking to mobile devices. As a result, the social networks will be required to enhance their mobile applications. With the rise of social networks on mobile, the integration of advertising into mobile social media will begin to be incorporated. This will most likely be some of the most effective advertising because of the targeting ability and real estate occupied by the advertising.

Location-Based Marketing Takes Hold of Social Media

As noted above, with the continued rise of smartphones, location-based marketing will likely be the largest growth area of social media. Retailers of all kinds will use location-based marketing to drive in-store sales and increase the likelihood of purchasing by customers. All social networks will incorporate some sort of geo-locations, but it is likely that Facebook and Foursquare will continue to lead the pack.

Continued Rise of Facebook and Social Media Search

Facebook has established their foothold in social media and online. In 2011, you can expect to see the continued growth of both Facebook and Social Search. The growth of Social Search and the integration of the Open Graph will explode and Google will likely incorporate the Open Graph in order to make their search more relevant. With the amount of time spent on Facebook continuing to rise and the integration of the Open Graph across all websites, there will be an acceleration of
Social Search.

Consolidation of Social Media Networks

With the large number of social networks and many of them performing very similar tasks, there will likely be a combination of mergers and partnerships that will bring these varied social networks together. This will help the consumers focus their time and energy in the social network world, and provide advertisers with an opportunity to be more targeted and focused with their advertising message. The main stays in social networking will be Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Look to Google to try entering the scene, but not likely to succeed unless they are able to seamlessly integrate into the search product and attain adoption across a wide variety of websites.

More Sophisticated Social Media Tracking

One of the most important developments for social networking is going to be the proliferation of services that will provide tracking and ROI metrics for social networking. One of the biggest downfalls of social networking is its inability to give clear ROI reporting to businesses engaged in the medium. In 2011, there will likely be a large number of companies focused on realizing the ROI of social media. Using a combination of tracking methods and studies, the positive effect of social media will begin to be uncovered with new tracking and analytics suites.