content

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Social media is defined as “the interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks”, most usually through the internet. It has been around since the 90’s and has consistently evolved into what it is now, a super-fast highway of information, used by many people around the world to communicate and interact.

As social media evolves, certain trends also develop due to the changes brought about by this evolution. When new social media technology is introduced, it is quite likely that a new social media trend will follow suit.

For 2013 and 2014, here are some of the significant social media trends that many should keep their eyes on:

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1. Social Content is King: Content has become a foundation on which social media marketing efforts are built on. With the Google+ platform, content becomes even more important in archiving and indexing search results.

2. Social Media Content Management is Costly: Digital marketers are beginning to realize that even if social networks are free, the resources needed for social media management are wide in scope and expensive. Researching and developing content, publishing and managing, consume so much time and require skills that cannot be found anywhere so easily.

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3. Twitter will soon be cooler: Twitter has already penetrated the minds of many a youth and is no longer a mysterious social networking tool. Brands will definitely be looking into focusing more on how twitter will be extending their reach.

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4. Facebook will still have its Grip on Social Networking: And will still continue its strong growth and dominance as the basic social network of choice since it has already established itself for mobile ads and integrated itself with different apps and platforms. Even with Google+, it still has the potential to thrive since platforms usually complement each other, than compete with each other.

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5. Visuals are the Key to getting Attention: For example, Pinterest has transformed from a way to share images into a way to refer sales for online stores. It has even surpassed Facebook in some cases, as a platform that creates revenue.

Though visual social media trends are still young, it is rapidly evolving and impacting the interphases and designs of many platforms. Make sure to always consider using high resolution images in designing and creating your content.

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6. Responsive is now a Standard: When developing social mobile web content, always take into consideration that the users will also be using their tablets and/ or smartphones. Responsive web technology is now the norm with many new websites.

These trends may seem intimidating and confusing to many, but they can actually be turned into opportunities for starting or even old companies. Just make sure that you are up to date, since the fast pace of technology is bringing about more changes in the web’s social media trends.

To know more about social media trends and how your company can be up-to-date, contact Viiworks or by calling at +63 02 846 8844 for inquiries.

brands

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Brands once had a proud attitude when it came to marketing. It had been about me, me, me: what my product can do, why my product is better than their, why it’s so expensive, etc. etc.

Due to the internet, people are now exposed to, so much information that it has become overwhelming to many. When a brand wants to stick out and get all the attention to “me, me, me”, there are about a thousand more offering a similar product vying for that person’s attention as well.

So what happens?

The consumer will look for the cheapest, most accessible, most nostalgic or most recommended product that they will find, and all the other brands are lost in the information trash bin for the time being.

Brands, nowadays, need to start looking beyond themselves in order for them to integrate their company and content to the lives of their stakeholders. They need to widen their content scope to complement their original content and become recognized more than just as a producer of product X. This can be done through online content curation.

Content

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Content curation is the process of sorting through information available online and translating it into a meaningful and organized way covering a specific topic or theme. In simpler terms, curation is gathering and presenting content that is important to a brand’s stakeholders.

There are many advantages for a brand to handle its online curation:

It is cost effective: since it takes longer to create content from scratch
It is a more “human” way for brands to organize web content about them: because nothing beats human interpretation
Online curation is the best form of social (media) giving: because the online community appreciates content shared, without an agenda

What is needed to be an online curator?

Creativity and a keen eye would be the most necessary skills for online curators. Creativity because curators need to be able to translate certain jargon that may not be understood by the target audience and a keen eye since there is so much information available and only some of it may actually matter.

creativity

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It is also important to remember the three S’s of online curation: Seek, Sense and Share.

Seek: curators need to be able to define a topic clearly and capture relevant information in relation to the topic

Sense: products must be annotated, and should add value to the work

Share: site sources,” commentable” and distribute to the target audience
Seems pretty easy? It actually is and almost anyone can be an online curator. That is why now is the chance of your brand to manage its own content online.

Know more about online curation by contacting Viiworks or by calling us at +63 02 846 8844.