The Future of Social Media: 38 Experts Share Their Predictions For 2012

By Brian Rice |

November 1, 2011

With only two months remaining until the end of the year, there is no better time than now to pause and take a look towards the future. I predict that 2012 will be the year that marketers begin to look beyond the buzzword that is "social media" and focus on what truly matters – building engaging communities. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. are great channels/tools for communicating and pushing out content but without a focus on fostering a sense of community, your efforts will ultimately fall flat. But you don't have to take my word for it. The beauty of predictions is that everyone has their own. Below are predictions on the future of social media from 38 experts.

1. Jim Spinello, Senior Vice President, Marketing Communications at rEvolution

The integration of a credible and relevant social media presence will finally be viewed as strategy, rather than tactic. Because if you (brands) are not fully embracing social in all its forms, you will have missed the bullet train and you probably won't be able to get back on.

2. Andria Trivisonno, Director of Digital Marketing of Cult Marketing

Engagement is going to be a key performance indicator and main focus point with so many platforms that users can "belong to." Brands will have to engage users in different, fresh ways to sustain them. Google+ will be launching brand pages at some point, and that will force brands to refocus social efforts and designate which platforms support their initiatives. Companies will need to create one universal social strategy for multiple platforms that will serve a core marketing purpose.

Transparency will become more of a theme. People are starting to become more comfortable with sharing opinions, likes and information and less concerned with protecting information. Most importantly, business and personal lives will continue to cross and eventually become one.

3. Ian Aronovich, Co-Founder of GovernmentAuctions.org

We predict that the future holds more integration between social media and technology. For example on the new iPhone update you can post to twitter through your text or photo menu. This kind of ideal will get streamlined and be more available across other services in the future. When it comes to social media there is always something on the bleeding edge that will make an impact and we have no doubt that something major is being worked on that will blow our notions of social media out of the water.

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15. Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet.com

I see the ultimate purpose of social media as becoming an omnipresent source of all relevant information. When Google joined the web, it quickly became our source of information, yet, it lacked a personal touch. Google could very effectively collect relevant information, but only from impersonal sources (i.e. Business websites and unknown experts). Social media can insert the missing human touch and allow mankind tap into the full potential of the internet. Because of this, it is going to transform eCommerce as we know it. Social media allows customers to leverage one another to gain the feedback they value most when making a purchasing decision. eTailers like Shoplet, that are leveraging social media, will continue to benefit from rates of customer engagement that previously were not possible. In addition, eTailers like Shoplet will benefit from better conversion rates, gaining access to millions of customer's friends from recommendations, and higher customer satisfaction.