5 Social Business Predictions for 2017

In the past two years, we have seen a focus on content creation and storytelling, the inception of real time video with successes like Meerkat and Periscope and the rapid adoption of specialized networks and tools like BeBee and Slack.

In 2017, we will see additional focus, maturity and change.

• Constants: customer-centricity and experience.
• Evolution: context and emotion to meet consumer demands and achieve results.

5 Social Business Predictions for 2017

1. Live by Facebook will lead the pack, have staying power and become the standard bearer of the live video movement. Live video will take its place as a core corporate marketing tactic and interactive video will quickly follow. Many live streaming platforms have come and gone or been marginalized this year like blab.im. However, the interest in and engagement with video is palpable and the ease of interaction for consumers is proven.
2. Leading brands will deliver the content experience in the right situational and device context for the customer and achieve differentiation. Storytelling along the customer’s daily digital journey and interaction with the brand will deliver a seamless, relevant user experience and drive true outcome-based results. Map your customer’s social journey as they move from web to app, on mobile to desktop to tablet to television to wearables.
3. Progressive firms will deliberately align incentives to drive social media skills training and behavior in support of the brand. Social media will permeate SMB and enterprise organizations and social media skills will become a mainstream communication requirement for employees. Management expectations will begin to evolve and employees will be directly incentivized to support the customer’s and brand’s social journey.
4. Employees will find importance in personal brand building on internal and external social channels. The pace of change will increase as messaging and collaboration tools and platforms encourage people to communicate in real and near-real time.
5. Social business ROI will crispen. Justification for the enterprise social media investment will migrate from exploratory and discretionary to mandatory. Social business will become a formal component of marketing and communications in the annual business planning process. Data and measurement practices and personnel skill sets will solidify to support the social media ROI equation.

4 Key Corporate Social Business Challenges in 2017

• Creating brand experiences that enable the visualization of your competitive advantage through social media, device and situational context
• Aligning your social business value with required customer outcomes
• Mobilizing internally to deliver the needed content and assets in support of the brand promise
• Measuring and delivering results to justify the social business investment

Conclusion / Take Aways

The skills and behaviors required to be successful in social business demand personal focus and an obsession with continued learning. Foster a culture that is grounded in digital communications and is based on continual improvement.

We are all experiencing bumps along the social business and digital transformation road. The key is to experiment often, learn from mistakes, make needed adjustments and maintain flexibility for the journey ahead.

________________________________________________________

Socially Savvy provides a social business curriculum to teach social media skills and effective business communications for the connected economy. We train individuals and brands across corporate, education and government sectors.   

Please visit our blog for additional content and insights and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to join the social business conversation. 

Arrange a Conversation