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    I began this year by publishing my social media predictions for 2014 focusing on six key trends that I saw (and continue to see) evolving: Employee Advocacy, Google Plus, Paid Social, Content, The Visual, and Mobile Personal.

    With the year coming to a close, it’s time to look ahead into what awaits us in 2015 and how we can spend the rest of the year better preparing for it.

    Rather than just include my own predictions, as Community Manager for the CEO Registry’s SocialMedia.CEO community of social business leaders, I decided to reach out to the social media CEOs and see what their vision holds for all of us.

    Without further adieu, here are 10 social media predictions for 2015 from 10 social media CEOs:

    DaveKerpen.CEO, Likeable Media :

    In 2015, social media will get increasingly mobile, with more apps for businesses and consumers to use. LinkedIn will emerge as the most important social network for B2B and Instagram will emerge as the most important social network for B2C.

    DaveKerpen.ceo

     


     

    RyanHolmes.CEO, Hootsuite (note: Ryan’s prediction is from 2014 but it has yet to eventuate!) :

    “Hey, what’d you score on your Twitter exam?” In 2014, schools will recognize social media as an asset, rather than liability.

    RyanHolmes.ceo

     


     

    LeannaJCarey.CEO, TheHealthMaven Group :

    Social media users will use more Visual Content to reach their tribes – it’s proven that the more visual communication is, the more it is remembered; it makes a greater impact … & more smiles.

    LeannaJCarey.ceo

     


     

    KamiHuyse.CEO, Zoetica Media :

    If you don’t have a strategy to make your business mobile-friendly, you are already behind the curve. This is the year to invest in mobile technology and to make sure that your customers and clients can find and connect with you on any device, anywhere. Also, make sure your content is shareable on both mobile and the web by adding share buttons in the content. People expect to be able to find and share information on the go. Give them what they expect.

    kamihuyse.ceo

     


     

    MitchellLevy.CEO, THiNKaha (you can find all 10 of Mitchell’s predictions here) :

    The recognition that the new attention span is 7 seconds and having 80% of the content you share come from others will help you capture it.

    mitchelllevy.ceo

     


     

    DannahLewis.CEO, Delicious LifeStyled :

    [2015 will be about] finding ways to create more with less. People are inundated with long, drawn out emails, newsletters, sales pitches, and business postings coming at them 24/7. Instead of adding to the deluge of posts, be willing to ask more questions about who, what, where and when to connect and engage with your audience, clients, and fans. This is about going beyond the metrics and using strategic awareness and being willing to ask questions of and have gratitude for your business. What are you aware of with your clients spoken or unspoken that you can tap into? What talents, capacities, and gifts of your brand can be the invitation to not the push or demand from people?

    dannahlewis.ceo

     


     

    RussTurner.CEO, Make a Difference Consulting :

    I see an increase in CEO’s taking the social media bull by the horns and leading from the front to be the face of their organizations. Why? Because the realization of “People Follow People” more than they do companies or logos is finally setting in.

    russturner.ceo

     


     

    FrankFeather.CEO, StratEDGY :

    I believe we are starting to see the segmentation, fragmentation, and demassification of social media. The major platforms are generic “mass” social media. I believe they must demassify to survive and prosper, as did print media before. If the giants do not segment their user market (and not just through big data analysis) into special interest groups, then I don’t think they can attract advertisers and survive. Facebook is particularly vulnerable. But I don’t see Ello or Tsu, for example, as the answer, as they are just more of the same. Users create their own communities of interest, through their own personal networking, despite the failure of the platforms to provide or facilitate that. The most effective is LinkedIn with its Group feature. I don’t believe that Facebook or Twitter can duplicate that kind of segmentation without breaking themselves apart. Disenchanted users (and advertisers) will drive this change. So organizations need to be aware of this state of flux and be ready to reposition themselves with whatever new media emerge. I think this pattern will become evident during 2015. Indeed, if a no-brainer platform came along tomorrow, the likes of Facebook could implode within a matter of a few weeks. Disenchanted users would simply abandon them.

    frankfeather.ceo

     


     

    MichaelQTodd.CEO, Abundance Marketing :

    People who make things will become increasingly influential. The geek is the new cool. It used to be that content creators were “influential.” Look at Mark Zuckerburg in China recently with hundreds of millions hanging on his every word. Already I am seeing it on Facebook and Google+ where people are gravitating to the posts of tech entrepreneurs and rightly so.

    To future proof their businesses in 2015 companies will need to get their staff and customers evangelizing them more on social and incentivize them for doing so.

    michaelqtodd.ceo

     


     

    NealSchaffer.CEO, Maximize Your Social :

    Social business will become more mainstream in 2015 through the efforts of marketers to promote Social Selling as well as Employee Advocacy programs to their sales and business development team as well as entire base of employees. The problem is that no one wants to be sold to in social media, especially coming from their friends, so businesses instead should be treading very carefully and seeing these still new programs less as social media sales and marketing opportunities and more as a starting point in creating an inclusive social business strategy and an improved internal culture that will future proof business results for many years to come.

    On the other hand, as the use of social media permeates the professional demographic, 2015 should be the year where CEOs start to take social media much more seriously. As more professionals and CEOs use social media for more business objectives, personal branding will become all the more important – and this will influence everyone into possessing their own domain identity on the Internet. Social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook will be as strong as ever, but I see a growing number of professionals joining vertical social networks like SocialMedia.CEO to complement their social media presence and solidify their online branding.

    nealschaffer.ceo

     


     

    As you can see, there were many common threads amongst the predictions which included content, visual, advocacy, future proof, and mobile.

    Which of these quotes resonated most with you? Do you see social media moving in a different direction than these social media predictions for 2015? Please chime in!

     

    Engage with and endorse your favorite social media CEOs here:

     

    Click here to view the Social Media CEO Leaderboard

     

     

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