Social Media Marketing Trends for the Holidays

As the infographic from Hubspot indicates, the holiday season is already here for us marketers and business owners. Last month we wrote about planning your holiday marketing campaigns. Now we are talking about social media marketing trends for the 2014 holiday season. This infographic highlights the survey results from over 120 marketing professionals, discussing their plans and predictions. It shows how important social media will be for marketing companies this holiday season. Here are the most important social media marketing trends this season.

$650 Billion in Holiday Spending Expected in 2014

The expected spend for the 2014 holiday season is $650 billion. That is an 8% increase from the $602 billion spent in 2013. The reach of social media shows how far and wide advertisers can go. If advertisers don’t turn to target the 1.32 billion Facebook users, 271 million Twitter users, and 150 million Instagram users, they will surely be behind the competition that does access social users.

Social Commerce: Beyond Driving Leads and Just Connecting

Social commerce is the new name of the game. We are moving beyond using social to connect with consumers, generate leads, and drive traffic to your website. 62% of marketers’ primary goal for social media marketing this holiday season is driving sales and extending brand reach.

Does this change the way you think about your social media plans for this holiday season?

Facebook is King, But Instagram is Growing Fast

Almost all social media marketers plan on spending the bulk of their social media marketing budget on Facebook. The huge consumer base along with the ability to target very specific traits of customers and measure results can be attributed to the reason for this huge trend. However, don’t count out Instagram. 73% of marketers think that it will be the breakout social network of 2014.

Marketers are Making Smart Investments

67% of marketers will spend more on social this year than they did last year. Only 29% plan to spend about the same as they did on social last year. 4% of those surveyed said they plan on spending less on social media than they did last year.

Marketers Aren’t Rushing to Invest in Untested Networks

48% of marketers are not investing in any of the newer social networks that were not around or popular last year.