In news that is not so related to this blog post, I am going back to school…. yes… How I dreaded going to school all those years and now here I am writing a one page essay for this particular course I am going to be doing, with no force from anyone. Things can surely change.
Anyway to my predications for 2020 hopefully I will be around to see them come to pass.
Ohh and this post was inspired by that essay I am writing for school.
So Social Media as we all know, in Uganda is still lacking; companies are still fitting it into other sections, most brands online have no social media or online policies, others are copying and pasting from others, influencers are not paid what they deserve, unguided online campaigns everywhere… it is a jungle out here and it is not getting better soon though it should.
Every one is a guru if they have a number of followers on social media, there are no content calenders or even content fit enough to change the thoughts on social, we are not planning, it is still considered a youth play ground by some corporations.
That is how bad we are so far. Check out #SocialUg on twitter you find out the number of problems this particular sector is facing.
So what do I think will happen in 2020… don’t ask me why I chose this year… refer to essay writing.
In 2020 I think more companies will invest in social media because they are just 6 years from now, plus people like me and most influencer friends I know in this sector are working our butts off to make sure we get them online.
Also I am sure paid search traffic and conversion rates will be very expensive for companies to afford thus settle for cheap avenues, but this is for companies that have been online before not those that are just joining now this means measuring the ROI of social media will become a top priority as companies consider expanding budgets and staff members for social media–related activities.
Social media will then be a channel of itself after branching off from where it is being fitted now like PR and/or marketing departments. Social media will be seen as a channel instead of a panacea for solving all organizational business problems.
Businesses will demand more business-driving proof, readers will demand more and more substance to blogs and those who are practitioners will have to demand for more excellence out of themselves. This will go a long way in cleaning up the industry, in my opinion. The ‘gurus’ will be long gone and the practitioners will be excelling.
There will be a move to measure quality of engagement, instead of quantity. Not that quantity won’t continue to matter, as it always determines the ultimate funnel size, but as measurement methods continue to improve dramatically, social marketers will also be able to determine if their efforts are resulting in the quality of engagement needed to drive business outcomes, like conversions. You can’t manage what you can’t measure, and measuring quality of engagement will ensure more effective and efficient marketing campaigns then. (why do I feel like I am a prophet of doom with this… it should be happening like now but Ugandans…. we are slow on our progress with things)
This is a fact, we will all be cleverer with how we communicate online right now we are still basically communicating with each other computer and not a warm blooded human. We tweet as if we are not talking to other people, we communicate as we are talking to our diaries and not our followers. Networking and developing relationships online is no different from offline, so I guess we will have stopped treating it like that.
Okay those are my dreams for social media in next 6 years, that is like the next term for his excellency… okbye.
