21 Social Media Predictions for 2013 From the Pros
By Cindy King
Published January 1, 2013

Are you wondering what 2013 might look like for social media marketing?
If the changes seen in 2012 are an indicator, there will be a lot more change in 2013.
To get a grip on what the near future may look like, we tapped the knowledge of 21 social media pros. Here’s what they had to say.

#1: Ecommerce and Social Media Grow Together
I don’t know about the world in general, but I am fascinated with the movement of ecommerce and predict that it will continue to trend in 2013.
When I asked my personal ecommerce expert Gideon Lask (CEO and founder of BuyaPowa), he said one huge trend in ecommerce will be the continued empowerment of the consumer.
“No one telling the shopper what to buy, when to shop and how much to pay. Too many retailers are failing by not realizing that consumers want to do it on their terms. Time to give them the key to the car. Empower them and you’ll win loyalty.”
Social media is a great venue for consumers because of the integrated communication features and potential ecommerce features. But even Facebook is missing the mark a bit. Twitter and LinkedIn don’t even have ecommerce options.That needs to change.
I’m a big fan of any way we can use social media to build business, sell product and support our economy.
Making purchasing easier and more fun is one way of doing it, and is the reason I see the mashup of ecommerce and social media as a huge growth trend in 2013.
Viveka Von Rosen, known internationally as the “LinkedIn Expert” and author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.

#2: Visual Marketing
2013 will be the year of visual marketing. Visuals and video done right are highly effective in cutting through the noise.
It’s a snackable type of content that resonates with people globally and increases engagement within communities no matter where they are located.
Brands will need to understand what it takes to do visual marketing well, whether within their current communities or new networks like Pinterest, Instagram and others.
This is applicable for any type of content: paid, earned and owned.
Ekaterina Walter, social innovator at Intel and author of Think Like Zuck.

#3: We’ll See Media as Either Active or Passive
I believe that we will stop seeing media as social and start thinking about our media as being either active or passive.
This will happen in two stages.
Stage one is the consumer. When are consumers active or passive with their media? When are they passively watching a TV show or actively taking part on Twitter?
Stage two is the brand. When should brands create media that are passive or active?

These new lenses on both media and the consumer will help brands figure out the best marketing mix, and help them optimize everything from content creation and TV spots to the amount of time, energy and effort they should place on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image, blogger, podcaster and author of Six Pixels of Separation.

#4: Facebook Offers Better Tools for Businesses
In 2013, we’ll see Facebook offering a premium version of Facebook Pages. This premium version will include advanced analytics that willgive marketers greater insight around specific fan segments (top commenters, customers, new fans) and the ability to do frictionless email acquisition (click “join” within a Page update to opt in).
They’ve already acquired Threadsy (an analytics tool) and earlier this year they allowed third-party developers to create actions beyond Comment, Like and Share.
We’ll also see new ways Facebook is used for hyperlocal commerce. For example, a clothing store will allow store visitors to log in and pay for their purchases all through their Facebook account. We are already seeing self-pay commerce apps being used (Square, GoPayment). Soon after 2013, cash registers will only be seen in museums.
The other area that will see huge changes is content creation and curation. Marketers will have