Changes to social media platforms seem constant. Barely a day goes by without an algorithmic tweak, a new ad offering, or a new product to be tested. For most of us involved in digital marketing, the impact of these changes is negligible, affecting only the content creators and community managers working directly on social media. However, there are three big trends and changes that will impact every business owner, regardless of vertical.

LIVE-STREAMING (SOMETIMES IN 360 DEGREES)

For brands looking to connect more in real time – whether for a campaign launch, a product debut, or a thought leadership opportunity – live streaming offers an exciting way to entice and engage viewers. In the last six months, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have all debuted live video capabilities within their iOS and Android apps. While the functionalities in these three apps are similar, however, they differ in important ways that will help to determine which platform will drive the best results.

If you want to share a live broadcast in 360 degrees, use Facebook or Twitter.
If you want to share live content as part of a story, use Instagram.
If you want live content to be available after the broadcast, use Facebook or Twitter. While it is possible to save a live Instagram story, it will not be available on Instagram once the broadcast is over.
If you want to broadcast via desktop, use Facebook.

VERTICAL VIDEO

Thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices and the popularity of social story functionality, vertical video is on the rise. In fact, forecasters explain that,

On average, 57% of consumers globally watch videos on a mobile phone every day, while 58% of consumers watch videos on their laptop/desktop every day. With 89% of US and 77% of global consumers saying they can’t live without their smartphone or always have it within arm’s reach, we are very close to the tipping point where mobile will soon be the number one video screen.

Facebook has even optimized its News Feed to share larger previews of vertical videos as users scroll through posts from friends and brands. What does this mean for business owners? It’s time to take a mobile-first approach to video creation and consider optimizing for vertically oriented screens. Even if Snap Ads and Instagram story ads aren’t in your marketing plans, bear in mind that vertical video is only going to get bigger. The time to perfect your mobile-first video strategy is now.

BROADENING THE DEFINITION OF SEARCH

When most people think of search, they think of typing words into a Google search bar and scrolling through a list of associated websites, but that’s about to change. Social media has been quietly transforming search into so much more. It started with Facebook’s 2013 updates to Graph Search, which allowed users to search posts and comments shared with them by their friends.

Now, Pinterest is allowing users to get more personalized results in their feeds through Instant Ideas, denoted by a small circle that appears in the corner of each Pin. When the circle is tapped, Pinterest will share similar Pins inspired by the original. Search also is taking on a more visual quality, thanks to Pinterest’s announcement of its new experimental technology called Pinterest Lens (BETA), which allows users to use the camera in the Pinterest app (or the desktop-based Pinterest browser button in Chrome) to discover ideas inspired by the objects around them. The platform explains: “Just point Lens at a pair of shoes, then tap to see related styles or even ideas for what else to wear with them. Or try it on a table to find similar designs, or even other furniture from the same era.” Capitalizing on these new functionalities – and those yet to come – will require beautiful, high quality creative assets that are optimized for user searches.

This post originally appeared on BrownsteinGroup.com.

Social Media Leadership Awards On an incredibly snowy December 10, I started my day with a little social media learning with a fellow LevLane-r, PR Account Manager Tracy Dabakis. Bundled up against the chilly precip, we trekked over to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to hit up the last sessions of the Social Media Leadership Awards' Best Practices Conference. There, we learned from some of the industry's best and most innovative about using social strategies for customer service and community creation/management. Check out the top takeaways from the morning below. If you were in attendance at #SMLA13, let me know what you found most valuable in the comments below!

The Integration (and Separation) of Social Media and PR

The moderator of the morning's customer service panel, The Wharton School's Sr. Director of New Media Stefan Frank, pointed out that 50-75% of social media managers are still part of larger PR and communications teams. From proactive blogger relations to crisis management, PR and social media teams work collaboratively as close partners, even if they are not one intertwined team. Those who work with or serve as part of social media teams will not be surprised by this, but the fact of the matter is that this can be both an asset and a detriment to social media strategies, if not managed properly. While many PR strategies focus on specifically-worded answers to customer inquiries or problems, the canned response is met with disdain in the social sphere.

Still, that doesn't mean that elements of traditional PR fall by the wayside in a technologically modern world. As Bianca Buckridee, VP of Social Media Operations for JPMorgan Chase, explained during the panel, it's crucial for PR teams to communicate with social media teams regarding buzzworthy events (from both a content strategy perspective and community management perspective), as well as anticipating and planning for positive and negative reactions across different media. This doesn't mean latching onto one canned response for the duration of an event, however. Brian Monk, AVP Social Media at Barclaycard US, said that his team often crafts several different ways to communicate the same message, so that customers don't lash out upon being served the same response repeatedly. It seems like a no-brainer, but you might be shocked to see how few brands actually utilize this simple tactic. In fact, those varied and personalized responses are the primary way in which social media and PR strategies diverge when it comes to customer service. Buckridee emphasized that at JPMorgan Chase, they have (and use) brand and conversation guidelines for customer service issues, but the most important thing is that their team members' personalities shine through. They, after all, are the voice of the brand for each customer – and that voice needs to have a human touch. Personalized responses may sometimes require a little background research (and almost-daily coaching and education to determine which responses work best), but the pay-off of having a happy customer is so worth it.

In fact, The Wharton School's Frank pointed out that, "You can delight people the most in a crisis because they expect to be let down." But what do social teams need to do before and during crises in order to delight, rather than dismay? As Dennis Stoutenburgh, Co-Founder of Social Strategy1, explains, it's about using social media tools to anticipate reactions or issues and to communicate with the larger team to proactively reach out or to provide valuable reactions to those issues. "Social care can be the early warning system that helps to create a good coordinated effort." Once an issue has reached crisis-level, American Airlines' Sr. Analyst, Social Communications Katy Phillips, emphasizes three things: honesty about the situation and what it means for customers, delivering timely updates, and (perhaps most surprisingly) knowing when to let the crisis go.

As David Berkowitz, CMO at MRY, put it in a later panel on content and communities, "Real-time marketing [or response, for that matter] is too late." That's exactly what the day's #SMLA13 sessions were all about: the need to anticipate, predict, and respond in strategic, delightful ways for customers and stakeholders, alike.

What was your favorite part of the day? Did anything surprise you? Share your comments below!