There is a lot of useful information to be found in Kim Garst’s Social Media predictions for 2015. It’s when you combine them that their usefulness increases: on the one hand it’s expected that businesses will increasingly have to pay to promote their Facebook page. On the other hand, Instagram continues to be a major player. It’s long been seen as the preserve of younger users, but businesses are using it more and more frequently (see, for instance, 5 B2B companies successfully using Instagram).

I think we are going to see a shift, with businesses gradually focusing their attention on Instagram, and deserting an increasingly expensive Facebook. There are certainly plenty of success stories for businesses who’ve focused their marketing strategies on Instagram, see for instance the Beauford Bonnet Company, which claims that 80% of their business comes from Instagram. In fact a study shows that Instagram posts generate 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter and 58 more than Facebook!

Another takeaway is that content marketing will continue to be a major strategy for businesses. This isn’t surprising, we know that companies that publish new blog posts 15+ times per month (3-4 posts per week) generate five times more traffic than companies that don’t blog at all (NewsCred). However, the emphasis in 2015 will be on creating relevant and high quality content, rather than content for content’s sake. Content creators should bear in mind current events and trends, as well as their target audience when writing posts.

Finally, if anyone out there still thinks their business can survive without social media, it’s time for them to get their head out of the sand! Googling a company and finding a website that hasn’t been updated since 2010 does not inspire faith. Blogging regularly, using platforms such as Passle, and embedding it on your website is an easy way of showing that you’re still alive and kicking!

(btw, if you like, you can follow Passle on Instagram).