‘Things’ I Hope to See in Kenya: 14 Social Media Predictions for 2014

1. Let 2014 to be the year we focus on how to be social not how to do social    not about the management, reporting and analytic tools and all that makes us sound smart?
2. I know guys who want to know more about social but not from trends published abroad, not from gurus blogging from the west, Europe or India, not from sponsored reports, not from shady stats that make beautiful info graphics but from people locally who understand a thing or two about social media. Let’s have more of meetups, talks and mini conferences to share knowledge and insights.
3. I hope to see reports published here with local stats, insights and recent data in 2014. I am not a big fan of these popular international reports and social media trends that don’t seem to make much sense here.
4. Am also optimistic there could be a social media major in one local University    maybe a few units on new media in some MBA course. There’s need to address the talent shortage & get some form of credentials to this industry.
5. In 2014 can we also form a professional body for social media people to add on to that Facebook group, maybe offer certified training to its members, have events? Anyone?
6. Can the leading digital agencies blog more often? Share their lessons? Tricks & big hacks? What ideas worked and for who and why? What failed and the lessons? Are we ready for that kind of transparency? Are we there yet? Let’s just not brag about awards we’ve won for our work and showcase the agency culture!
7. 2014 will be the year when we see more integrated marketing programs & well executed campaigns in Kenya combining social, mobile, traditional media and experiential.
8. The coming year we’ll witness brands out of social media puberty hit their social maturity; they’ll be more specific about where they allocate budgets within social media     use fewer channels, do less but bigger campaigns and more targeted social media efforts.
9. How about an end to the #SomeoneTellXYZ bullshit?
10. I foresee multinationals setting up regional hybrid social media command centers, recruit more in-house social media guys.
11. To pause and reflect on where this social media thing is heading      the impact & threats and what else we can add to it.
12. Let this coming year be the year we tweet things we’d like to read, to publish blogs we’d love to read and share with friends, to share stuff we’d find helpful     It’s that simple.
13. Can brands post less to listen more and respond timely?    Taking a break from social media over the weekend or holiday is unacceptable in 2014. Brands also need to start ‘talking with’ consumers not ‘talking at’.
14. Can the president also start engaging netizens? A bit of replies on your tweets, comments on our questions?Make the presidency a lil bit more social?