As 2014 is coming to a close, let’s have a look at some of the 2015 hot trends for one of the key-players in the social media landscape: Facebook.

In Q3, the company increased its earnings by 64 percent compared to the previous year and has added more than 100 million monthly active users in the last year.

Here’s what we’re advising our clients at Spritz for their 2015 Facebook marketing strategies:

1. Social Media Advertising Will be King
In 2015, paid content will become essential in your social media strategy. Facebook will push advertising and limit organic reach and the number of posts your fans see in their newsfeed. We’ve already seen this change in 2014, but anticipate this trend to continue to progress, pushing ad pricing on Facebook to similarly increase. As Twitter has yet to push advertising as forcefully as Facebook, we recommend taking advantage of the relatively low ad prices on Twitter now to test and determine what campaigns work the best for your business.

2. Facebook “Buy Button”, the Next Big Thing
Like Twitter, Facebook tested “buy buttons” this year, that appear in timelines and allow users to make purchases in one click directly through the network. Expect e-commerce and social media integrations to deepen in 2015.

3. Optimizing your posts for the best visibility

· High Quality Images

Using high quality images is crucial in social media and will improve your posts’ visibility on Facebook users’ newsfeeds. Check out this article on MarketingLand to create your perfect link image on Facebook.

· Native Links

Use native links! Facebook gives preferential exposure to links posted directly through Facebook, as opposed to a link accompanied by a photo upload. Why? Facebook cited a survey where 80 percent of participants preferred headlines that helped them decide if they wanted to read the full article before clicking through.

· Content Sharing

Content Marketing is still a hot trend in the digital marketing industry. 70% of consumers say they prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads, according to NewsCred. Don’t hesitate to share your content on Facebook and make sure you remain consistent with the type of content you share. It should be meaningful, unique and interesting so followers quickly understand the key points and share it. The faster people engage with the post (comment, share, like, click), the more Facebook will promote it and give it visibility. Note that more priority is given to older posts based on how frequently people have engaged with the post.

4. Sharing Videos
With auto play and micro videos, Facebook will give more weight to videos and challenge YouTube (it had more video views than YouTube this year). Here’s a great tool to use to help you in your video creation process on a budget: Animoto, an online and mobile video creation solution that is affordable and easy to use.

Happy Digital Marketing!