Here’s a look into the Simply Social Media Crystal Ball at the Top 10 Social Media Trends for 2015:

Companies advertising on Facebook will increase, and so will the price.

Facebook has warned us repeatedly in 2014 that organic post reach will continue to significantly decrease. This has become a serious bone of contention for business owners who have been using Facebook to market their products and services. We have seen article upon article regarding the loss of the organic post reach free lunch, to that I have said to my clients that is was unrealistic to continue to expect anything but a “pay to play model”.

As Facebook continues to reduce the numbers of unpaid posts page fans actually see the demand for promoted posts and ads including video ads will continue to increase. With increased demand will come increased pricing. In Q3 of 2014 per Fox News, Facebook’s ad revenue was up 64% over 2013. We can expect that to grow exponentially in 2015.

We also look forward to seeing how Facebook’s new ‘Buy’ button is going to grow social shopping and with it, increasing advertising revenues for Facebook.

Niche social networks continue to rise … but will they last?

The almost 5 month old Ello, which is currently invite-only similar to what we saw with the introduction of Pinterest, has caused quite a stir. Ello is labeled by some as the ‘new cool social network’. Ello currently offers a barebones forever ad-free experience and promises to never sell its users’ information to third parties. It is however doubtful that it will be serious competition to Facebook due to the fact that most end users will not be willing to pay to use the social network once they launch their advanced features version. Without ad revenue Ello will not have a sustainable model.

Another network to watch in 2015 is tsu, which has promised to share ad revenue with users based on the popularity of their posts.

Twitter advertising will explode!

Twitter has announced objective based advertising campaigns in order to tempt businesses with more choice and flexibility in how and what they pay for in terms of advertising. Those small and medium sized businesses who have been frustrated with Facebook will jump on the Twitter ad bandwagon, especially those looking to reach a younger and male demographic. The new fee structure allows businesses to pay for certain performance-based actions (results) rather than just retweets or clicks and includes tweet engagements (retweets, replies, etc.), website clicks or conversions, app installs, new followers and leads.

Instagram’s will continue grow exponentially.

Instagram has become the network for image and video based social media marketing. Instagram is the overwhelming choice and has edged out Facebook and Twitter among young users in 2014. U.S. teens now describe Instagram as "most important," while Facebook and Twitter lost ground on this measure according to Piper Jaffray's twice yearly teen survey. The survey also found that 83% of U.S. teens in wealthy households were on Instagram.

Social selling on LinkedIn will transcend B2B into B2C.

According to Business Insider, LinkedIn is more popular than Twitter among U.S. adults. LinkedIn's attractive core demographics are well educated users aged between 30 and 49 that are in the prime of their career. In 2015, we will see the continued growth of B2B recruiting and advertising, but we will also see more luxury brands utilizing LinkedIn to create a B2C relationship with the affluent demographics of LinkedIn.

2015 will be the year of anonymous social media.

In 2014, anonymous social media apps such as Whisper, Secret, and YikYak launched and became the rage with the younger set. The allure was the ability to air issues and thoughts anonymously. Parents of tweens and teens have not been happy with these apps due to the increased opportunity of bullying. However, in 2015, we will see the growth of these apps for those people who feel that they have been over visible on traditional social media; they will instead flock to the land of no login, no profile, and no trace.

Customer Service will be a growth area for social media.

According to Edison research, 24% of American internet users 12+ who have contacted a brand on social media expect a reply within 30 minutes, regardless of when the contact was made. Over the past few years, consumer behavior has told us that they want to interact, contact customer service and ask questions via social media. In 2015, those brands that embrace social customer service will be rewarded handsomely.

Image and video content will dominate social networks

According to Cisco, 80% of all consumer internet traffic will be video by 2018. Consumers want information that is quick and direct to the point and brands are hearing this and are moving from text to video social media content. Videos can be created and shared easily with smartphones and tablets which are not expensive to produce and do not take long to create.

The year of wearable technology.

How will we connect on social media? Wearable devices are the hot new technology! Even the fashion magazine Vogue put the Apple Watch, the most awaited device in 2015 on one of its covers. Smart glasses and virtual-reality headsets are now a viable consumer product and will keep us all connected on social media. Wearable tech is not just for George Jetson anymore!

Businesses will stop pitching and finally start relating to their customer base.

For the last couple of years, I have told my customers to stop constantly pitching their products on social media. What they have found was that the more they pitched, the more people were turned off. In 2015, we will find that your company’s content has to be more than a sales pitch. Content needs to be informative, relatable, and entertaining.

Julie Van Ameyde is the owner of Michigan based Simply Social Media. She puts her combined knowledge of social media platforms and best practices as a veteran business owner to work for clients in a myriad of vertical markets, including law, medicine, finance, technology, manufacturing, retail and service-based organizations. In addition, she contributes considerable time and energy to civic outreach programs, as well as community and charity groups. Contact Julie at: 248-773-7110 or julie@simplysocialmediallc.com www.simplysocialmediallc.com

Sources: Fox News, Social Media Examiner, Business Insider and Forbes