As we enter 2014, we thought we would flag up some developments that can be expected on social media. The two key platforms we’re going to mention are Facebook and Twitter. Twitter has grown even more in the last year. Twitter improved its mobile user interface and made things much slicker via a mobile device. User figures on the platform have grown too. And as expected, we witnessed the advent of the Twitter adverts. The news online is that we can expect more Twitter adverts in the coming year. Now that Twitter has a whole host of shareholders to satisfy, there is little doubt that it will be increasing its opportunities to generate revenue from advertising. Much the same can be said for Facebook. However, we are already used to the targeted FB adverts that appear on our home pages, and within our newsfeeds. The newest marketing development on FB will be the advent of video advertising.  No doubt this will be very well used by the big brands who already budget for video and television adverts. However, we predict video ads could present opportunities for smaller companies to get noticed by huge numbers of people. We have heard that the prices for video advertising will be set so that companies of all sizes could potentially take advantage. Let’s see what happens. Facebook has clearly taken a few tips from YouTube, who are making massive revenues with their video adverts. It will be interesting to see how the Facebook audience react to this latest marketing offering. Normally Facebook users are loud in their disapproval of advertising, but after a short while their complaints tend to die down. We have no doubt that video will be well received on Facebook. Already, newsfeeds are full of video footage being shared by companies. It’s not such a leap to imagine video adverts being well received as a part of the daily routine on Facebook. The proof that social media advertising works is the fact that it exists, and is being used by businesses. Adverts do create revenue, which means advertisers are getting a return on their investment. Because social media advertising is so well targeted, it really is a powerful way to promote a brand. Our advice is to consider doing your own social media advertising in 2014. Choose advertising that matches your brand and suits your budget.