It seems odd to be writing about 2012 social media trends while the leaves are still turning color and covering lawns with their autumnal colors. But, by the time you read this, the new year will be less than a month away and you need to begin thinking about which digital tools to include in your marketing and communication plan.
As we discussed in the October issue, there are plenty of tools you can use, test and showcase your social media prowess. But they’re just tools and not part of a larger strategy. In the coming year, you’ll need both.
The following are seven social media trends we think will affect the way you do business next year:
1. Consolidation: Groupon and Living Social and City Deals and Swirl and Totsy and Gilt, oh my! The race to the daily-deal space was fierce and the competition among one another has eroded any kind of benefit for the franchisee. You’ll begin to see those sites either consolidate or completely go out of business. If you’re looking for an opportunity to use a daily-deal site with your franchise, keep an eye on which ones remain toward the middle of 2012.
2. Privacy: Privacy will continue to be a big discussion, with sites such as Diaspora coming out of beta and launching to the public. There also will be tools to delete information you have on the social sites you regret putting there. While you can’t erase what others have written, you will have more control over what you put out there.
3. Gamification: We’ve talked about this before, but gamification is going to continue to grow and will affect your franchise. Right now it’s unsophisticated in its infancy, but it will begin to get to a point where you’ll need to consider how to make buying from you a pleasurable experience (read: a game).
4. Mobile content: If you aren’t already considering how your web properties (website, blog, etc.) are viewed both on phones or tablets, that is a 2011 goal. Get it done! And, next year, you’ll go from writing content solely for the web to writing content for the web, phones and tablets.
5. Social television: If your franchise doesn’t use television advertising, this likely isn’t something you need to consider. But if broadcast is a medium for you, you’ll need to consider how to integrate social activity in your messaging. And we don’t mean adding your Twitter and Facebook icons. We mean allowing people to check in while they’re watching your ad and giving them something for doing so.
6. Improved analytics: This one is near and dear to our hearts. Currently, there isn’t a standardized way to measure social results. We know it takes longer for the investment to become clear and we can measure specific campaigns when using unique URLs. But measurement will become improved and begin to move toward standardization.
7. Google Wallet: Paying with your phone is closer than you think and it’s something you’ll need to consider when customers pay for your products or services. Right now it’s attached to the credit-card machines that offer PayPass. Is that in your budget for next year?
Of course, these aren’t the end-all, be-all for everyone. Some applications will make sense for you, while others will not. But the bigger trend is that you must continue to stay abreast of the latest and greatest technologies in order to best service your customers.
Gini Dietrich is CEO of Arment Dietrich and author of SpinSucks.com. She can be reached at [email protected] or 312-787-7249.
