The year’s coming to a close and let’s see if some of the social media trends predicted for 2011 came true. According to an article on Venturebeat.com, there would be 6 major shifts in 2011:
Social customer service will drive revenue; social marketing will move beyond Facebook and LinkedIn; socially adept companies will align the needs of employees and customers; there will be shifts to social correctness which will outweigh threats, fear and uncertainty; social will be more widely used by companies as a marketing tool; and finally, real time will gain value when companies plan their campaigns.
6 very valid points and I think they’ve all played out as expected. Social media is not the next big thing – it’s the current big thing and no company can ignore the profit it brings to the table. Everything has gone social – social ecommerce, social CRM – these are very real, very quantifiable terms. So how do we move forward? With sites like Google Plus and Klout gaining ground as new ways to influence, measure, and connect with peers, it’s important to sort through the many layers that social media offers and uncover its true potential.
I believe that social ecommerce will continue to gain ground with websites collecting and using data to leverage sales and focus on conversion marketing. Social integration will also become stronger as users can share and discuss their purchases, and tablet or mobile shopping will steadily advance. In fact Forrester Research says that tablets already generate 21% of mobile traffic to retail sites and they predict that tablet traffic will reach 50.7 million in 2012. It’s only a step away then to ensure consumers begin using it for all their shopping needs.
And speaking of mobile phones, I can see them taking center stage as the number of apps that allow you to connect to just about anything and everything continues to grow. Is there anything your smart phone cannot do? Geo-location will let you pinpoint products, brands, and services and sites like wishpond.com will allow instant, smart shopping which may eventually replace good old fashioned pavement pounding. If fact research company Gartner predicts the total user base of consumer location based searches will reach 1.4 billion by 2014.
While monitoring was once considered something to be done after a campaign, given the quick pace of social movement, it looks like monitoring and analysis will become daily necessities. People chat not only about brands and communities, but about everything in-between. Being able to capture and analyze this data can prove invaluable to a growing business. Need to get a head start? Apart from inbuilt monitoring tools, there are plenty of readily available free and paid for social media monitoring tools that help you track your progress.
Influence will gain ground and identifying key influencers or nurturing potential evangelists will take precedence as social customer service becomes more relevant. While a Facebook like or a Google +1 was just a number, today it’s become something by which to gauge how the customer is reacting to a particular brand or campaign. These measurements will be taken more seriously as customer service goes viral.
I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of deal sites like Groupon and Living Social. I think they’re great for the consumer but not necessarily profitable for the business owner. Customer loyalty, which was once the cornerstone upon which to build a business is now put to test, as shopping for cheap bargains becomes easy via daily deal sites. But the question is, will these sites continue to grow or have they reached their pinnacle? I like this article on YoungStartUp’s entitled, 2012 Will Be the Year of the Empowered Merchant. It says that as merchants become more aware of their online marketing strategies, the daily deal space will contract, while emerging technologies –possibly on tablets and mobile phones – will see small business owners explore newer ways to trade online.
It seems like it’s good news all the way. But the million dollar question is – Will social media in 2012 be the primary way to contact customers?
