Social Media Predictions for 2012
I’m excited for 2012! It is going to be a great year! I’m looking forward to what is on the horizon for me both personally and professionally. There are a lot of opinions about what is up-and-coming in the world of Social Media. We know that Facebook will continue to flourish – as will others such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Some of my predictions for the upcoming year are:
Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board that allows users to visually organize things that they like and want to share with friends. I am semi-addicted to Pinterest (as are most of my friends) and I have many ‘boards’ including items that I want to make, quotes that I like and pictures that are an inspiration to me. My friends or ‘followers’ can see these items and click through to the online source if they want to learn more or ‘repin’ items onto their own boards. In 2012 we are going to see more companies use Pinterest to display catalog items and new products – hoping that users will help the product go ‘viral’. We already saw some of the bigger retailers this Christmas make boards with popular fall/winter fashions and boards with gift ideas for tech-lovers. Pinterest will continue to gain users and marketers will start to add this to their Social Media Toolkit.
Going mobile. Companies are going to need to optimize their websites for the mobile user. The ability to access information quickly and easily will be important to consumers. Another aspect of the smartphone is the ability to customize applications for companies to reach out and engage with their customers. ‘There is an app for that’ is a term we are going to hear over and over in 2012.
Reporting efforts. Most companies are aware that they need to be online and involved in Social Media. What is a struggle for most marketers is the ability to show companies an accurate ROI (return on investment) for time spent online. The smart business person knows that even though they may not have measurable results for each Facebook post – they are engaging with an online audience that they would otherwise not have been able to reach with their message. I think we are going to see more businesses that will offer to measure the results of Social Media efforts and analyze traffic. Some companies such as Klout have already emerged providing a score for how connected you are online.
The rules of marketing are changing. These aren’t the only changes that we will see in 2012. Content Marketing and engaging with customers is what companies are going to need to be aware of to stay ahead of the competition.
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