Big Social Media & Digital Trends for 2012 – Part Two
Social media is struggling through its adolescence. Growing pains are
very real for many businesses, torn between the social business nirvana and the
pragmatic realities of the day-to-day. To help those keen to get a jump on the
year ahead I offer five more trends
that are likely to shape PR, social media and digital communications in 2012.
1. From Bolt-on to Business as usual
The advent of social media saw marketers attach themselves to channels such as
Twitter, Weibo and Facebook with palpable glee. Many felt they were low-cost
ways of pushing more marketing messages at a receptive public, and gleefully
measured success per 1,000 likes in the same way they’d previously lapped up
media coverage measured by the pound. Social networking activity was rather
clumsily ‘bolted’ on to existing marketing and communications programs, and
often left to its own devices.
The lessons of 2011 told us that social isn’t a ‘bolt’ on. For many
consumers, Facebook is the Internet. Facebook traffic is going up and web
traffic is in decline. 1-800 numbers are passé – customer support is 24×7 and on
your social network. The mission for 2012 is to create a seamless experience
across a range of historically disparate social media, digital and offline
properties. Wishful thinking? For many, perhaps. But in the social consumer’s
mind, the change has happened. Better interaction across business functions
isn’t just management dreaming, it’s social consumer demand.
2. Social goes mobile
We’ll need to start marketing through mobile channels
first, making better use of images, video, and less text. Variables such as geolocation, NFC, mobile search and augmented reality
need to be factored in as time and location become critical for brands wanting
to capture greater mobile wallet share. For those that haven’t considered this,
take a look at your website on a smart phone (here's mine). Hope you’ll like what you see…or
more crucially I hope your consumers like what they see.
3. Influence is currency
2011 saw the influence debate really take off. Google, Twitter and Facebook are fighting
tooth and nail for your social credentials. Influence ranking systems Klout and Peer
Index both have gained greater recognition over the year but with
their success has come controversy. The fact that Klout’s changes caused
uproar indicates that reputation measurement is here so stay.
2012 will see
even greater use of influence scores as the industry seeks a better standard. Better algorithms will dictate greater use of scores in shaping PR
tactics. Our focus will increasingly be on understanding how the influential
and vocal minority can help us shape our client’s brands. Customers and
employees will play larger roles in marketing programs as social currency
becomes easier to measure. The ability of Klout and its ilk to keep innovating
and providing more specific data will change the way we look at PR forever.
4. Changing channels?
In 2011 the social network wars exploded. The emergence of Google+ saw Facebook
and Twitter make significant changes to their UIs. Niche social
networks like Instagram and Pinterest found
a home on many desktops and mobile devices.
In 2012 we’ll see Facebook, Google+
and Twitter continuing to innovate and offer greater ability to focus conversations
for more specialized groups.
The question is, will this be enough for social consumers to keep them loyal or will new
networks emerge to challenge?
The traditional broadcasters also aren’t
standing still. The entertainment and social media industries are colliding,
with Twitter in particular helping create a new discipline called social TV.
Second screen apps such as Umami and Gracenote are also blurring the lines
further.
In 2012, stories will increasingly have to be told across networks to
keep consumer attention. Social networks will continue to innovate while simultaneously the big networks will do more to keep consumers within
their ‘walls’. The challenge for brands will be to keep on top of the niche and
large social networks and traditional broadcasters. It will be critical to keep
an open mind and be willing to experiment as the channels jostle for position.
5. PR’s future
My final prediction is a big call but that’s the pleasure of forecasting. From
my perspective PR will go through a required change in 2012. The shift
will reflect the other nine trends I’ve talked to. Our ability to
react to changes in channels, consumer behaviors, tools and technologies will
cement our future as an industry.
This change is one that will see a dramatic
shift in our required skill set. We’ll need to take our heritage in client and industry understanding,
audiences and narrative development and marry them to inbound marketing and content marketing skills. PR’s success will be its ability to
put as much emphasis on creating compelling messages as it does on directing and measuring consumer behavior.
Our understanding of lead generation, website optimization, paid
search, landing pages, calls-to-action and SEO techniques will ensure our
consultancy is designed to achieve business KPIs. The combination of this
skill set with our traditional expertise in media and analyst relations,
internal communications, public affairs, community management and content
creation will ensure that PR has a role not just as a buzz generator but – most
crucially – as a function that creates measurable and meaningful change.
Let me know what you think - leave a comment below or find me on twitter.
Images sourced under Creative Commons license from flickr users midgley, jcarlosn, Jeff
Hester and Moyan
Brenn, respectively.
The original version of this post first ran on my company's blog, HyperText