I can’t believe I am tempted to refer to Google as a challenger brand, but in social media there is clearly a big task at hand for Google + in order to compete evenly with the Facebooks, Twitters and LinkedIns of this world. Watching how this unfolds will be one of the most fascinating dynamics in social media evolution in the foreseeable future.
Last count in Australia there were more than 10.7 million users of Facebook and 13 million unique visitors; 11 million unique Youtube visitors users; 2 million unique LinkedIn visitors, 1.8 million Twitter visitors, 1.6 million Wordpress Visitors, etc. So it is fair to say that in a country of more than 22 million people we are at a point where social media as a platform has scale. While we are watching how Google+ fairs, there are some other dynamics for marketers and agencies to keep an eye on.
Social Data Insight leading to Actionable Insight:
The challenge and opportunity is how to take large data sets and convert the 40-50 page reports into actionable insights that businesses can employ. It is important to benchmark and know the sentiment of your brand against your competitors but it is even more powerful to know what is important to your customers; what is your share of voice and is this increasing for the important brand pillars; third, how fast is your community growing and are you aware of its media value & basket size.
Social Attribution and the ROI of Social Media:
Social attribution will become one of the key ingredients of Social Media as retailers battle to ensure they are hitting their numbers and exploring emerging channels. The consumer is available and willing to engage in Social Channels and putting in place a Social CRM program will be key to identifying the impact your activity has in terms of brand, customer service and sales.
A new set of Media Amplification Tools:
Media amplification tools like Blogger Outreach, Video Seeding and Cost Per Fan acquisition will become impact players in the marketers’ arsenal. These media tools will also become more sophisticated, measuring beyond reach and going into engagement and acquisition.
Community Management will get sophisticated and companies will need to have a content strategy:
If you have an attribution model in place and realize that the value of your community could be in the millions, companies will understand they need to put the right talent into a content strategy. Having a uni graduate managing these channels will no longer stack up.
Google + will expand exponentially:
As I mentioned, Google + will be pushing hard to compete amongst the Facebooks,
Twitters and Linked Ins. With search implications for
companies that don’t have a presence we will see a willingness
to invest in creating engaging content.
On the other hand the game changer for the consumer
will be the mobile functionality, being able to organize a three
way chat, distribute content across devices including TV, do
it really fast and share it with my friends are all reasons to
now sign-up.
Gamification & Socialisation:
Gamification is set to rule as one of the key buzz words in most strategic marketing meetings. Allowing consumers and employees to co-create with your brand is the art of using your marketing dollar for a purpose. This is the year where marketers look employ gamification across every campaign they run.
Like all emerging mediums this is the year where we see a bit more science applied to the craft of social media. It’s certainly going to be a dynamic year. Stay tuned!
Midu Chandra
Director of Social Media
Reprise Media
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