It's simply all about people!

With fancy new apps & technologies and newer social networking sites being released almost every other week; social media seems to do be driven by technologies. But it isn’t, it’s all about people! When I think about social media, the most famous words “Of the people, for the people and by the people” by President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address come to my mind. That’s precisely the essence of my blog “E= MC² (basics) of Social Media” and specifically this post!

Photo Credit: http://www.marketing4newmedia.com/

Social media provides the opportunity for people to participate and contribute their ideas, experience and knowledge nearly real-time. In their book, Groundswell, authors’ Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff explain the collective power of social media, “People connect with other people and draw power from other people especially the crowds. Internet allows people to draw strength from each other.”

Blogger Susan Gunelius lists “Crowdsourcing, using other people to create your content” as the top Social Media Marketing Trend for 2012. Coca-Cola is one company that has managed to do this particularly well. If you visit their Facebook fan page, they’ve narrated the feel-good story of all time. The story of a fan, Dusty, who couldn’t find a facebook page for Coca-Cola and ended up creating one. It’s interesting because they are placing fans/customers’ first, they’re “listening” and allowing fan’s to do all the “talking” thereby building trust. 

“Dusty loved Coca-Cola and was in search for The Coca-Cola Fan Page on Facebook. He couldn't find one that felt official enough, so he set out to create his own. With the help of his friend Michael J, they created this Page.”

In this virtual (social media) world, most participants in the group/conversation do not even know each other personally. However, they do have a common purpose in mind, they come together for a cause, and the technology just facilitates the connection. And as authors’ Li and Bernoff say, “The collective strength is what makes them really powerful and leaves the feeling of being “unafraid.”

Across industries, a wide range of social media tools and technologies are used for news gathering and distribution. Google Plus and LinkedIn can be used to build his professional brand reach and authority, and Facebook to engage prospects and customers.  Marketers can gather great info from Facebook. The likes can help them rank up on the search engines. So many new social channels emerge that give marketers tremendous insights to their customers. Consumer-centric sites like Pinterest lets you see what people are interested in for home, fashion, cooking, automotive, sports and more. Trending topics on Twitter can help you determine spin for posts to help bubble content to the surface.

Photo Credit: http://www.breakingcopy.com/social-media-flowchart-status

It might not make sense to dedicate specialized experts to each platform to keep up with the technology and the culture, but using a personal approach to turn user into a customer with a dash of social will do the trick. “Because a strategy that treats everyone alike will spell failure – people aren’t alike and won’t respond in the same way,” explain authors’ Li and Bernoff in their book Groundswell. 

It is important to always adapt and be ready for change especially when it comes to social media marketing; and according to Brian Whalley, search marketer at Hubspot, “marketing actually speaks to their audience and doesn't hinge on a specific feature or method of outreach.” Social Media is inherently conversational and transparent; examples of brands that have been successful in building trust with their customers are listed on PR Daily.

Companies can take advantage of the collective power of employees active on social media as well. Citibank launched the “Building a new Citi” campaign as a part of their 200 years celebration. They first introduced the concept internally gathered ideas/stories/blogs from employees and then rolled it to the external world. In her talk at Stanford University, Deborah Hopkins, from the Chief Innovation Office at Citi, explains how they unleashed the true power social technologies to gather ideas, build marketing campaigns/products from employees to build partnerships and gain trust of customers. 

According to Fast Company expert blogger Julie Moreland, “As a business owner, if you can tap in to the passion of your workforce, you can accomplish things that no amount of money can buy.”

A humorous video showing how integrated these new technologies are in our lives today is attached below. Given the discussion, what according to you dives people to publicly connect with brands/services/employers? 

 

Sneak peek into the future - Social Media Trends for 2012

Not all of us can own a DeLorean (time machine) and take a sneak peek into the future. Thanks to the new medium, and of course the works of “experts” who articulate key words, statistics, trends and phrases about the hottest growth area for the online community “Social Media.”

It’s one month past the New Year, however, zooming into the “Social Media Trends for 2012” is worthwhile. The list shown below is by no means complete, however, I attempt to list what experts have to say about top social marketing developments, new technologies, resources, etc. 

Consolidation, integration, convergence 

2012 is listed as the year for consolidation, integration, convergence and the likes by most authors, experts and bloggers. For years’ management lessons have preached organizations the benefits of integrating the different business functions and not work in silos. Experts say, social media will witness a similar trend.

David Armano explains convergence with the example of Domino’s Pizza, posting unfiltered feedback on a large billboard at Times Square. Advertising agency McCann define integration in the form of usage of social media across devices.

John Serpa calls it “Transmedia,” newer ways to narrate real-life experiences in the virtual world. Leo Widrich says, “We will see a lot more apps and companies come to help us free from content overload." 

Social + Sharing 

According to social media expert, Jay Baer, “2012 will be the year of multimedia social network. Photo and video-based social interaction will grow.” On the same note, new multimedia platforms like Pinterest will grow.

David Armano elaborates and uses the term “Social Sharing”, “Sharing that vacation you just booked, or recommending a product, or service from any site to a social network is where sharing goes next.” 

Social + eCommerce
  
Gartner predicts that by 2013, the number - one way that consumers will be interacting with the Internet is via their smartphones and tablets.  Given this, social commerce can definitely be categorized as an upcoming trend for the coming year.

In his explanation, Priit Kallas says, “We will lead into a new era in eCommerce where you can directly purchase from your Facebook account.” Everyone will witness more integration of social media and e-commerce, more than ever.” 

“M-Commerce/mobile tactics will be substantial sources of lead generation including the QR codes, near-field and Bluetooth communications, social check-in promotions, mobile search, mobile Web, text/SMS/MMS, email and mobile advertising,” added bloggers’  Jeanne Hopkins and Jamie Turner. 

Social + Television 

Social Television also climbs up the charts in the social media landscape. Several experts and bloggers like David Armano , Gini Dietrich, Priit Kallas, Elise Moreau say that watching television will get more social and sharable with the introduction of voting on social media  for reality shows  and apps like Get Glue.They also mention that location and mobile based platforms or applications will be big this year. 

“Another way media consumption is becoming social comes from a network called Get Glue which acts as something of a Foursquare for media. Participants can "check-in" to their favorite shows (or other forms of media) and collect stickers to tell the world what programs they love. Watch for more of this this year as ratings rise for socially integrated shows,” David explains. 

Results 

Businesses will increasingly focus on ROI. We experienced this trend in 2011 and will continue to do so this year as well. I second Susan Gunelius's prediction, “Businesses will make more significant investments in social media marketing in 2012, but they’ll also be focusing on the return on investment (ROI).” 

Email + Social Media 

Email celebrates its 40^th birthday this year. Contrary to popular belief, according to Gini Dietrich it’s still effective and is here to stay. “The platforms (email and social media) will complement one another for smarter, more targeted messaging and list-building efforts,” says Jason Miller. 

Here’s a clip recently aired by CBS 5 News that quickly encapsulates the key “Social Media Trends for 2012!”

What according to you will change in 2012? I will be glad if you could help me compile the list!