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Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
How “The Body shop USA” can enhance their customer engagement?
Two weeks ago, I posted
my first report monitoring “The Body Shop USA” conversations. A lot of things
have changed for “The Body Shop USA” since then. In this post, I will showcase my findings from (Mar 14, 2012 to Mar 27, 2012) and also outline few steps that "The Body Shop USA" can take to enhance customer engagement.
In hope that all these
would have changed the different social media metrics and statistics for “The
Body Shop USA,” I examined a few free social media analytics tools.
Steps for "The Body Shop USA" to enhance customer engagement:
The global company “The
Body Shop” introduced their first-ever
brand advocate, model turned
actress, Lily Cole, who mentions herself as a developing activist and firmly
believes in the company’s fair trade policy. The company has just last week (Mar 22, 2012)
launched its new blog (for more
visit: http://blog.thebodyshop.com/).
Well the blog was definitely a part of my suggestions for “The Body Shop” but I
guess they read my mind :)
The Fortune Magazine featured "The
Body Shop’s” founder Dame Anita Roddick, and gave her an honorable mention
on their list of the Greatest
Entrepreneurs for creating a socially and environmentally responsible
business.
- Consistent increase of fans and followers
- Rise in blog citation and interest levels due to the new developments
- Qualitatively, some things have changed since my last report. Customer complaints at least in the last week were better handled. I guess they read my report ;) And many… many… many… received a prompt response. Kudos to “The Body Shop USA”
- However, there was a clear irregularity in responding to customer queries on Facebook. On some days, customers received a quick response while others it took as long as 2-3 days
- Unlike my last report, in the last two weeks I found very few negative posts that did not receive a response
- In the past few weeks, branding and marketing efforts included communicating about the company’s ethical practices of conducting business
- And… the fans supported company’s ethical practices posts
- One generic message received huge response.
None of the branding messages could get such traction. Of course the natural
ingredients angle did help!!
Steps for "The Body Shop USA" to enhance customer engagement:
Given my observations in
the last two social media monitoring reports, a different online approach can have a
dramatic difference in terms of impact and customer/fan engagement for “The
Body Shop USA”. Engagement is really important, having hundreds and thousands
of fans with only about 2.5% engaged can take one only so far.
- Listening: The company adopts a more ‘corporate’ tone of engagement. It would be nice if the company adopted a more active, personal and conversation building tone of engagement to build greater trust and deepen relationships with their fans/customers. Additionally, there is no uniformity in the look and feel across the various social media platforms. They should take concrete efforts on building a uniform presence across their website, Facebook page, Twitter page, Flick account and YouTube page.
- Talking: By simply being regular and consistent in responding the customer queries, I am sure the company can build on their goodwill and add many more fans to their existing base. Responding in a timely manner in the groundswell is a necessity and not a luxury.
- Energizing: The company did not have an official blog until last week. Now that “The Body Shop” (corporate, based out of UK) has a blog, they should build country specific pages (for USA and others) and encourage the brand evangelists in that country to blog about the products, write reviews and do the marketing for the company. Instead of running many discounts/sales promotions they can reward customer sponsored stories/guest blogs and thereby build credibility. The company can focus on driving branding/marketing efforts through their fair/just business model and communicating about their values and the actions they take to live up to those values (human trafficking, fair trade and so on). The company can cultivate online relationships with their partners and various online animal rights organizations across the globe (Thank You Jesse for the suggestion). Additionally, I found a wonderful booklet cum brochure (Values Report 2011) on their website, that talks about many such cases; engaging blog posts accompanied by rich media (photos and videos) will definitely inspire, connect, engage and drive action within the community.
- Supporting: Yet another suggestion is that “The Body Shop USA” should put up product reviews, application/usage tutorials on one single site (ideally their website) as many customer posts were related to them and most reviews for Body Shop products were scattered all over the place. Organizing reviews will help the company reduce significant customer support costs. Another suggestion could be linking popular health and beauty blogs/product reviews to "The Body Shop" blog.
- Embracing: “The Body Shop USA” should create an integrated platform that includes elements such as a blog with content that inspires, connects and drives action. It may also include their existing customer loyalty program and other social networks such as LinkedIn, Pinterest or YouTube. It should most times also include an integrated email communication option for nurturing.
With tracking and monitoring “The Body Shop USA” should have a better understanding of the elements of social media that
are benefiting its business. What they need to do is feed this
into their ongoing customer engagement (marketing) strategy. They must focus on
relationships and connecting with their audiences and it doesn’t matter where
the return policy is located, people will find them and use them because they
want to engage with the brand!
It should be “The Body Shop USA’s”
mission to see that all the good causes they support take up a larger share of
the popular-culture pie (space). They should help more than just selling a
product; they should engage with the community in the worthwhile. They have
been and are pioneers at this – partnering with people, organizations, and
missions that are socially and ethically defensible. It’s just that their
customer engagement efforts should be tailored and shout-aloud the same
message.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Monitoring "The Body Shop USA" Conversations
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| Photo Credit: http://www.gback.co.uk |
I have been monitoring the Social Media activities of “The Body Shop USA” for the past few weeks. I must say some results were expected, but others surprised me! The time period considered for my study is from Feb 20, 2012 to Mar 13, 2012.
Through the past few weeks
I have used Social Mention, Ice Rocket, Facebook insights,
Google
Insights, Twitalyzer,
Tweetstats to
track The Body Shop USA in the groundswell.
I have also been looking at “The Body Shop USA’s” Official Website, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr Gallery and YouTube. Like I mentioned
before, I am a fan of the Body Shop products, and out of sheer curiosity for
the brand - what others feel and talk about the products/company and how is the
company faring in the groundswell – I decided to monitor it.
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- Presence across various social media platforms, however, visually different
My first observation was
that the company has presence across all the popular and relevant platforms for
their target audience. However, the look and feel across platforms is pretty
different from one another. They are using a green backdrop, the Twitter page uses beautiful
imagery and the A to Z campaign, whereas
the Facebook,cover image simply has greenery, I couldn't really find a story, expect that its their brand color, the YouTube cover video talks
about the company philosophy and promotes their latest product introduction, and the Flickr
gallery talks about yet another community campaign (“Stop Sex-Trafficking”) the
company is active in.
- Target Audience
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The Body Shop produces beauty products and hence their target audience should be mainly female and the age group of 18-40 yrs. Facebook page insights and Twitalyzer social relationships validate my assumption and analogy.
- The landing page of “The Body Shop USA” official website
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- Social Mention Analysis
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- Increase in Fans and Followers
- The rise in blogs citation and interest levels can be attributed to the introduction of sales promotion/offer that day
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On monitoring the facebook and twitter accounts, I realized that company adopts a more ‘corporate’ tone of engagement, with announcements of special offers and posts by consultants organizing or promoting Body Shop events. Most conversations in twitter centered around the promotions, a simple observation and analysis of conversations on Facebook surprised me. My results and observations are visually represented below:
- Many negative updates did not receive any response from the
company. But, Groundswell never fails to help!
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- Positive updates were promptly responded
- Some negative updates did receive a response but after 17 hours and some after more than 27 hours
- All positive updates with immediate business implications received a response
- Campaigns for the community were embraced by customers
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- Many customer engagement posts were related to business
- Very few customer engagement posts really spoke with the customers
Over the next few weeks, I will continue to monitor and
observe what interests people the most about the Body Shop. I also plan to look at conversations and analyze
their tone, topics discussed and so on. Regardless of my observations, I will
continue to use Body Shop products, because I am in awe of them, but the real
deal is to see if they can increase and sustain with the current level of engagement in the long
run.
Neither Network...nor Wiki...but Shared Experience is all that matters!!
It started as an idea from one single person, Natalie Corridan Gregg, to make women feel more appreciated at EMC and was built into this wonderful traditional-media (printed book) based 250 page culture document (built through shared experiences); showcasing about 100 personal and professional stories of working mothers in EMC.
The document stands as a testimony to EMC’s commitment to
its employees, speaks volumes about the quality of workforce, and serves as a
vehicle to connect employees spread in 400 offices across the globe. All of this built by active participation of
employees. It wasn’t a corporate marketing or HR initiative, but that of the
employees, who collaborated to share the stories of their lives, the challenges
they faced in making everything happen and above all share the fruit of
success.
Natalie Corridan Gregg, the founder of the book, did not
goose participation with coercion or use a top-down approach (Groundswell, pp228), instead she encouraged evangelists to
recommend and induce participation. One by one, stories began to pour in the
pool, the word began to spread, and Gregg compiled the most magnificent gift
for EMC.
Li & Bernoff in their book, Groundswell, repeatedly remind us that groundswell is all about relationships and not about technologies. EMC’s Working Mother’s Experience Book did not use a social network, or intranet or wiki to collaborate but they focused on listening, talking, and energizing participants to collaborate genuine and true stories that affected their lives. The stories uncover the underlying traits of a successful EMC’er demonstrating a sense of urgency, results-driven performance, integrity, innovative problem-solving, teamwork, and adaptability both at home and work.
The book was distributed to both internal and external
audiences. The conversational nature of stories has resonated with working
mothers across the board. It makes them feel empowered and connected with
peers/colleagues across the globe. Customers, partners, professionals from
other companies have bonded with the book as well, more so because it is a
topic that affects an outfit of any size or shape.
Authors’ Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind in their blog
post and latest book Talk
Inc., describe how leaders at EMC “enhanced organizational inclusion by
promoting conversational inclusion.”
What is your opinion about empowering employees to narrate
their experiences? Please do share examples of any other organizations that you
may have found.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Fun… Games… Technology… and Languages!!
In an increasingly dynamic, rapidly changing and
interconnected world we dwell in, learning a foreign/second language is
critical for survival. Even world-class companies like Twitter are launching in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu!! Language learning practices are being modified by technology
and more with social media (Groundswell). The web today offers plenty of
opportunities to learn languages. It is a matter of focusing on what you are
looking for. As Li & Bernoff say, of
course all the interactions are supported by technology but none could’ve
happened if it wasn’t for us (i.e. the people participating in them).
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| Photo Credit: www.img.xiami.com |
I would like to share my story with you. I learned German as
a language way back in 2001. I did stay in touch with the language for few
years, by watching movies, listening to music, radio, all in German. I was fortunate to work for one of the
largest German Manufacturing Company that helped trigger my memory and keep
German top of mind.
However, after moving jobs, I really lost touch with the
language. My husband was sailing in a similar boat (he had learned German few
years ago). We wanted to be in touch
with the language. We did attempt interacting in German language every now and
then, but with limited vocabulary from our memory, it was tough to sustain. So we devised a way to rekindle
our connection with the language. We switched the GPS instructions in our car to German language to navigate our way
through any destination. At first, it was funny but later, we started
translating and repeating the set of directions. We discovered a fun and
interesting way to be in touch with our second language.
As you are meeting new people online, having conversations,
posting, building exposure and handling new opportunities daily via social
media (Groundswell), it is essential to know a language or two other than
English. Today, there are several new ways to learn a new language. I am
listing three popular and interesting social networks for you to use if you’re trying to learn
a new language.
MindSnacks.com offers
six exciting and interactive games to build up one’s vocabulary in 13 different
languages. The founders are definitely approaching language learning in a
rather unconventional way, by using
addictive games to engage their customers. They believe that education is
unnecessarily associated with blandness and they want to change it with their
products. Not only are they educating their customers but also, asking them to
help them to vote for their favorite languages to be added to the existing set.
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| Photo Credit: www.mindsnacks.com |
In an interview with Mashable, MindSnacks.com founder Jesse Pickard said, “The idea behind MindSnacks is to make learning as much
fun as possible. Over 26 million words have been mastered because the games are
fun and addictive and users want to go back to beat challenges, unlock new
games and watch their scores improve.”
italki.com, pronounced
as i-talk-i, is free language learning website where you can find everything you need to learn a language online. It
boasts of having a global community of language learners and teachers with 100+
languages in 200+ countries. Using Web 2.0 concepts such as social networking,
user-generated content, and crowd-sourcing, italki.com
facilitates language learning. This website focuses on learning foreign
languages and uses features like multimedia chat, socially-driven questions and
answers, open-source file sharing, and collaborative knowledge-based wikis.
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| Photo Credit: www.italki.com |
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| Photo Credit: www.livemocha.com |
LiveMocha.com is a social network at its
core, located in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington, it is the largest
online-based language learning service. With 9 million members in nearly 200
countries, Live Mocha.com was named as
one of Time magazine’s top 50 websites of 2010. All participants maintain and actively
manage a personal profile on the site (profile photo, friends list). Right when
you sign up, a simple questionnaire helps you build your profile. In your
profile, you can indicate the languages you wish to learn and the languages you
already know. Live chat is available with anyone that is online and you can use
it to practice the language of your choice.
Earning
points gives a huge incentive for learning as well. You can earn Mocha points
by being engaged in the site, completing coursework and helping other members
with submission reviews, flashcards, and translations. If you earn enough
points, you can also earn free course as well.
I have enjoyed myself learning new languages. Have you ever tried learning foreign languages? What apps or websites or social networks have you used to learn languages?
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Collaboration changes Everything!!
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| Photo Credit: http://www.allfacebook.com |
You might have seen many of these (CAPTCHA), and found them
extremely annoying and a complete waste of time, well they are not.
Luis von Ahn has found an intelligent way to digitize 2.5 million books a year using “CAPTCHA,” a program that can generate and grade tests that humans can pass but current computer programs cannot. He proves that social media is not only about conversations, it’s about collaboration, it’s about the community at work, and it's about how mass collaboration can change everything.
The video effectively narrates the power of human
collaboration using the internet, in an interesting and humorous manner. Ahn is
using the precious human time - while registering, downloading a software or
making a payment on a website (using CAPTCHA) - to digitize books.
His new project, DuoLingo, is even more
fascinating. He is using avid foreign language learners to translate webpages
while learning the new language for free; using the “learning by doing” method.
A beginner gets very simple sentences along with what each word means. As
learners translate them they get to see how other people translate it, so they start
learning the language, and as they get more and more advanced they get more
complex sentences. Using this method, people do learn
a language, as they are learning with real content. With DuoLingo, Ahn and his team propose a “Fair Business
Model for Language Education” that doesn’t discriminate with the poor. Ahn’s examples of digitizing books
and translating web content links to what Li & Bernoff may have called “Groundswell
at work.”
That’s not all, people are energizing
and helping the groundswell by using and entering these CAPTCHAs, and they’re
taking it a step further, they’re embracing the power of CAPTCHA by creating
powerful and creative CAPTCHArt
(Internet memes).
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| Photo Credit: www.tumblr.com |
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| Photo Credit: www.img.memecenter.com |
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| Photo Credit: www.captchart.com |
Li & Bernoff in their book, "Groundswell" say that, “Embracing
the groundswell is making customers an integral part of the way you innovate
with both products and process improvements.” They narrate the example of how Rob, U.S. Marketing Director for the brand Colossus Unilever and and his partner Babs, Unilever's U.S. Media Director, "helped Unilever not only accept the internet as a marketing vehicle but to gradually give up some control of the brand, embracing the power of groundswell and energizing customers to make their contributions;" by welcoming a cultural change within the organization and providing the Dove's Evolution campaign the right platform. This is exactly what Ahn and his
team puts into practice but with masses (not specifically a brand/company); by tapping a fraction of unproductive human time of
masses on the web and using it for the benefit of the community at large.
According to marketing expert Edward Boches, "No social project will be really successful over the long term unless there's some sort of social improvement motive built in, because of the intrinsic nature of social media."
Well, I didn’t know that an
annoying activity like CAPTCHA can be so valuable. Please share examples of innovation,
creativity and collaboration that you may have seen with the rise of social
media.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Creative Café
Creativity is the ability to make people think and feel new
things. That's what great art, movies and literature do! The embedded video
shows a man using internet memes to propose his girlfriend. This is the kind of
creativity I am talking about. (You can read the entire story in a post by mashable.com)
I know the phrase “art is everywhere” can be cliché, but it
can hold true if you let it. Social Media or as Li & Bernoff call it “Groundswell,” gets the creative juices of
many flowing. According to a recent
study conducted by Chicago University’s Booth School of Business, “Social
Media more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol,” but it’s hard to deny
that it breeds creativity as well.
What's another word for Doomed??
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| Photo Credit: www.neatshop.com |
Social networking sites like Facebook give users the power
to showcase their creative expression. Creativity has always been about making
conversations and making those conversations go viral, but it’s no longer
guarded by an elite group. With social media, creativity can be developed,
nurtured, mashed up or remixed; the process is ever-evolving and eternal.
Although there aren’t
as many creators as spectators, collectors and critics (Groundswell, pp. 44) but social media presents a host of tools with
which we can get creative, be it, status updates, blogs, images, or videos.
We are on FB!!
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| Photo Credit: http://imgur.com/ |
ProCon.org
cites the cornerstone of creativity on social media, “Social networking sites
bring people with common interests together, offer exposure to new ideas from
around the world, and lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety. People who
have a difficulty communicating in person are more comfortable interacting via
the Internet.”
The idea to cover the creativity aspect of social media came
out of a team meeting this week, when someone asked, what really is an Internet
Meme? “Internet Memes,” pronounced as “meem” just like “seem” or “dream,” and “Trolls”
are the applications of creativity with the emergence of social media. They
have been there for a while now, but have become extremely popular since 2008.
What they did with my bicycle?
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| Photo Credit: http://imgur.com/ |
An internet meme is a phrase, image, video or just an idea
that goes viral on the internet (spreads easily from one person to another) for
no logical reason. These memes are usually silly but amusing. Hence, many share
it on their walls or timelines or streams or tweets.
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| Photo Credit: www.poofytoo.tumblr.com |
In a post describing the rise and growth of the new social networking
site “Pinterest” blogger Jason Falls said, “One
thing is clear whether you're on Pinterest for personal or business reasons:
the best images -- be they funny, beautiful or thought provoking -- attract the
most attention and followers.”
Watch 50 Internet Memes in under 100 seconds!!
So what’s your take? Do share your definition of creativity in
an age of collaborative thinking, participation, crowdsourcing, and social
media. Please leave a comment!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
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!
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| Photo Credit: http://www.marketing4newmedia.com/ |
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.
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.
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| 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?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
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.
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 40th 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!
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