Social Media: 2009 a Year in Review

Last January, I predicted some social media trends that we needed to keep our eyes on over 2009. I wanted to look back and see how my predictions actually held up.

1.    Consolidation – The rise and fall of websites is inevitable. The rush to market for social networking sites has shown tremendous opportunity for success but even more opportunity for failure. Over the next year, we will see only the strong survive. Instead of having 5-10 social sites, users will focus narrowly on 1-3 sites saving time and narrowing opportunities for conversations.

Over the past year, we have seen some drastic decreases in corporate website traffic and an influx of participation on the social sphere. However, this social traffic has been primarily focused on the big players in the realm (ie Twitter and Facebook). A driving force behind the growth of these platforms is the ease of connecting with the multiple groups in our lives.

We are also seeing a few things emerging to further these consolidations. The use of communication portals like Google Wave, Seesmic, etc. where consumers can log into one place and manage multiple platforms. The influx of mobile technologies are making it so users don’t even have to be near a computer to “socialize.”

2.    More Interactivity – Building off consolidation, the strong sites that survive will provide the interactivity the user wants and needs. These interactive features will give brands and companies the opportunities to fully engage in fulfilling relationships.

The interactivity given through these social sites have enhanced personal relationships, enhanced events, and built solid relationships between consumers and brands.

The growth of social gaming and mobile gaming is showing the trend leaning towards the interactivity with not only the platforms, but the stakeholders in which we are connected on these platforms.

3.    Saturated Market – The growth of social media in 2008, is opening a lot of doors for many companies and brands to utilize these social strategies to engage customers. The more brands, the more saturated, the less effective social media will become as a marketing function. Now is the time to get in and engage in the relationship for future interactivity.

Every where you look you see a company’s Twitter and Facebook fan page. It’s becoming more of a marketing need to be on these social platforms rather than their own corporate site. With this trend extending into 2010, we will see an increase in the saturation in multiple markets.

4.    Less Permission – With the saturated market will bring less permission from the user. Less and less consumers will be raising their hand wanting to engage in a relationship. The social media users will become leery of brands “selling” to them in these highly personal spaces.

The few spoil it for the majority. With some companies moving their “selling” tactics from the traditional marketing world into the social world, we are seeing some backlash in consumer perceptions with brands on social media. The “selling” companies aren’t gaining the required trust and permission in the social world to be successful, dampening the power these relationships could be for the rest of us trying to enhance our consumer’s lives.

5.    Big Failures / Big Successes – As we’ve seen over the past few years, brands will continue to be made through social media and fail miserably the same way. Act quickly, measure, and react. Commitment and dedication will be the only way to survive throughout the next year in the social media realm.

We all remember the Motrin fiasco… Many companies have had their own failures on social media, but some have been extraordinarily bad. The Motrin scandal, Skittles, etc. Failure is all about trying and missing some major points. But at least they tried, right?

Now, we have also seen social media work tremendously… Dell just released their Numbers from social media $6.5 million. Amazing… Others include, Ford’s The Ford Story and Best Buy’s Twelpforce. Great examples of great successes.

record.

There you have it 5 for 5. 2009 was a great year to look back on and reflect. We learned a lot, but nothing more than learning to get involved and engage. Social Media is not going anywhere.

Check back next week for my 2010 predictions. There’s a lot floating around out there, but let’s see if I can get a perfect score in 2010 too!

Let’s move beyond the tools in Social Media

Courtesy of Flickr - Zoom Zoom

I read a lot of blogs and microblogs every day. A lot. One thing that I see that I’m very disappointed in is the amount of people still talking about the “tools” in social media. Now, I’m not saying it’s not important to know how to use these new tools, but I think we’re missing the bigger picture here.

Social media has created a conversational structure that allows us to cut down the silos in our companies and our own lives. Yet, we still discuss this fascinating trend in the silo-centric mindset. We talk of Twitter or Facebook or MySpace and how to create good pages and build mounds of followers. But we fail to discuss the holistic approach of the actual conversations and the engagement that we should be experiencing with our closest customers and fans.

When we move past this silo-centric mindset, we will be able to dream of new conversational avenues and have the ability to adapt when the playing field changes again. I don’t want you to find yourself focusing and putting all your effort on a platform like Twitter, only to see that platform fail and leave you hanging.

Here’s my challenge…Let’s move beyond the tools.

Where’s the book on “The Transition”?

Courtesy of Flickr - b&r art

I took a nice little trip to the area Barnes & Noble the other day when my nerd-marketing side kicked in and I found myself, as I always do, perusing the titles of the Advertising/Marketing books. It amazes me the speed on which books come out these days. I saw at least 4 books on Twitter alone. Just a year ago, Twitter was seen as a stupid tool that weirdos used. Now look at it… a viable communication platform.

As I looked through these books, I realized something quite upsetting; so many books about tactics, nothing about strategy and culture. Social media isn’t just about the communication platforms like Twitter or Facebook, it’s about “The Transition” in communication and power. Gone are the days where we, as marketers, can bombard customers with ads to gain their business. Now we must engage in conversations; work with customers for product design; build a lifestyle around our brands to integrate into each individual customer’s life…

Where’s the book on that? Just knowing how Twitter works and how to get a bajillion followers is great, but it’s not what this revolution is about. It’s about culture and communication… Give me that book…

Missing your customers online? Use Technographics.

I am on a Marketing Advisory Board for a local high school to ensure that what they’re teaching is still relevant in today’s “real world.” The high school is in a town of around 12,000 people and not a very big, technically savvy community. The demographics of our group ranges somewhere around 65+ phrases like, “I think I need to get my own ‘Twitter Website’” came up quite a bit. It’s a wonderful group and one that is very interested about the new ways to communicate and market.

I learned something last night. One of the members was talking about ways the marketing students could help out with their annual community Christmas fundraiser. She mentioned using a lot of online strategies, even Twitter, to help with this. Then she looked at me and asked if it would work.

Knowing the community rather well, I know that there might be one person on Twitter in the entire town, I said “absolutely not.” This conversation got me thinking about the value in Technographics.

Not only is it important to create personas based on demographics, geographics, and psychographics, we need to look at how these individuals are communicating online, the Technographics of the market segment. This town is not a Twitter town…

Is your town a Twitter town? How do you use Technographics?

What Social Media has Taught Us: Integrate Communication

Courtesy of Flickr - assbach

The whole world seems to be talking about Social Media and how great and shiny it is, which I’m sure I have been one. But what we have to realize is that Social Media is just a tool. Chris Brogan had a great post called “Getting Back to Your Desk” that talks about this. He says:

I guess my big point is that we’ve got to shift this from “gee whiz” to “this is what we do to build business relationships.”

As always, Chris is right on. With the news of Twitter not worrying about monetization, Facebook getting more VC, and the slow decline of MySpace, we need to take a step back and see what’s really happening. We can’t rely solely on these Social Media “tools” as the save all for our industry. So what is going on?

communication.

The short answer is…communication. We have found that communicating online can be as easy if not easier than communicating in person. Jason Baer had a great post today about being more connected than ever before even though Social Media has created a sense of isolation.  Increased personal communication is what Social Media has given us; better relationships, increased trust, speed of information, etc. We need to embrace this fact and see how we can integrate these conversations and increased communication across all channels, not just in person or online.

the point.

After the Twitters, Facebooks, and MySpaces become synonymous with VCR’s, 8-tracks, and the Pinto, we will still be communicating. It’s in our nature. Keeping this in mind when moving forward with any kind of marketing or advertising will ensure you’re creating an effective communications modeland strategy. Using the “tools” you have in front of you to reach communication, brand, and sales goals, will allow you to integrate relationships across all marketing and advertising channels.

thoughts?

What do you think about the change that Social Media has bestowed upon us?