Social networking has got to be one of the most talked about internet topics in 2010. The growth rate is amazing - for instance Twitter grew over 1300% over the last 12 months and in a recent poll, MediaPost Communications found that nearly 60% of responders "realistically" plan to include social media in their marketing plans .Not only are so many new people using Twitter, Facebook, My Space and scores of other platforms to make and reconnect to friends, but the technology behinds these social networks is evolving rapidly. These developments are allowing integration with other communication media such as cell phones and marketers are learning to use these networks as profitable advertising platforms. Where are these trends predicted to lead us in 2010? To help answer this question we've looked over news and views sources for you and summarize the findings here.
- Strategy: While being active in the social networks is certainly advisable for internet marketers, be sure to respect your contacts. This is not a place for blatant, in your face advertising. Social networking is a subtle art – inform, joke, refer, discuss, signpost, gently promote and also, link to your site. It is worth sitting on the sidelines for a bit and observing the strategies of others before wading in feet first. For those who have already gone down this route, review your success – did you attract new and repeat customers, are your groups, fan pages and tweets well subscribed to? You can’t always get it right first time. If the referral rate to your site is not high it does not necessarily mean this form of marketing has failed you, it may be your content needs adjusting. Have a good look around the well-subscribed sites; check out the discussion points – what gets customers talking? You need to create a buzz.
- More selective contact lists and information: As the social networks, with their vast resource of potential contacts, begin to reflect normative social interaction patterns, David Armano, from Edelman Digital, suggests that users will become more selective in those they wish to remain in regular contact. Excessive or irrelevant posting may label users as "just noise." If so, the quality of postings may become qualitative as with search engines. While writing style should be in a conversational manner, the content should remain informative. Another aspect of this filtering concerns the huge amount of information overload created by the ever expanding "websphere." Search engine algorithms are still insufficient filters. For instance, only about 30% of Google's top 10-20 search results are really targeted. Peter Cashmore, of Mashable, recently wrote "Your friends are your filter… Increasingly, your friends are becoming the curators of your consumption." Notice that this idea can work the other way around to your benefit. If you write good content and circulate it through your social networks, your friends will be its distributors. This can be become a very powerful form of advertising - and its free!
- Corporations are getting involved: As just mentioned, social network can certainly be a cheaper and faster form of advertising that traditional media and this has certainly come to the attention of many companies. Some corporations are already having their customer service people utilize Twitter and Facebook to notify their customers of new products and service updates. This trend is predicted to expand over the coming year. In addition, software advances will allow companies to analyze social network users' posting and visiting experience to more accurately target their advertising campaigns. We recently discussed this point in a previous article in this 2010 trends series.
- Social media versus email: Experts such as Ross Dawson are predicting that with advances in sharing interface technology, including the use of smart phones, distribution of news items and links through social media channels may become easier and more popular than emailing. In fact the New York Times recently added a sharing functionality that allows users to distribute news items and articles across Facebook and Twitter.
- Social media advertising: A number of internet marketing are discovering that direct advertising on social network sites offers seveal advantages over marketing through search engines. The recent actions of Google to shut close adwords accounts of many small volume advertisers might further fule the move to social media advertising. A study by comScore AdMetrix shows that already by 2009, social networks accounted for some 20% of online ad impressions in the US alone. With the Facebook currently registering about 20 times the traffic of Google, social network advertising represents a huge opportunity for marketers. But aware that different networks have different advertising rules and technologies and while these may not be as sophisticated as with the search engines, it probably won't take long for them to catch up.
So, are you into social networks as a social and business tool? It seems like you probably should be. At NimdX, we'll be keeping an eye on the development of these trends and keep you posted.
Hope this was helpful.
To your success,
Mike Firer
NimdX Admin
