a social media primer15 trends to watch for in 2014

niche as the new mainstream

more money spent here

video will become the “must-have”

continued obsession with “viral”

the hybrid team

social media as a true feeder of search

blogging will make a comeback

mobile… finally!

native advertising = the new product placement

truly personal personalization

everything will be “smart”

the QR code will return

the robots will rise (seriously)

targeting will get even more precise

data will become predictive

a social media primer15 trends to watch for in 2014

addendum

what they experts are saying

Nancy Bhagat, Vice President of Marketing Strategy, IntelWe are going to see a huge increase in location-based marketing. With the rapid proliferation of devices, and the explosion of the Internet of Things, people will be carrying, utilizing, and depending on their devices more than ever. As part of the increased dependency, there is an increased expectation of services and personalization.

Michael Brenner, Vice President of Global Marketing, SAP As brands, we need to kill promotional marketing messages and start providing customer-centric information that is helpful to our target customers. But we need to go even further than that if we want to break through all the noise.

Susan Emerick, Mgr. of Enterprise Social Strategy & Programs, IBMCognitive computing is next big digital trend. More specifically, the beginning of a new era, where systems learn and interact naturally with people. Applying this to marketing and communications will help us better understand, anticipate and respond to customers.

Source: Forbes.com

what they experts are saying

Suzanne Fanning, President, Word of Mouth Marketing AssociationMarketers will continue to seek out real-time opportunities and intensify their speed of interacting in “the moment.” The key disruptive digital trends we’ve seen successfully join the forces of mobile and social together to reach audiences at the heart of their digital usage.

Mark Curtis, CEO of BRANDERATI 2014 will be a year of advocacy: marketers realizing that with growth of their social communities stagnating and the big content machine churning 24/7 they need a more cost-effective and more impactful way to reach current and new customers long-term in a sustainable way.

David Berkowitz, Chief Marketing Officer of MRYMarketers are going to have to come to terms with disappearing social media. This is much bigger than Snapchat. So much content shared today is private, and it often disappears, so marketers aren’t readily able to track and target such consumers. Expect marketers to explore new, creative ways of reaching consumers who prioritize privacy.

Source: Forbes.com

what they experts are saying

Noah Elkin, Principal Analyst, eMarketerMobile will take on a role far greater than simply serving as a substitute computing device. This shift will continue to affect path to purchase in dramatic ways, hugely disrupting for marketing. Consumers’ ubiquitous connectivity now means they are, in effect, always in the consideration phase.

Dave Kerpen, CEO, Likeable Local In 2014, we will see increased pressures on companies of all sizes to pay to sponsor their posts to get more visibility, as getting consumers’ attention in social media becomes increasingly difficult. This will be hardest on small businesses, who obviously have fewer resources than big brands. Social media will increasingly become a pay-to-play channel.

Jay Baer, Digital Marketing ConsultantLed by news/information websites and fueled by social networks, 2014 will be the year “Advertorial 2.0” becomes a major part of the marketing mix. This has far-reaching implications for consumers, authenticity, journalism, marketing budgets, and the role of agencies.

Source: Forbes.com

a social media primer15 trends to watch for in 2014