What's Ahead for 2010?
Great timing … eMarketer’s CEO, Geoff Ramsey, just came out with some predictions for 2010 trends that are worth repeating:
1. VIDEO – We’ve been talking about this for over a year now and it looks like online video advertising, streams and ad networks are continuing to be embraced by marketers due to the positive reception by online audiences. Of course, viewers are now expecting more professional video content.
2. USAGE - Internet user penetration of the US population is reaching 66% (205.3 million people), and this is expected to stabilize a bit as it reaches 70% in the next four years.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA – Online searches are expected to get “more social” – real time content from posts on Twitter, for example, will be included in the search results and relevance will improve as search engines use collective information from Web users.
4. CONVERGENCE – It will be interesting to see what comes out of the Consumer Electronics Show (January 7-10, 2010) in Las Vegas as they will be introducing televisions with direct Internet connectivity.
5. MOBILE – Mobile ad spending will increase almost 30% to $593 million in 2010 as mobile and social will converge as consumers and brands will increase their engagement in apps.
6. SOCIAL COMMERCE – This is the use of social media within various social networks for an e-commerce purpose. The social aspect is to socialize (with live chat) with your customer from start to finish. Athough most marketers using social media are focused more on measurement, retailers as well are challenged with how a fan base actually translates into sales and/or brand loyalty.
As a side note regarding engagement, there was an interesting study conducted by WetPaint and Altimeter Group in Jul 2009 on the top 100 global brands that are engaged in social media channels and if higher engagement can be correlated with financial performance – take a look at the key findings.
You can decide for yourself if you think “engagement” in social media is right for your organization!
