2012: A Brief Recap

If 2011 was a good year for social media, 2012 was even better. This was the year when brands more than just integrated social media with their overall marketing mix. Taking things to the next level, brands made social media a vital part of their marketing arsenal by allocating budgets, optimizing social content specifically for mobile and tablet devices, offering customer service via social channels etc. This was the year when famous campaigns like P&G’s Thank You Mom were launched, and when social media played a critical role in the U.S Presidential campaign.

Here’s a recap of some of the top stories of 2012:

• 2012 was the year of mobile. According to Nielsen’s 2012 Social Media Report, users preferred accessing social content via mobile, particularly apps.
• Pinterest saw exponential growth in 2012, with the largest y-o-y increase in audience and time spent on any social network, across PC, mobile web and apps (Nielsen).
• Facebook took the wraps off their much-anticipated Open Graph in 2012, although it was first discussed at the 2011 f8 conference.
• User generated content gained momentum in 2012, with the likes of P&G, Coca-Cola and Intel (to name a few) launching some memorable campaigns.
• The power of social word-of-mouth was such that consumers greatly depended on social channels for recommendations concerning products and services.

2013: Trends to Watch For

While the above list is not exhaustive, it gives an idea as to what to expect in 2013 and helps predict how social media marketing will evolve. Thismoment’s social marketing crystal ball shows the top 4 trends that marketers need to watch for:

1. The Growth of Social Mobile: Though 2012 was the year of mobile, 2013 will see greater adoption of the mobile platform, by consumers as well as marketers. The arrival of 4G means the potential of mobile as a digital marketing platform will be enormous. Users will expect brands to live stream more events, run more UGC campaigns etc. This will make it imperative for marketers to extend their brand experiences to mobile devices.
   

   Plan your 2013 mobile marketing strategy with Thismoment DEC: Thismoment Distributed Engagement Channel (DEC) enables easy creation, implementation and management of promotions including sweepstakes, contests and giveaways, on mobile and tablet devices. This also includes UGC. The company’s UGC engine supports video and photo uploads directly in the web browser on Android and iOS6 devices.

2. Social TV: The last two years have seen the emergence of social TV. In 2013, we believe this “second screen” use will grow exponentially. According to the Google, Ipsos and Sterling study, television no longer commands viewers’ full attention. The study shows that: 81% of people use smartphones while watching TV, while 66% use laptops or PCs. What does this mean for marketers?
   

   For marketers, this “connected viewing” experience means consumers will spend more time looking up products on their smartphones/laptops after seeing them on TV. This will translate into more engagement and conversion opportunities and will extend brand reach. Social TV will most likely be driven by consumers’ need to seek more information and the opportunities to connect with other viewers/consumers.

3. Increased Social Media Usage in International Markets: Over the next two years, total social media users in North America are forecast to grow by just 4%, compared to the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific regions, which are expected to witness massive growth (eMarketer). Currently, India and Indonesia are among the fastest-growing social networking countries. This growth not only includes usage of popular networking sites like Facebook or YouTube or, but also international social networks like Sina Weibo, Mixi etc.
   

   How Can Brands be Prepared? Our suggestion to brands that have been focusing only on domestic markets is to extend their brand experiences across multiple regions and languages. Thismoment DEC, for instance, enables brands to do this. Brands can deploy campaigns on international distribution points like VKontakte and Mixi as well as customize content on their YouTube or Facebook brand channels based on regional languages.

4. Facebook Will Still be the Marketer’s Blue-Eyed Boy: Despite facing some challenges in 2012, like decrease in time-on-site and stock price collapse, Facebook continued to be in the social marketer’s “must-have” list of platforms. What tilts the scales further in Facebook’s favor is their Open Graph, which is set to revolutionize brand-consumer interaction. Besides impacting brand awareness and engagement, Open Graph is expected to change the way people share in the online space.

The Road Ahead…

2012 was an exciting year for social brand marketers and 2013 certainly appears promising. The growth of social mobile and arrival of 4G will further open up engagement opportunities for marketers. While Facebook will continue to be marketers’ favorite choice, we also expect niche networks like Pinterest to gain momentum. 2013 will also be the year when brands increase focus on international markets. This will not just include deploying social media campaigns in foreign languages, but also using international distribution points to reach global audiences. However, before planning ahead, it will be a good idea for marketers to look back and learn from 2012 and understand how this will impact their 2013 social marketing plans.

- Shama Ahmed
Thismoment

Andrew Sielen

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