Social Media: Predictions for 2012

In 2012, the online landscape is going to become more crowded. Google+ is looking to challenge the dominance of Facebook and all manner of social apps are invading not only our computers, but now mobiles and even televisions.  Social networks are expected to add even more features, people are less content to keep swapping between accounts as we’ve seen with ‘login with facebook’ popping up on all our other favourite sites offering handy integration between platforms and sharing data  with our contacts without even having to manually post anything on our walls. It’s very likely that Google+ will add similar creature comforts to their network, such as more functionality for businesses and social gaming (two very popular features of Facebook), in its quest to dominate the market and become the #1 social portal.

Many online marketers have been predicting for a long time that social media is it for the long haul and I would argue that it has become a cornerstone of online marketing in a relatively short time. Marketers need to master the art of real-time response, as it provides huge potential for companies to take digital marketing to a more personal level - to engage with people anytime, anywhere - through conversations in order to anticipate and strive to exceed their expectations. In terms of content, the company or the brand should have two things in mind: to create unique content and to post this content in a consistent and organized manner.

There is no doubt that in 2012, social media advertising will grow. Experts predict that some companies will create in-house positions and others will outsource in order to get their information to the public via blogs, reviews, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other platforms relevant to their business.

In an interview for Forbes.com, Peter McDonough, Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer at Diageo North America, claims that the winning brands in 2012 will be those that “succeed in integrating their message in relevant content across all media”, because the consumer no longer differentiates between phones, tablets, computers or even television.  Having this in mind, marketers will have to adopt smarter social media tools that can make their efforts more productive and in the same time grow their online influence.

In 2012 marketers should move their focus to the customers that have become increasingly more powerful, more informed and much harder to influence. Brands need to navigate the entire digital ecosystem 24/7, to build their capacity to understand not only how each channel works, but also how they enter the game of social conversation.

It will be very interesting to see just how social media is going to influence different areas of society in 2012, for example many people see it playing a key role in the race for the White House this year, as ultimately this will be a vital area in the successful candidate’s campaign for Presidency. It all started around the time of Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign and this year it seems that social media and US Presidential election go hand in hand. This will be the perfect storm for digital innovation and the activity on social networks sites is shaping up to be a new predictor of election results. Social media monitoring firm Radian6 says that while political campaigns are active on Twitter, the top retweeted users are primarily journalists. We are already used to getting the news updates from Twitter or Facebook, but this year more people will want to voice their opinion.