Trend #1: Off the grid. Niche social media for specialized audiences.
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have the most users but don’t always have the right users, the specialized audience that wants a little more privacy and to hang out with a like-minded tribe.
“Every industry is a little bit different as far as where to put the best content and considering where their audience is,” says San Diego–based Internet marketing consultant Holly Berkley, whose clients range from nonprofits to medical groups to restaurants. “A lot of people have certain issues, especially in the medical field, and they don’t feel comfortable posting everything on Facebook and some of these bigger networks. Instead, they go to these niche networks.”
Trend #2: Pop-up content. Short time frame, blitz approach, intense impact.
Like pop-up retail, more and more social content is a limited-time-only affair. Last summer, music promoter Giant Step teamed up with shoe retailer Steve Madden to promote a summer-long concert series. The concerts were free but available via invitation only to specifically targeted people via a social media campaign. A unique microsite with content from staff and concert attendees was leveraged with a live Twitter feed, highlighted
Facebook posts, professional videos of concert performances, fan reactions and interviews, and raffles and contests held several times a month.
And then, poof, it was gone.
Trend #3: Loyalty programs for the truly loyal.
The future of loyalty programs—frequent flyer, frequent purchaser, frequent diner programs and the like—is in social media. Digital media makes keeping track of actual purchases easier, and promotions have largely moved online as well, but customers are delighted by surprise gifts that reward brand advocacy and user-generated content.
TripAdvisor recently rewarded frequent reviewers with a free personalized luggage tag. General Mills surprises its biggest social fans with baking supplies at times. It needs to feel spontaneous and have no strings attached—like getting flowers without any special occasion.
Trend #4: Game it. Aspects of gaming are creeping into all sorts of social media content.
Fantasy Shopper in the U.K. combines popular online gaming features with real-world fashion merchandise. You can “buy” virtual clothes, share new outfits with your friends and purchase the actual pieces online. The “kaching” of winning a game comes from the deals and discounts that retailers provide based on what you do and what you “like.”
Trend #5: Content, conversation, customer service. Whatever lines you put between your social media content, users will erase.
Intel has five communities in addition to using Facebook and Twitter. One of them, the Open Port IT Community, was intended for IT managers but receives a lot of customer service-related comments, things that would usually end up under the Support tab.
The lesson is that once you start a conversation with your customers, they can choose to take that conversation anywhere. You have to be listening and monitoring to make sure that, whatever their issues are, they end up in the right place and, if resolution is necessary, it’s handled quickly.
Trend #6: Social citizenship. The happy marriage of social activism and social media.
Los Angeles apparel company Multeepurpose uses all the big social platforms—Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, WordPress, Reddit and Digg. On Pinterest, the company goes after a young demographic who loves clothes but also cares about nature, activism and environmentalism. The activist content brings people in and they get a positive image of an environmentally conscious company.
Nonprofits like Charity:Water have found that good stories prompt more action than stats. The charity uses social
media and events to ask people to give up birthday presents and celebrations to pay for water in underdeveloped areas.
It’s a new leaf in the socially responsible corporation playbook.
Trend #7: Making it up as you go along.
Not only is social media reinventing media, journalism, marketing and branding—to name only a few—it is reinventing ownership of organizational assets.
A popular PhoneDog blogger amassed 17,000 Twitter followers before resigning from the mobile phone news and reviews site in 2010. But he kept tweeting. Now PhoneDog is suing him for essentially stealing what they say is a proprietary customer database and treating it as his own. In a similar instance, one that did not involve a lawsuit, the BBC lost 60,000 followers when a correspondent jumped to a different network.
For now, the general feeling is that companies should protect their assets without alienating their following. In other words, the PR fall-out from pursuing a blogger is probably worse than starting from scratch on a social media platform. If they loved you once, they’ll love you again. Trust is not something you can betray and survive in social media.
Trend #8: Sell the dream.
In this, social media is no different from aspirational advertising: If I buy this dress, I’ll be thinner, younger and more beautiful. In the social media space, creating a world the user wants to live in is part of storytelling.
Kate Spade New York creates a perfect world where all the food is delicious, all the vacations are fabulous and all the clothes are wonderful. Who wouldn’t want to be part of it?
Oscar de la Renta’s social media presence makes you feel like you’re in an episode of Project Runway—in the atelier with the designers, back stage at the fashion show, behind the scenes with the in crowd. It’s a dream, but it’s close enough and a lot more engaging than watching reality TV.