Eight Digital Marketing Trends

One more day of vacation! I thought we could take a look at our predictions for 2012 trends – now that we’re nearly 3/4 of the way through the year – and see how we did!

Following is a list of of trends we predicted for 2012 last November.

Of particular interest is the second one, seeing as I just blogged more about it last week.

I also think some of these are very much trends while others are things we’re pushing the industry toward through the Spin Sucks version.

Take a look and see what you think!

1. Reporting to All Stakeholders. At the PRSA Conference this year, I had a really interesting conversation with Dan Tisch, who is serving as president of Global Alliance this year. He said that some countries, such as Australia, are reporting to all stakeholders. Meaning, they’re not just doing investor relations, but reporting results to employees, customers, prospects, influencers, and more. This is going to become a bigger trend, especially as accounting principles are looking to include brand awareness as part of the balance sheet.
2. Social TV Convergence. I’m not a television watcher, but I’m seeing something interesting happening with apps, such as Get Glue. You can “check in” to a TV program and then have conversations with people around the world who are watching the same thing. It allows you to review the shows, talk about what’s happening, and listen to what others are saying. It works for movies and music, too! Plus, if the rumors are true and Steve Jobs’s last project was iTV, this will become HUGE next year.
3. Integration of All Disciplines. This is kind of selfish one on my part (because I have a book coming out about it), but integration is going to be crucial next year. Today we talk about mobile, social, marketing, public relations, advertising, direct, email, customer service, and sales as if they’re working in silos. But 2012 is the year it need to integrate. Customer service can’t do its job without talking to sales. Sales needs the help of public relations. And mobile can’t live without marketing. You’ll see these disciplines all work together, as if they’re in a circle, and not in silos.
4. Results. If you aren’t measuring your results to true dollars and cents, you may work yourself out of a job in 2012. We started to talk about how to do this earlier this month, but it’s going to take learning some marketing, product management, and basic accounting (integration, integration, integration) to do this effectively.
5. Email Marketing. As much as I would love email to be dead, something like 107 trillion emails were sent in 2010. It’s not going anywhere, yet most of us (as marketers) have forgotten about it. It’s not the new, shiny penny and it’s kind of old and stodgy (I think I read it’s celebrating its 40th birthday). But it’s still really effective. Everyone uses email. Not everyone uses social networks (yet).
6. Social Commerce. The other day I was in the Apple store and I checked in, using Foursquare. It asked me if I wanted to pay using the Apple app. Um, yes! Especially because it was a Sunday and there were a gazillion people there. So I downloaded the Apple app, scanned the mouse bar code, it gave me a subtotal, and I hit OK. It took the amount right out of my iTunes account, emailed me a receipt, and I was on my way. Starbucks does this using your phone and their at-register scanner. You’ll see more and more of this next year.
7. New Social Networks. I know, I know. We need another social network like we need a hole in the head. BUT there are some cool things, such as Pinterest, that are gaining traction. In fact, yesterday I was scrolling through my Facebook stream and I saw Samuel Gordon Jewelers is having their first Pinterest contest: “Pin To Win.” It’s still way too early to see any results, but rest assured I’m watching what they’re (and others) are doing with this and other new social networks.
8. Print to Tablet Swap. During the holiday weekend, I was scrolling through the app store on George (my iPad) and I found Catalogue. It stores all of your catalogs in a handy app so you can scroll through any of them at any time. It also recommends catalogs you should be reading, based on your preferences. My mom and I debated it’s merits the other day. She likes the tactile feel of turning the pages. I think it’s super green and I love that I have them all in one spot. You’ll see a big swap of print moving to the tablet in 2012.

What have you seen come to fruition this year that wasn’t on this list?