http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/five-social-media-trends-for-2011/
The above link is an article listing 5 trends for social media in 2011 to be on the lookout for. The five mentioned are: consumer content curation, niche location, gamification and social gaming, QR codes, and social commerce. This post will briefly take a look into a few of these future trends.
Consumer Content Curation
This trend speaks about the ability of marketers to get in the viewing stream of the people they are targeting. The problem marketers face today is consumers do not want to be bombarded with advertisements, and therefore, the marketers must find a way to get their message to the consumer without it being looked over. It is not enough for brands to create content as they once did, but now, they must integrate that content into the viewing stream of the consumer. For example, "what’s happening in Facebook is that consumers are turning off brands posting to their walls, using Friends lists to pay close attention only to their “real” friends, and commenting on or sharing only when something is really juicy." This curation by consumers will be one of the many roadblocks for marketers in the coming years.
Gamification and Social Gaming
In the past year, Facebook users were exposed to Farmville, an interactive farming game. The author of the article I have been referring to in this post believes this is only the beginning of social gaming. He foresees brand integration into existing gaming platforms like that of internet gaming, gaming consoles and other various platforms. Also, the potential for brands creating their own gaming constructions to provide consumers with coupons and other things of the sort. The author makes a bold prediction when he mentions that social gaming will its debut in the 2011 Super Bowl!
Social Commerce
This is the idea of displaying to your social media friends that you purchased a product through a commerce website. The method behind this is a web based word of mouth marketing. The idea is that people will be exposed to the products their friends purchased and will then purchase the item themselves. Social commerce is already present in Groupon and Facebook Commerce, and has been for a while with Blippy and Swipely. The author predicts this type of commerce will explode in the coming year if brands are willing to dive in head first.
I believe social commerce will have a great impact on word of mouth motivation for purchasing products. Word of mouth is one of the most influential marketing techniques that marketers do not even have complete control of. If a friend buys a particular product or brand, then that product or brand will gain credibility with you (whether you realize it or not). People are more likely to buy something because one of their friends told them to than because an advertisement or commercial told them to.
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