20 social media business trends for 2011. Created by Dave Fleet - VP of Digital at Edelman Toronto, with contributions from Steve Rubel (@steverubel) and David Armano (@armano).
See http://davefleet.com/ for more information or to have me present this at your event.
1. 20 Social Media Trends for
Business
Thought-Starters for 2011
Dave Fleet
VP Digital, Edelman
2. Themes
1. Silo busting
2. Maturation of social media
3. Rise of the „less shiny object‟
4. Communication accelerates
5. Ubiquitous social
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4. Trend #1: Integration
Organizations will increasingly realize that social media
achieves little unless they integrate it with other communication
forms and with other business functions
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5. Trend #1: Best practices
• Structure social media across silos
• Integrate and share intelligence across the
enterprise
• Plan communications across functions
• Bring diverse departments together for
planning
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6. Trend #2: Social customer support
Multiple factors lead companies to adopt social support
activities alongside their traditional channels
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7. Trend #2: Best practices
• Engage proactively AND reactively
• Where possible, solve problems in public
• Support resolution by the community
• Reward third-party advocates
Photo: angelaarcher
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8. Trend #3: Social impact drives reputation
BP‟s deep-water disaster reminded organizations – and people
– that their social impact affects their reputation
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9. Trend #3: Best practices
• Look towards social impact of business
• Invest in CSR activities… and
communicate them effectively
• Avoid „greenwashing‟
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11. Trend #4: Death of the campaign
Companies look beyond campaigns and towards ongoing
activities as drivers of results in social media activities
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12. Trend #4: Best practices
• Identify an executive sponsor
• Budget, staff, plan for ongoing activities
• Diversify responsibility for activities
– Between functions
– Within functions
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13. Trend #5: Consolidation
Consolidation in social media tools will continue in established
sectors such as blogging platforms and monitoring. We‟ll see
that expand to sectors such as social CRM and campaign
management platforms in future years.
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14. Trend #5: Best practices
• Build your social media presence around a
„home base‟
• Plan your social presence carefully
• Don‟t chase after shiny
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15. Trend #6: "Influence" matures
Companies evolve their approach to influence beyond just
considering reach. Thought leadership and experts take
precedence.
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16. Trend #6: Best practices
• Consider context
• Consider spheres of influence outside the
top tier
• Measure outcomes to refine approach
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17. Trend #7: Democratization of voice
Companies continue the path broken by others to allow
additional corporate spokespeople in the online space
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18. Trend #7: Best practices
• Set boundaries for free engagement
• Develop community guides to ensure
consistency in approach
• Hire experience and train for success
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19. Trend #8: Return of websites
After several years of being told to “fish where the fish are”
businesses realize that social integration to existing web sites doesn’t
only help them become relevant—users will expect it.
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20. Trend #8: Best practices
• Incorporate social data from connections,
friends
• Design for function & form
• Be conservative on privacy
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22. Trend #9: Digitally driven crises
No-one thinks they're going to experience a crisis until they do.
More and more organizations will realize too late that they need
to incorporate digital into their crisis plans.
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23. Trend #9: Best practices
• Identify potential sources of crises
• Plan ahead
• Monitor continuously for emerging issues
• Practice through crisis simulations
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24. Trend #10: Digital Curation
Social media allows everyone to produce content. Some is
good; some is bad. As the volume of information increases,
companies may benefit from curating the former.
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25. Trend #10: Best practices
• Identify under-served niches and meet
them
• Frame up issues and discussions;
editorialize
• Make curation collaborative and social
Photo by chrisjbarker
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26. Trend #11: Search strategy
Companies will increasingly factor search considerations into
the earned and social realms of their online activities.
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27. Trend #11: Best practices
• Think beyond SEM and on-domain SEO
• Factor search considerations into
communications planning, not just content
• Optimize activities to realize long-term
benefit from short-term campaigns
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28. Trend #12: Community management
Community management evolves beyond random engagement
and towards rigorous, measured strategic activity
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29. Trend #12: Best practices
• Engage community members and
encourage participation
• Personalize interactions while reinforcing
corporate priorities
• Act transparently
• Engage respectfully
• Act as a real-time first line of defense for
online issues
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30. Trend #13: Developer Engagement
Developers are driving innovation across all key digital platforms.
Marketing innovators will begin working with developers to scale
their programs and boost their surface area.
Photo by bugbbq
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31. Trend #13: Best practices
• Make valuable assets available for
developers – e.g. art, text, videos, data
• Build APIs and cultivate a rich developer
network
• Adopt developer creations
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32. Trend #14: Measurement matures
Measurement has long been an Achilles heel for PR.
Advertising agencies are still stuck measuring impressions.
Measurement will, by necessity, evolve in 2011.
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33. Trend #14: Best practices
• Mandate metric sharing between company
and agencies, & between agency partners
• Measure outcomes of activities, not outputs
• Consider measurement at the beginning
and middle – not just the end
• Tailor reports to the audience
• Insist on context alongside numbers
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34. Trend #15: Rise of the content strategist
As campaigns evolve to sit alongside ongoing community
management, content creation and optimization takes a central
place at the social media table.
Photo: John Two Persons Benedick
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35. Trend #15: Best practices
• Place audiences at the core of content
• Plan and maintain a flexible content
calendar
• Create social objects to drive attention
• Optimize based on previous results
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37. Trend #16: Listening becomes mandatory
Increased occurrences of social media-driven issues, combined
with the potential for insights and for building brands and
reputations drives monitoring as a core social activity
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38. Trend #16: Best practices
• Formalize monitoring for the organization
• Tailor search taxonomies to functional
needs
• Establish processes to route and escalate
conversations as needed
• Extend monitoring boundaries beyond the
organization to a wider context
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39. Trend #17: Marketing in Streams
Increasing prevalence of streams of news means that “what”
and “where” no longer answer enough questions. “When”
becomes an important consideration.
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40. Trend #17: Best practices
• Analyse your audience activity
• Schedule updates throughout the day
• Post content at optimum times
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41. Trend #18: Social media overload
Social media overload is nothing new to early adopters, but it
will become an increasing issue for “average” users
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42. Trend #18: Best practices
• Don‟t over-extend your presence
• Keep participation simple
• Integrate social networks into website
sign-ins
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44. Trend #19: Ubiquitous social
Mobility has already expanded beyond mobiles. The market for
tablets will become saturated in 2011, and competition will drive
even more innovation
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45. Trend #19: Best practices
• Plan content for multiple digital
experiences & platforms
• Optimize for mobility, not just mobile
• Combine social sharing integration
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46. Trend #20: Location, location, Facebook
2010 was Foursquare‟s year, but it never broke through.
Facebook is now paying attention to location, and is poised to
make location-based marketing relevant.
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47. Trend #20: Best practices
• Think “LoSoPhoMo,” particularly on
Facebook
• Combine real and digital world
engagement
• Reward advocates with additional
privileges and rewards
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