10 Digital Marketing Trends for 2013

This blog posting is one of my favorite series, I’ve been posting a list of 10 digital marketing trends in ’11 and ’12.

So what’s expected to happen in 2013?

Brazil has the FIFA Confederations Cup in preparation for the ’14 World Cup, the US has a fiscal cliff to climb and together with the EU an imbalance on revenues and expenses to address.  The NFL has some skulls to crack to fix their concussions problems, those employed in the US will hire the unemployed in foreign lands (read more outsourcing), more foreigners will purchase US land, buildings, businesses and IP, and of course, VP Biden is the newly assigned czar on gun control.

IMHO, 2013 will follow Amara’s Law: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”

So here they are: The top 10 digital marketing trends of 2013.

10. Gamification – “All Play and no Work makes Jack a rich boy!”

9.  Cloud computing enables scalability to allow for new experiences in video games

8.  Digital Content across devices enables personalization that follows users across platforms

7.  TV is old.  It’s still king of the screens, but it’s content that folks want anytime, anywhere on all four screens. 

6.  The Smartphone begins its attack on plastic in mobile payments.

5.  Tag Management becomes a competitive imperative

4.  Users prefer mobile devices when reading magazines and shopping

3.  Social Media Mainstream and Niches continue to grow, especially in Emerging Markets except China

2.  Big Data will lead to consumer insights and smarter experiences at the speed of light

1.   The glory goes to the man in the arena and not their bankers and consultants.  

10.  Gamification – “All Play and no Work makes Jack a rich boy!”

So have you seen websites that try to encourage your behavior by offering you a little badge for doing something?  Foursquare gives you a badge when you check into the same place three times for example.  Dashlane offers badges when you save passwords in their password and credit card maintenance software, and Fitocracy makes working out with your friends a competitive game.  Users can Level Up by improving their bench press and earning a badge, post it to facebook and let the world know about their development.

As Daniel Pink will tell you in his book, Drive, human nature is best motivated by a sense of purpose, autonomy and self-mastery.  These types of immediate rewards for accomplishing small tasks might seem like it’s meant for grade school kids, but the data doesn’t lie.  Gamification increases engagement, helps users spend more time on site, and

that drives ad revenue and subscriptions since folks tend to develop a sense of being invested based on the recognition and the bragging they’ve done on social networks.

We’ve come a long way from that LinkedIn profile bar that showed 90%complete.

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Top 10 Internet Marketing Trends for 2012

I remember hearing from Larry Ellison that in 1999, business had not figured out how to use the Internet.  At first, I rejected the thought, but within a few minutes realized that we had a long way to go and I agreed with him at the time.  I often wonder if we’re figuring it out yet, and in 2011, and looking into 2012, I see a lot of innovations that make it a great time to be growing the e-business unit of most companies.

So let’s take a look at what 2012 has in store for us.

1. Content consumption, video and e-commerce surge on mobile devices. 

Mobile computing is changing the way we consume content.  This was the year I started watching all the seasons of Mad Men, but I watched them on my iPad through my NetFlix app.  I check the New York Times in the morning while I’m waking up.  I use an app that automatically starts the daily podcast “The Wall Street Journal This Morning” with Gordan Diehl as my alarm clock in the mornings.  I subscribed to my first magazine this year on my iTunes account.  And I bought more via online apps than I did via the internet.   Any good marketer knows that their behavior is a data point of one, but as I think about my changes in how I get my content and my goods, I see that the change is going on all around me.  Perhaps that’s why Google just bought a CHECK FACTS Motorola so that they can compete with the world’s largest Media company, (and this might surprise you), Apple. read more

Why iMessage won’t rule

iMessage announced across all iDevices

This month Apple had its developer’s conference which always attracts significant amounts of excitement and attention from Mac-lovers and the media in general. This year one of the new features that had the community abuzz was the unveiling of the new iMessage features that will become native to the line of iDevices (iPod touch, iPhone, iPad).

A clear and upfront shot across the bow of RIM’s popular BBM messaging service, it seems that Apple has decided the time has come to attack one of Blackberry’s final supporting columns. As Apple has shown many times before, they can be “fast-followers” as well as innovators. The company has had its failures in this regard, but that’s true of any innovator that’s been around for awhile.

Apple fires a shot across the bow of RIM.

Many of the features of iMessage are clearly better than BBM. For example, the integrating of iMessage conversations immediately into any normal chatting with other iDevices, without having to use a separate application. What this basically does is that any normal text chatting with another iDevice will, if you enable it, become an iMessage chat with all of its full features. No need to go back and forth between your BBM conversation and a text one, with iMessage they can become one and the same.

This along with the generally better user experience on the iDevices would suggest that RIM was finally losing one of the final legs they have been standing on. For the last few years Blackberry has only experienced growth in European and other foreign markets, while steadily losing ground in the US.

This is because in Europe and abroad, text messaging services are obscenely overpriced, not unusually in the realm of 10 cents a message, with unlimited plans being either unavailable or also too expensive. Its a cash-cow for the providers, but a pain for consumers who have consistently turned to the BBM service as a way to circumvent expensive texting plans and communicate internationally on the cheap. On the other hand, the affordability of unlimited texting plans in the US has made BBM less of a selling point. Its this key difference that has been holding RIM afloat. Apple is taking aim at this buoy.

But at the end of the day, iMessage is beating what might already be a dead horse, while at the same time possibly lining itself up to be the next one left in the dust. The problem is that no matter how great Apple might make iMessage, it still has the same fundamental problem that is killing BBM: that is, its platform exclusive.

Problem 1: It’s exclusive to Apple users.

iMessage cannot be downloaded by Droid or RIM users. Much like BBM, this is a tool that is only useful with others that have Apple devices as well. Which is useful since so many have them, but at the end of the day not everyone you want to interact with has one. You’re forced to exclude others, which Apple may be seeing as a tactic to pressure those on the “out” to switch to an iDevice.

Problem 2: Its an issue that’s already solved.

This would work, if it weren’t for the fact that there are already apps on the market that do exactly what BBM and iMessage do, but do it across all platforms. The most popular of these is “What’s App” which can be used on iPhones, Blackberries, and Droids without issue. The application has continued to experience enormous adoption as users gravitate towards free tools that have no constraints about devices or networks.

What’s the value of a telephone if there was only one phone in the world?

The arc of the history of the internet and technology has shown that it constantly bends towards tools and solutions that are inclusive, not exclusive. There’s even math and models to outline the value of the “Network Effect”, research we presume Apple performed in making the decision to close the iMessage platform to Apple customers.

The consistent strength, stability, and adoption of open source projects, the Android Market, and applications such as What’s App juxtaposed with the slow death of BBM, Windows, and so many more closed services show this over and over again.

One of the most recent example would be the competition between Skype and Facetime where Apple once again tried to pit their platform restricted solution against an inclusive one and all signs point to its losing that battle.

Let’s hope Apple learns from history and opens iMessage for everyone so users of any device and network can use it. Data wants to be free.

Should I build an iPad application?

Look at the analytics.  If you’re users are visiting your existing website via mobile devices you can make a better decision.

If you’re using Google Analytics, go to Visitors > Mobile > Mobile Devices.

Media companies, Magazine, Subscription based websites and advertisers should consider building iPad applications.  I’ve tried to list out the following benefits.

Visitors by Mobile Device in Google Analytics

- Instant distribution of content

- Gain insights about the content published (for example, see how many users read each article)

- registered user option (paying or free access to both the app and/or each edition)

- applications built on XML are easy to keep the updated with continuous streams of content with each new edition read more