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.

read more

ExactTarget Identifies the Digital Personas of Consumers

ExactTarget, a partner with Lima Consulting Group, describes a series of divergent personas that online consumers represent.

Accurate communication is key when interacting with customers. to make this connection, you must know your consumer; personalities, preferences, and most importantly, the online role the consumer is most identified with.

Below are a number of the more distinguishable profiles and online tendencies:

Family & Friends – Focused on family and close friend relationships—they’re not particularly interested in developing new online relationships.

Shopper – Shopping is the focus while online—but this isn’t limited to online transactions. Much of their time is spent researching future purchases. Think quality over savings with these consumers.

read more

Web 2.0 Without a Paddle

A recent SHRM survey shows that businesses are making use of new social media technologies – although not necessarily to their best advantage. For instance, while 40% of companies surveyed enforce specific policies for their social media actions (and 39% monitor their employees’ social media use on company networks), only 28% of organizations actually have social media strategies in place. A meager 21% bother to calculate their social media ROI. And only 12% of companies surveyed have at least one full-time employee whose primary job function is to manage Web 2.0 efforts.

It’s great to see businesses engaging with social media, and in some cases devoting human resources to their efforts. However, the SHRM survey results show that most organizations have a long way to go before they reach a high level of social media sophistication. No organization should be testing the Web 2.0 waters without a coherent digital marketing plan in place. And it’s simply a waste of time and resources to implement social media strategies without also analyzing the return on investment.

Creative, well-strategized use of social media can improve brand awareness, customer engagement, and product perception. However, a mismanaged campaign can alienate customers, muddle a brand’s message, and create bad press. That’s why it’s so important for businesses to not only establish a presence on social media networks, but also to do so within the context of a cohesive, integrated digital strategy.

Facebook is a Bad Investment

We like Facebook for its internet marketing capabilities. But at a valuation of $100 billion, it’s definitely over-valued.

The world’s largest social media network only made $3.1 billion last year, with an income of about $1 billion – so that’s a valuation that is 100 times larger than its income.  And Facebook has 800+ million users, meanings its actual income is about $1.25 per user. But at the current valuation, the average user value is $125.

When thinking about the value of a user, it makes sense to look at media giants, like Disney, or CBS. After all, television is still king.  For instance, did you know that the average CPM for national television shows is about $15 – $30 per thousand? A TV commercial usually costs $150,000 to $300,000 per 30 seconds for national programs.  The most successful prime-time TV shows have a rating of 11.0, meaning they reach about 11% of all households in America (there are approximately 102 million households).

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that everyone in the US watches TV – that’s about 307 million folks. Let’s take a look at the major networks: Combined, Fox, NBC, ABC, CW and CBS took in approximately $21.7 billion in 2010 – a 5.3% increase over 2009, when they captured about $20.6 billion in ad revenue, according to ad-spending tracker Kantar Media.

So, the major players in the US market for television advertising took in $21.7 billion in revenue in 2010 (that’s the most recent number I could find using a quick Google search, but let’s face it, we know it didn’t grow more than a few percentage points at best in 2011). That values each user of the television industry (which, again, is all of us) at about $70.00. Does one website like Facebook really deserve more valuation than the entire TV industry?  We don’t think so.

7 Ways to Monetize Pinterest Without Alienating its User Base

Pinterest is the fastest growing social network on the web right now.  Usage has increased almost 4,000% over the past six months.  Visitors are lingering for an average of 88.3 minutes, far longer than most other social networks – in fact, the only places they spend more continuous time are Facebook and Tumblr.  And the site is particularly popular with middle class North American women, who sign up to share recipes, craft ideas, decorating tips, and cute pictures of babies.

In spite – or perhaps because – of its simplicity, Pinterest presents numerous opportunities for forward-thinking marketers.  However, those who seek to monetize Pinterest would be wise to tread carefully. Angry users, particularly early adopters, are already worried that marketers have ruined Pinterest by sponsoring pins, flooding the site with spam, and decreasing the overall content quality.

Fortunately, there are plenty of things marketers can do to engage with Pinterest users in a meaningful way – without violating site etiquette.  Here are just a few: read more

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

Leveraging Social Networks in the Product Cycle

Social networks play a valuable role throughout the life cycle of a product or service.  Internet pioneer Larry Weber (2010) identifies how these roles change as a product moves from development to market introduction to widespread adoption:

Development Phase: You can use blogs, wikis, communities, or a combination of the three to solicit feedback about product characteristics.

Introduction Phase: Incorporating digital channels into a product or service release allows you to reach key prospects quickly, and at a reasonable cost.  You can use podcasts or webinars to engage and educate potential customers about the benefits and applications of a new product.  Communities can serve as reference networks: when someone influential “likes” a new product, other members will begin downloading the free trial and requesting further information within minutes.

Maintenance Phase: Once your product has been sold, you can use social networks to solve problems and provide customer service support, in addition to creating ongoing word of mouth publicity for your product.

In summary, social networks allow you to engage and influence prospects and customers, while also building strong relationships over time.