segueing burg: Social media trends you should concentrate on for 2013

Friday, January 4, 2013

Social media trends you should concentrate on for 2013

It?s the start of a new year, but what does that mean for your business in terms of social media? Read on to find out what new trends you can tap on in the year to come.

By the myBusiness techblog team

If we take a brief look back at 2012, digital marketing was reorienting towards a heavy reliance on social media, forever changing how businesses communicate to consumers. With 2013 already here, it?s time to start looking at some social media trends likely to take centre stage. Here are some social media trends we feel you should focus on this year:

Transmedia

Consumers with ever expanding amounts of social technology devices will dominate the marketing landscape in 2013. Transmedia, which means leveraging multiple platforms and properties simultaneously to support the same campaign or goals, will be vital in your marketing efforts. Your business will need to incorporate visual platforms such as Instagram and YouTube, as well as infuse gaming and augmented reality (see next trend) elements into your marketing campaigns. This new transmedia trend will present a great shift for many digital marketers, most of whom are only recently comfortable with the idea of using blogs, eBooks, Twitter and Facebook for their marketing campaigns.

?Augmented reality (AR)

Google?s Project Glass effort is the company?s pioneering effort to create an interactive and personalised experience that surrounds the user. Already, brands that need to drive real-world actions such as: in-store purchasing, choosing a restaurant and attending a movie are looking towards augmented reality (and their attendant mobile apps) to help gain a wider market share. For most digital marketers, AR is something to consider when developing mobile apps, creating new ad campaigns, or extending the brand or product through transmedia offerings.? Creating an app that involves AR could be just the right thing to help propel your business ahead in 2013.

Tribes

One of the latest trends in social media for business in 2013 is the idea of tribes, and how consumers view themselves as a collective mindset, and their ?standing? within this group. The first step for you to tap into the tribe mentality is to identify the tribe leaders, gate keepers, decision makers, and thought leaders in your industry. You should also start following all of them on social media platforms. The goal here is to position yourself as one of their peers in the eyes of your clients. Here are some ways to connect with key players in any industry:

Make a list and check it twice ? You need to make a list of the top 25, 50, or 100 websites in your industry, and then subscribe to their blogs and follow them on social media.
Research ? Get involved with the discussions on their blogs. Only post comments that add value and will stand out. If you are an expert on these topics, then start writing about them on your blog and share the articles on these social media platforms. In the meanwhile, watch and learn from these thought leaders, and emulate them in your future posts.

Collaboration

One last trend for social media in 2013 to focus on is collaboration. In order to promote your brand or product well, you need to see who you can go into partnership with. Imagine if you have a product that you are promoting on your blog. By collaborating with just one other tribe leader, you?re already tapping into his/her group of followers. This has a cumulative effect, and the more leaders you can sway to your side, the better.

What sort of social media decisions is your business going to take this year? Do share your thoughts in the comment box below.