Top Marketing Trends for 2012

Annie DiMatteo - 1.6.2012 11:30 AM

Top marketing trends for 2012 predominatly revolve around social media and mobile devices. 

New mobile and social technologies continue to arise, thus the biggest trends for the year are all vastly interrelated in these two areas.  Below are our top five trends for the year.

1. Social Media Marketing

Because social is such a big focus for the year, we have broken social down into additional sub-categories.

Social Mobile - With smart phone sales expected to surpass computer sales in 2012 (more than 450 million smart phones are expected to be sold this year alone), social mobile is going to continue to skyrocket.  Facebook and Twitter apps are common downloads for most smart phones, and their ease of use and convenience are allowing people to take their social networks with them everywhere they go.  Over 1/3 of Facebook's 600 million+ user-base have Facebook Mobile, and 50% of the 165 million+ Twitter users have Twitter Mobile.  There are 200 million + YouTube views on mobile devices each day.  In addition, on average, Americans spend 2.7 hours per day socializing on their mobile device, and 91% of mobile internet access is to socialize.

Socialization of Search - Google has been changing their algorithm extensively in the last year, to incorporate "social" listings in search results.  Have you noticed that now when you do a Google search, you see YouTube videos, Facebook pages, and even LinkedIn profiles scoring among the top results?  This will only continue to increase as Google pays more and more attention to social sites when determining the order of search results.

Geo-targeting of Social Media Marketing - Thanks to applications such as Foursquare and Google "Places", "checking-in" to places you visit locally is now a common practice among smart phone users.  This will continue to increase in popularity and use with the advent of technologies such as Facebook's post code targeting.  This new platform is starting to include postcodes along with the other demographic data that Facebook has in its database on you!

Social Commerce - With the increase in mobile phone use, has come the dramatic increase in the amount of commerce taking place via mobile phone.  You can now sell your products via smart phone in a variety of ways, from mobile apps, to Facebook.  (Facebook users no longer have to leave Facebook to buy their favorite brands!)

Social Gaming - Gaming has been redefined from the days of playing outside, to now playing virtually anything online.  Enabled by rich multi-media and very easy to use social networks, this trend is on a rapid increase, and will continue to do so through 2012.  (Farmville and Mafia Wars are currently played by 230 million Facebok users.)

2. Mobile Optimization

With the increase in mobile use it has become an absolute necessity for companies to be aware of their mobile presence.  This year, there will be a big demand for companies to optimize their mobile presence.  They need to be aware of how their site functions on mobile devices, how long it takes to load, and if it is streamlined for mobile phone and tablet users.

3. QR Codes

QR codes exploded in use in 2011, and we can expect to see a continued increase through 2012 and beyond.  In a recent study, it was shown that 29% of mobile users are open to scanning a mobile tag/QR code to get coupons.  Expect this number to continue to rise as marketers continue to get more and more clever with their QR code campaigns.  QR codes are great for businesses because they are relatively easy to create, and when done properly, can get businesses some great user statistics and data.

4. Video

Video popularity has been on the rise for several years, and this year, new video uses will be on the rise.  Traditionally, people relate video to YouTube and the like, but the use of video is expanding.  It is predicted that by 2015, 80% off all internet traffic will be video.  Beyond just YouTube, companies can start running events over video, and even producing video newsletters.

5. Location Based Marketing

Through the combined use of smart phone technology and local search (specific technologies include Mobile Phone Tracking and Wifi), a new trend has emerged.  This is the trend of personal marketing, based on your exact preferences and location.  By knowing exactly where you are and what you like, businesses can now send you completely relevant content of great offers at the exact time you might need it.  An example of this is getting an offer for a coffee discount from Starbucks, right as you happen to be walking past one.  

How to use this Information
Use this information to be fully-informed and aware when planning where you will focus your marketing efforts for the year!

What are you doing in 2012 to take advantage of these trends? 
 

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