2009 Social Media Trends Reviewed
December 27, 2009
Jeremiah Owyang, a former colleague of mine at Forrester, writes a great post about social marketing trends for 2009.
The Recession Spurred Consumers to Adopt Social Technologies.
Some Brands Followed Suit With Social Marketing.
Social Networks Share Data, Spreading Social Influence.
Consumers Move Faster By Sharing Real-Time Data.
Takeaway: This year, consumers are more connected, and moving faster than brands.
I think I have a few answers, but I also think we should be querying major brands these questions:
Answers:
1) Lack of understanding of how engagement works.
2) Lack of infrastructure to engage. No listening, triage or response process in place.
3) Still in early days.
4) People don't choose to engage, see the process as too expensive or too political.
2) I thought the issue of consumers sharing real time data is very important. Really what's happening is that social search is starting to supplement, and even sometimes replace real search engines. Instead of getting an automated result from Google, you can use your social network to get reviews and opinions on products and ideas. I wonder where social search will lead us? I also think life streaming services like Twitter are very important to social search and the big reasons why are; the 140 characters, and mobile, it’s easy for people to respond in 140 characters, and smart phone adoption is increasing the adoption of life streaming.
The Recession Spurred Consumers to Adopt Social Technologies.
Some Brands Followed Suit With Social Marketing.
Social Networks Share Data, Spreading Social Influence.
Consumers Move Faster By Sharing Real-Time Data.
Takeaway: This year, consumers are more connected, and moving faster than brands.
You can read more on Jeremiah's blog.
What caught my eye about the trends were two issues.
1) Few companies are really actively engaged. Jeremiah cited the excellent engagement report by his colleague Charlene Li and Wetpaint. I've long discussed the issue of engagement over participation. I wanted to ask Jeremiah what questions arise from thinking on the issue of the lack of engagement amongst brands? Why aren't brands engaging more? And what will it take to get them to engage more?I think I have a few answers, but I also think we should be querying major brands these questions:
Answers:
1) Lack of understanding of how engagement works.
2) Lack of infrastructure to engage. No listening, triage or response process in place.
3) Still in early days.
4) People don't choose to engage, see the process as too expensive or too political.
2) I thought the issue of consumers sharing real time data is very important. Really what's happening is that social search is starting to supplement, and even sometimes replace real search engines. Instead of getting an automated result from Google, you can use your social network to get reviews and opinions on products and ideas. I wonder where social search will lead us? I also think life streaming services like Twitter are very important to social search and the big reasons why are; the 140 characters, and mobile, it’s easy for people to respond in 140 characters, and smart phone adoption is increasing the adoption of life streaming.