The 12 digital marketing trends of 2011
In this guest post, Reading Room’s Cathie McGinn offers 12 key digital trends for marketers in the coming year.
1. The Rise and Rise of Social Shopping
Social commerce goes beyond merely allowing consumers to make purchases on social platforms. We’re not satisfied by mere convenience: we’re social animals, and clever marketers need to use social influence techniques to connect with consumers in a noisy marketplace.
We’ve already seen a great deal of social integration with e-commerce in 2011 and Facebook is increasingly the venue of choice to promote anything from fashion to car launches with its ambition to turn pages into storefronts. The launch of Google’s Boutiques.com, early success of the BigCommerce shopping app and iTunes Ping are clear signals that social shopping will be a significant area of growth this year. Sorry, Mr Harvey.
2. Transmedia
This is a development which goes far beyond branded content. Transmedia content works across platforms, devices, timeframes and technologies, allowing creatives to tell stories in a rich variety of media, allowing us to create compelling and cohesive experiences for audiences in a new and more engaging way. Agencies with strong multimedia production skills and an emphasis on integration and media planning are well placed to take the advantage.
3. The ubiquity of social media
Brands and agencies will finally stop speculating about the need for social media and begin plan campaigns around social networks by default, integrate social media engagement seamlessly with all other marketing activity and think strategically about making campaigns and activity social from the outset. The need for social object creation is no longer a theoretical one, with an emphasis on creating content that is inherently shareable and searchable.
4. Mobile and Geo-location
Smart phone sales will eclipse PC sales by 2012, according to recent figures from Morgan Stanley. The trend in mobile is to offer extension to people’s lives through increasingly tangible touchpoints. From Bump-style apps using a gestural interface, to the rumoured iWallet and mobile credit card payment systems along with QR codes that enable on-the-spot transactions, the opportunity to reach consumers at the critical moment through relevant, contextual ads and apps has never been greater.
Geo-locative content will mature, with Facebook Places and Deals pushing forward the need to use geo-social tools for a clear purpose, rather than the early race to claim pixel prizes typified by Foursquare. Tools like FutureCheckIn, which run continuously on a smartphone and don’t require users to opt-in to log their location via GPS provide a glimpse of the new framework, in which we’re connected to the grid at all times. Rethinking how we use geolocation will give consumers exciting new interactions with brands. A great example is Swedish campaign Find the Mini, win the Mini – a simple but effective geolocational campaign that combines geolocation, social networking and gaming.
5. Design and user experience: beyond the app
The mobile and tablet experience will ultimately mean a return to the web, rather than flipping between a series of standalone apps, but meanwhile, apps will continue to be the flavour of the moment throughout 2011.
The challenge for designers and user experience professionals alike is to create interfaces that offer a unified experience regardless of which platform you access this content on – users expect consistency. New advances in coding capabilities like html5 and CSS3 mean interface design will make bold strides this year.
6. Facebook optimisation and alternatives
Facebook recently hit the 500 million user mark, and it looks set to achieve Australian saturation this year. But concerns about privacy, Facebook’s ownership and use of user data, and also a need to create more focused communities has led to the creation of several strong alternative contenders, in particular Jumo (for the not for profit and NGO sector) and Diaspora (an open source platform)
Chris Hughes (co-founder of Facebook), created Jumo after the Haiti disaster. It remains to be seen whether this will make a huge change to the way people make donations, but it will certainly be interesting to see whether providing charities and their supporters with one central location will alter how they mobilise themselves online. Diaspora has the makings of a great platform. It’s open source, privacy aware, built upon distributed architecture and offering all the social functionality that Facebook provides, without selling your personal data to advertisers. Expect the buzz around this project to continue in 2011 as people start wondering if the benefits Facebook provides are outweighed by the risks.
Meanwhile, the emphasis is on Facebook News Feed Optimisation as marketers realise that stylish Facebook landing pages alone won’t keep an audience engaged: with less than 2% of fans revisiting a brand’s page after becoming a fan, brands need to keep creating new content and pushing it through the newsfeed to keep the attention of their audience.
7. Cloud Computing
Australia is leading the charge in its adoption of cloud computing. Cost and the ceaseless proliferation of data means cloud computing, both for infrastructure and software, is becoming a necessity. Our need to access data across a range of devices and locations means tools like DropBox and Google documents, which gives users access to their files and on any device are replacing static software solutions.
The scalability and cost effectiveness of cloud hosting make it a essential choice, particularly for campaign sites. Concerns about security are lessened as more and more public cloud systems open up, buying sophisticated data protection encryption services will becomes affordable, and the issue of data jurisdiction will be solved as local service providers become cheaper and more accessible.
8. IPv4 to IPv6
The web is running out of addresses. Complete IPv4 address exhaustion looks likely in 2011 – 12 and will mean a move from IPv4 to IPv6. This will not only offer a unique IP address not only per user but an IP address per device, which could offer marketers some exciting new data sets about our users. It also means organisations need to be prepared for the transition to ensure seamless reconfiguration.
9. Internet TV
In 2011 we’ll see wide scale adoption of internet TV services across a multitude of devices; TV, desktops, laptops, tablets, and smart phones. Platforms are no longer emerging but maturing with support and aggressive promotion of new technologies from the likes of Intel, Apple and Google. Expect the interaction between multiple devices to create more engaging experiences. Users will be able to watch streaming video content on your TV while controlling it with an phone/tablet, contributing live to shows with layered contextual Tweeting, voting and interacting with TVCs. There will be a battle for supremacy over the coming months as users seek to migrate from separate platforms and players to a single common platform.
10. 3D Projection Mapping
Continuing the meta trend of using digital and virtual tools to deliver real experiences, projection mapping is going to be massive over the next six to 12 months as more brands use the technology to interact with consumers. Its applications range from education to advertising, for example, the History Channel projecting the history of a site onto the walls of the present-day building, and BMW advertising their new car across Singapore’s CBD skyscrapers
11. Data
Data continues to be the most valuable commodity we have, and marketers with a finely honed ability to find the most salient stuff will be in high demand.
The tension between privacy and accessibility will continue as social conventions struggle to adapt fast enough to the amount of data we share, knowingly and unwittingly, on the web, and 2011 will see further discussion of civil liberties and individual rights as the consumer becomes more aware of online surveillance by brands and governments alike. Consumers will increasingly expect that brands are more responsive to complaints and comment via sites like Twitter, Not Good Enough and so on – implicitly viewing it as a value exchange – their information for better service.
Data protection will also become a more pressing consideration, with recent Tumblr outages and the possibility of further changes to Facebook’s terms of use raising the question of dependence on third party sites. If we accept that Facebook will always know more about our fans than we do, are we as happy to accept that Facebook is the only channel through which we can connect with them? Ensuring that if a site goes down or locks you out, your data and community doesn’t go with it means implementing a social CRM (customer relationship management) back up system, in which you own data about your customers, learn about their preferences and talk to them in their preferred medium, an excellent way of minimising risk and building good relationships at once.
12. Integration
Marketing activity needs to be seamlessly integrated across all platforms, devices and technologies, and it needs to be flexible and agile enough to adapt quickly to changes in platforms and technology. A successful campaign doesn’t needs to operate on all fronts just for the sake of covering the maximum number of possible touchpoints: insight and smart channel planning is crucial.
Integration means giving the customer a way of interacting with your brand in whatever way makes sense and is relevant to them. Putting their experience at the heart of everything you do is critical.
Cathie McGinn is a principal at Reading Room Australia. This posting was based on material first created for Reading Room’s blog
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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The IPv6 transition will be interesting to watch. Projection mapping sounds very Blade Runner.
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Feels like some pretty solid, well thought out predictions here Cathie.
I hadn’t thought about using the possibilities of unique IP’ing to deepen
datasets – but it makes sense. Well, it makes sense if the majority of IPs remain static.
Anywah, good stuff. It’s nice to see some thoughts on coming trends that feel grounded in reality.
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‘Smart phone sales will eclipse PC sales by 2010, according to recent figures from Morgan Stanley.’
Isn’t it 2011 already?
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Thanks Tamara – sorted.
Cheers – Tim
Awesome post, Cathie.
I think we’ve already seen the rise of social shopping with Groupon and the like – but it will be interesting to see how that evolves in the social sphere and how sales will evolve in regards to people based by location or interest facilitated by social.
I very much would love to see transactions via mobile and geolocation tools.
Stickybits looks like it’s an awesome concept; but getting people used to the concept of scanning items and walking out the store will be interesting. (Just the other day I saw a poor employee being abused by a woman because the store only had self-service checkouts and no real staff. She looked on the verge of tears because she had no idea what to do.)
The iWallet sounds very interesting (I need to look into it more!); but we’re already seeing shifting financial models and payment methods (like the Windows Phone 7 marketplace …and I keep waiting for Flattr to take off to microdonate to online content).
I’d like to think that user experiences can not only be seamless on different interfaces; but that browsers can sync where we’re up to when we’re browsing. I’d love to be able to be reading a webpage on my mobile and when I get to work that site loads in my browser from where I left off. (Actually, this totally should have been invented already. Someone link me to this ;))
As hopeful as I am for Diaspora, I fear it doesn’t have the crowd behind it; and the huge network of interaction is very hard to catch up to. The proliferation of ‘Likes’ on the web, with Facebook Connect means that Facebook is so integrated with my browsing experience that a competitor, as much as I’d love to see, would need to work really hard to fight that. In saying that, there’s a lot of features I’d like to be able to plugin and customise in my social network, that I think that this demand might rise especially among digital native in the next few years.
It’s also a really exciting time for internet tv – it is in the crossover time where not only is the technology available (come on NBN!), television channels and distributors are actively looking towards merging with the internet and the consumer demand is prevalent. At the moment, people are making-do with downloads and tweeting during live television, however, I also think that in 2011 this will shift and the migration will have some very interesting results.
However, I think there is more to explore in the realm of cloud computing – since there is personalised cloud computing, like Dropbox, which is the norm for many people I know – but how that will shift with Operating Systems, servers and software will be a whole different kettle of fish, with tablets and other mobile devices having a whole lot of room to play in this area.
*Cough* I guess I’d better get back to work now. *shifty eyes*
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these read more like technology trends than marketing trends tbh.
marketing can’t hide behind new tech.
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I think 2011 will also see a rise in micropayment technologies, which will work hand-in-hand with the rise of geolocation tools. Interesting not to see micropayments in Cathie’s list. Both of the leading smartphone providers (Apple and Google) have my credit card details on file and I know I’m not alone there. A buck here, a buck there, and soon you’re talking a serious business model.
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I don’t see how the IP4->IP6 migration affects marketing in any way shape or form so I propose you replace #8 with NFC which will in turn revolutionise mobile payments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment) as distinct from how you tangentially touch on it in #4
Google are already including it in the NexusS. Watch it become more ubiquitous throughout 2011 on other android devices and mobile platforms.
As for QR codes? lots of marketing hype, but aside from some cool art uses (I’ve lost a great example link), NFC should finally see the death knell of something which belongs where it was initiated – in a car factory.
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Facebook was valued at over $50 Billion which is more than Time Warner or Boeing and gives it a price to earnings ratio around 4 to 5 times more than Apple and Google.
Twitter was valued at $4.1 Billion in spite of it not even being able to generate any earnings at all.
Social Media is over hyped and over sold.
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Most of these predictions have already happened.
Are people really reading this and thinking ‘Wow, I never saw that coming. I wonder if it actually happens!’
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Strong and well thought out list Cathie.
Agree with Franksting on NFC – this will get stronger this year and explode in 2012.
Francois – I don’t really see these as predictions. You are right about them already happening. I think Cathie is suggesting these will become more mainstream in 2011 and therefore more likely to be part of the marketing mix that will get a decent budget.
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I too agree with Paul. These are really some pretty solid, well thought out predictions here Cathie. However, it all comes down to economic growth.If you are really looking forward to hear about future trends in digital and mobile marketing, industry experts can answer your queries much vividly. Click (shameless plug for event removed by Mumbrella) is just the right platform for budding entrepreneurs as well as business houses to exchange their mutual knowledge and expertise in respective fields. Besides this event comes with the potential to generate tremendous brand exposure for start-ups in the digital marketing field. Make it a point to book your reservation early
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Hi, very interesting article. I am about to start uni this year (as a mature age student) and since some of the bigger retailers were complaining about online shopping I decided that my other major (besides marketing) would now be e commerce. You need to be at the forefront of your career so you can always be on top and ahead of your game. As I believe that if you are behind the times how can you keep up?
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Hi Cathie,
I enjoyed your article. Are you able to provide a source for the quote below? Thanks.
“Facebook landing pages alone won’t keep an audience engaged: with less than 2% of fans revisiting a brand’s page after becoming a fan”
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Great post. Especially agree re shopping (and decision making in general) being more influenced by social platforms. “If my friends like it, then I will too.”
More sources of information (online mainly) is making for more savvy consumers. So I think we may see the emphasis shift away from Branding (as its thought of in a traditional sense anyway) and towards engagment promotions, transparency, and especially customer service.
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There’s a lot of things I see on this list as likely to be a short term fad, if they even take off at all. Things like social shopping and mobile / smart phone related technologies are a great idea but I’m afraid they are at great risk of falling into this category. I wouldn’t go as far as declaring them fads, but if nothing else this list provides a lot of things for people to keep an eye on in terms of development and uptake.
For me, there are a few things that seem a bit more certain though:
– Transmedia is probably one of the strongest things I can see here as being a solid trend.
– Facebook is massively over-rated and is usually sold on potential and not what it actually achieves.
– Full integration of marketing campaigns across all effective media needs to happen.
– Cloud computing has been around for a while now and is great.
– Data reliance is going to increase as we find new ways to measure, and measure accurately.
– IPTV is an awesome idea in theory, but I’ve seen little progress in this area between device manufacturers and publishers, meaning a lot of content is blocked at the moment. Don’t get me started on bandwidth problems either…
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Thank God someone mentioned DATA. This will now, more than ever be the corner stone of marketing success. What you know about customers and prospects and how that translates into the message they receive is the only way marketing communications will be successful in 2011 and beyond. The best way to break through the clutter is to build relevancy with the recipient of the message. It will be this relevancy that comes from the DATA and it will give the communication the best opoortunity for success.
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Hi Simon,
The stats are courtesy of a Brand Glue study http://brandglue.com/, and are certainly reflective of results I’ve seen across various campaigns.
Cathie
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As Mary Meeker is one of the best in her field, I though someone should link to her original presentation:
http://www.morganstanley.com/i.....s_web2.pdf
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Have a read of Richard Watson’s “Future Minds”.
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I would love some advice from all your Digital Marketers out there. I have been a BTL marketers for 13 years. I would love love love to learn more about Digital – my main reason is that the digital ‘experts’ I have worked with are far from it, they lack the knoweldge and operational skills I had hoped for. So this year, I want to learn myself.
Any recommendations on course, seminars, places to learn more? And I mean LEARN more, not just sit in a workshop and forum and walk away with top line ideas which you cant implement.
Help please – Im really keen to boarden my skills into this area.
Thanks muchly!
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I too agree with Paul. These are really some pretty solid, well thought out predictions here Cathie. However, it all comes down to economic growth.If you are really looking forward to hear about future trends in digital and mobile marketing, industry experts can answer your queries much vividly.
(Shameless plug for conference removed by Mumbrella), Asia’s largest Digital & Mobile Marketing Conference is just the right platform for budding entrepreneurs as well as business houses to exchange their mutual knowledge and expertise in respective fields. Besides this event comes with the potential to generate tremendous brand exposure for start-ups in the digital marketing field. Make it a point to book your reservation early.
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I too agree with Andy. These are really some pretty solid, well thought out predictions here Cathie. However, it all comes down to economic growth.If you are really looking forward to hear about future trends in digital and mobile marketing, industry experts can answer your queries much vividly. (shameless plug for conference removed by Mumbrella), Asia’s largest Digital & Mobile Marketing Conference is just the right platform for budding entrepreneurs as well as business houses to exchange their mutual knowledge and expertise in respective fields. Besides this event comes with the potential to generate tremendous brand exposure for start-ups in the digital marketing field. Make it a point to book your reservation early.
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I’d stop agreeing with people now If I were you, Sally.
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Anonymous … I agree.
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That’s some solid agreeing there Sally.
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The key word in Cathie’s heading is ‘digital’…. Yes, there is a lot of talk of technology in this story, but marketing can no longer be fully effective without technology consideration and the integration of digital marketing into the mix. Of course we, frequenters of this medium, would know that many of these trends are up and running… What Cathie projects is that they become mainstream and she is correct. I look forward to seeing the laggards join in! 🙂
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Client-side education regarding potential of transmedia is an important area, particularly for small business clients. In the niche magazine market on the editorial side of the business we are seeing a good response.
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interesting read, thanks
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I agree with Sally.
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Agreed. Solid.
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Sarah D – you might find Digital Citizens useful (full disclosure / shameless self-promotion – I’m one of the co-founders) – it’s a forum intended for people working in the industry to learn, connect and share. There’s usually a panel discussion, people share case studies and it’s generally fairly practical.
Thanks for the comments all, especially my new BFF Sally.
Stay solid…
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