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1.
Putting the "me" back in customer service, customers, tired of being asked to pay more for less, will look to product guarantees and service warranties to make their purchasing experience worthwhile. When denied, they'll take (or threaten to take) their case to the web. Good customer service will differentiate a mediocre brand and a superb brand. [from Scott Monty]
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2.
With money tight and tensions high, consumers will not tolerate bad service. They will flip out, very publicly, using social media. [from Andy Sernovitz]
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3.
As companies debate who should "own" community efforts within the organization -- marketing, corporate communications, IT, etc -- their front line workers will go about quietly, inobtrusively interacting with customers, partners, and other employees within their social networks. Examples like @comcastcares Frank Eliason or "Nuts About Southwest" blogger Gordon Guillory (who is a mechanical engineer) point to the democratization of social media within the enterprise. Companies will struggle with how to control who says what -- but will increasingly realize that in an economic downturn, they need all the marketing muscle and leverage they can get and actively encourage. [from Charlene Li]
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4.
Whether it's Oprah using Skype, Google's chat function being enabled with video, and more widespread adoption of high-speed internet have thrust video chat into the limelight in 2008. In 2009, with corporate budgets slashed and the economy down, people will still need to have face-to-face meetings and communication; video chat will be a cost-effective substitute for that. [from Scott Monty]
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5.
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6.
It’s already happening – brand marketers are bypassing their agencies and working directly with media companies to create out-of-the-box marketing programs. In 2009, we’ll see at least one major marketer put their entire media plan in the hands of a large media partner (probably Google), leaving their agency out in the cold. [from Greg Verdino]
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7.
The Debate Rages On. Extract: Yes, it is. No, it isn't. Yes, it is. No, it isn't. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. Social media consultants riot, with both sides chanting, "I know you are, but what am I...?" [from Ann Handley]
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8.
Most of the best Social Media success stories are, naturally, about consumer-facing companies. Yet the key benefits of Social Media - transparency, humanity, responsiveness - are of no less value to B2B marketing. Already we see clients asking about "private social networks" that they can deploy amongst business partners, among other "2.0"-style ideas. This is an emerging trend that will likely accelerate in 2009. [from Todd Defren]
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9.
Measurement is the bugbear of Marketing. I believe that marketers are growing pretty sick of this situation. The single best approach, "market mix modeling" (as promoted by big brand portfolio managers such as P&G) is simply too complex and expensive. Look for a well-respected marketing guru to advocate for a simplified approach that all can rally 'round. I nominate everyone involved in this email string, for starters. Guy? Seth? Ann? [from Todd Defren]
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10.
Or better yet. Where does influence happen? The landscape has changed so much that not many (if any) can really answer this question with much confidence. Serious study of where and how influence happens needs to be done if marketers are going to see any return on their investments.
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11.
Facebook Connect (or Google Friend Connect – it doesn’t really matter which.) In 2007 we “had to have” Second Life islands and widgets. In 2008, we “had to have” Facebook Fan Pages and iPhone Apps. In 2009, marketers will continue to put tactics before strategy and implement next year’s shiny object to ‘socialize’ their web presence without quite understanding why it’s important to do so. Hopefully, 2010’s shiny object will be “a strategy.” [from Greg Verdino]
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12.
People will rally to support companies they love when hard times hit (remember the people who sent cash to Southwest after 9/11?). Companies that focus on earning love will thrive during hard times, and kick ass when good times return. [from Andy Sernovitz]
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13.
After a devastating holiday season, retailers will eagerly seek a way to improve results other than driving demand with deeper discounts. One option they will investigate will be how to insert people and social connections into the buying process, illuminating and influencing for the first time the Black Hole Of Consideration. As they lick their wounds in the first half of 2009, retailers will watch from the sidelines as media companies implement open social technologies like Facebook Connect and the Open Social Platform. But as the holiday season launches early after Labor Day, shoppers will find options to see what friends are recommending, buying and rating integrated into the shopping experience. [from Charlene Li]
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14.
The iPhone might *just* have put to bed the constant "this is the year of mobile" predictions which always seem to fail whale at the end of the year; we believe that this convergence i.e. mobile and social media will play an increasingly disruptive role. [from Joseph Jaffe]
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15.
For all the hype about services like Twitter and Facebook, there are many more millions of consumers (dubbed "Spectators" by Forrester) who don't "join," who don't blog nor consider themselves blog readers. Yet they likely participate quite frequently (albeit unwittingly) in Social Media, via Google searches - Google searches which serve up YouTube videos, blog posts, etc. Social Media-savvy SEO will be an ever-more-important factor for brands to consider as they seek to expand their influence beyond the "cool kids" crowd online. [from Todd Defren]
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16.Recession Will Make Social Media more Significant (www.theconversationgroup.com)
I notice clients who have sailed through the growth years letting all kinds of work discipline slip - I mean not bothering too much with tracking their activities, not training people in basic web marketing, not thinking at all about social media. These clients are now asking about social technologies. They not only have to deal with recession, they have to put a lot of things right. Social technologies can provide them with a means to act.
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17.
One at a time, big companies will have their "Dell Moment" and wake up to the power of investing in earning great word of mouth with one-on-one attention to the community. [from Andy Sernovitz]
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18.
At crayon, we're seeing marketers really beginning to invest in community-related efforts. [from Joseph Jaffe]
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19.
As other contributors have noted, the "best" case studies of Social Media in action, to date, are marked by the introduction of "real" human beings into the customer conversation. As more corporations come to realize the obvious benefits of humanizing their relationships with online communities, they'll grapple with the "how." How many people need to be hired and trained? How will they measure the success of engagement? How will the rise of employee's personal brands be handled, if/when these personalities eclipse the popularity of the corporate brand? How does a company introduce new voices to the conversation in a way that augments the effort, versus causing consumer confusion? How does the corporation - by nature a conservative beast - confidently move forward into such a riotous environment, with so few roadmaps to guide them? [from Todd Defren]
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20.
Digital natives are less likely to use all the privacy settings available on social networks. Other digital immigrants sometimes forget, don't know how, or don't care about privacy settings either. The Internet will become a massive high school yearbook, that is searchable and open to the world.
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21.
With tighter budgets and so much buzz marketing departments everywhere will embrace social media to engage their customers (trade shows will take a huge hit), and extend their brands. The downside will be that many (most?) will miss the point and try to market through social media channels. Expect more blogs about product benefits and tweets about limited time offers.
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22.Corporate want control over socialising (sinktank.blogspot.com)
Corporates will target ways to control how much time (and where!) employees socialise online. They'll also start being paranoid at corporate information being Twittered. Who's watching ya now?
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23.
Slowly but surely, we're going to develop a set of better metrics to help guide, direct and validate "commitment"-based marketing and yes, Mr Kim....they will extend beyond the rather short-term, blunt metric called ROI. [from Joseph Jaffe]
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24.
They'll probably do it out of the same frustration we all have with the platform - it's so useful and good but hasn't been improved in the least and still doesn't work well. For a group of guys to build the single-most useful communications software and social utility in recent memory, you'd think they'd work to keep users happy and improve the service. It's like they build the first car, but refuse to add power steering, brakes and air conditioning. Still, we won't gravitate elsewhere because it's selling point is its simplicity and utility. But damn! What the hell are they doing with that funding? Google will not only make it work right, they'll make it work better and add to their already ubiquitous hold on the online user experience. [from Jason Falls]
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25.
There will be increased expectations by C-suite execs that their marketers can "figure out" how to integrate Social Media programs into broader marketing efforts. While the customer conversation and support efforts can and should continue unabated, the credibility that such efforts create will spawn opportunities to become more ambitious in commercial outreach (i.e., the consumers who now love the company and help vet the storyline will also be keen to help the company succeed - promoting that storyline in PR and advertising, guided content creation, etc.). [from Todd Defren]
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