People around the world are using social networking more for a multitude of reasons. They’re meeting prodigal relatives or senior high school classmates, watching videos, reading blogs and above all for retailers, they are using SM to get in touch with brands they know and love Ignazio Moser. By the conclusion 2011- significantly more than 63% of Internet users will undoubtedly be using social media. (148 million people) and the amount will climb to 67% by the entire year 2013. (Source: emarketer.com) That’s plenty of people spending plenty of time with social networking to accomplish plenty of things.
And though some retailers are just getting started in using SM for their businesses, the industry is steam rolling ahead at warp speed. New sites are increasingly being created everyday and the ways consumers use social networking continues to evolve. Therefore the question is — Where do we go from here and what’s next for social networking?
Here we present 5 of the ongoing trends emerging with social networking for 2012. Many of them will undoubtedly be ideal for retailers like you because they seek to interact and share recommendations experiences with customers in real time across to a wide band of users. Once you read them, don’t think of what your location is with SM today, but more importantly, think of where your company could possibly be in the event that you integrated several of those tools in the coming year.
Consumer content creation-It’s about being in the stream. Yes, you must have an engaging presence with social networking by yourself that inspires people ahead back on a typical basis. Now taking it to another location level and getting your brand evangelists and social networking community members to share with you your company inside their posts will undoubtedly be critical.
Think of it as PR and recommendations marketing from your best customers. You should create programs that inspire them to share that which you are doing inside their social networking posts. Think of this as a kind of recommendations referral- except that it’s on line and far more eyes will undoubtedly be on the message!
Niche Location-This will undoubtedly be another great trend for retailers. Niche location social networking site target a customers location and tells others about it. It has a great connotation for retailers who can then use services like foursquare or gowalla to operate contests or make offers to customers who register when customers shop.
Its like getting free advertising for the store-people register and get discounts, etc and then their friends see on line that they’re shopping in your store and may be intrigued ahead in and get the same deal.
Ann Taylor, McDonalds, Starbucks and Best Buy are just a few of the companies that have created programs for Location based services
Group Purchasing-This trend continues to grow and will expand with more sites in 2012. In other words, group purchasing is on the basis of the premise that making a sense of urgency around purchasing will incentivize users to act quickly and to share the info with friends inside their circle to insure the offer happens. where brands provide a deal to customers and if enough people sign up, everyone gets the deal. It’s an effective way to get a significant amount of press for the brand that you may never buy on your own. The group purchasing sites have a percentage of the sales generated from the offer so there is some profit erosion (on this first deal, although not within the long-term life of the client if you will get them to search with you again.)
Using group purchasing sites like Groupon or Living social or Daily Deals has changed into a hotbed topic for retailers as they are concerned these sites don’t attract the best type of customers which can be retained long-term. I’d claim that the main element to successful group purchasing participation is how you structure the offer and how you prepare ahead of time to make a process for you to capture contact information from the customers as well as create marketing programs to speak for them after the Groupon is over.
Social Gaming In 2012 more game applications will undoubtedly be integrated into social networking programs to further engage customers with brands in a great way. More than 56 million people currently play games with social networking on a typical basis and brands that relate solely to customers while they are using the game platforms are poised to form a meaningful connection using them going forward.
Mobile Marketing — More than 50% of all mobile phones will undoubtedly be smart phones in 2012. Consumers understand the time saving benefits a smartphone can deliver and the social networking trends for 2012 demand more mobile marketing programs from brands to get in touch with customers where they are. Discount codes coming through phones, interactions with products while in store and QR codes offering information, games and other relevant services will further engage customers with brands and stores in 2012.
They are not the sole key trends for social networking usage for 2012, but they are a few of the biggest and ones where retailers can see a primary link with customers if they opt for them. Whatever trend you believe is right for your company, a very important factor is certain. Social Media is the way for the future for retailers to get in touch with customers. Exactly like creating a website was important 10 years ago and email marketing they way to get in touch with customers 5 years ago, social networking is a pattern that is here to stay.
At it’s core, social networking is just a new means of connecting with customers for the store and if you plan on being in operation in 10 years and having customers who evangelize your brand — you need to start integrating social networking tools into your marketing plans today. Personally, you do not have to like- -or even use SM-but you’ve to recognize that effective marketing is putting messages for the store where your web visitors are-and your clients are using social networking to get in touch with brands they love-and we certainly want yours to be one!
Lynn Switanowski is the President of Creative Business Consulting Group, (CBCG) an International Retail Consulting firm headquartered in Boston, MA.
CBCG partners with retailers, etailers and manufacturers to generate and implement profit improving sales, marketing and inventory management programs.
CBCG helps Independent retailers understand the business enterprise opportunities developed by today’s changing consumer trends and helps retailers to harness the energy of social networking marketing tools to get in touch with today’s wired consumers.