It is essential to take an active part in your company’s social landscape. Create a social roadmap to success—align social with prioritized business objectives and strategy before all else. It’s marketing, not merely social media marketing, therefore, it is important to always integrate social into company values and culture.

So how can you make sure your social media is working for you? You want to connect your brand to consumers through conversation, advocacy and community.

1. Social Reach
It’s all about the friends, the followers and the connections. Social media is a community—get involved, don’t just sit on the sidelines. Share valuable content, and take advantage of automatic sharing tools. These make lives easier, and ultimately save time.

Right now you probably have an existing network, leverage that to build your reach. Do you have a company newsletter? This is the perfect place to rally new fans to like you on Facebook, follow you Twitter, connect on Linkedin and so forth.

2. Maximize Your Content
Create a content calendar as part of your social strategy. Know what’s trending, what your audience wants to hear. This will help keep them engaged, and sharing your content. You want to have a balance of social media links that you are sharing. This should include not only links to company landing pages and your blog, but also valuable third party links.

Leverage the use of slide share. Share slides in which you imbed your company’s URL, this will drive traffic back to your site.

3. Connect Conversations
Sharing links and getting involved in conversations is great. But social is ultimately a marketing tool, and it is crucial to your efforts and your company that you place call-to-actions everywhere. You want to drive your audience to take some sort of action—whether it’s polls, links or advertising.

These call-to-actions will also help you see what’s effective and ineffective. If you’re not seeing very much traction on a particular effort, this is the time to focus those efforts elsewhere.

At the end of the day, investing efforts in social media is not merely about buying leads. It’s a way to buy customers.

• 
According to socialmediatoday a Bright Roll survey found that 65% of marketers plan to reallocate campaign spending from TV to online video this year. More than 25% see online and mobile video as the two platforms that will have the overall largest spend increases in the next two years.

• An infographic from Vincent Abry shows that mobile video streaming increased by 93% worldwide and 35% in the U.S. from 2010 to 2011.

As online video use continues to surge, many corporations are launching brand videos to market their businesses. Creating a brand video for your organization is an innovative and constructive method to communicate a range of purposes to your audience. To that end, defining a well-structured goal is an essential first step to crafting an influential, far-reaching brand video.

Video objectives vary in a broad spectrum from “big picture for business leaders” to “product features and functionality” to a “humanistic version of executive and client testimonials”. Regardless of your organization’s intention, the video must make an impression that you are a thought-leading, digitally forward company with a cutting edge product.

Below is an outlined spectrum of different brand video functions with links that exemplify how a few large corporations have executed:

Inspirational/“Big Picture”/Vision

An inspirational brand video is an excellent way to emotionally relate with your audience. Connecting viewers to the interior of your vision, while painting a “big picture”, encourages an emotional engagement that will resonate with the end user.

IBM – Business Agility

Cisco – Big Things Are Happening

Jive Software – The New Way to Govern.

Data/Number-Focused

Facts and figures appeal to a logical and analytic left brain thinker. A brand video that reveals attention-grabbing, valuable data not only intrigues the viewer, but establishes that your company is a thought-leader with an up-to-date comprehension of the business landscape.

Oracle Exadata: Are You Ready?

Omobono: The World of Social Media in 2011

Executive Spotlight

The power of a CEO testimonial not only lends a considerable level of credibility, an executive spotlight illuminates big picture vision and creates a human connection with your brand’s purpose. The ability to hear and see a company’s decision-maker augments a brand’s integrity.

EMC and Brocade – Partner

Sprint – Dan Hesse

Product/Solutions Focus

Product description or solution-focused video content is a reliable method of expressing your company’s value. Showcasing your organization in terms of what you can offer the consumer generates a brand worth that is easily understood and resides with the audience.

HP – Environmental Opportunity

Juniper Networks – New Data Center Security Solution

Today’s technology pace is moving at exorbitant speeds. In this rapidly evolving, interweaving web of channels, where do we see social fitting in? The answer is everywhere.

Nowadays, social is more than posting a link or hitting the “like” button. Magnetic content is transforming the way we view social marketing. It’s a trend moving away from static advertising, to magnetic advertising—what is going to draw people in.

What is magnetic content? It’s been called the “hottest trend in social media” and “this season’s ‘socially’-acceptable little black dress.” In short, it is content that drives people to your page. Magnetic content marks an evolution from the interruptive advertising model to a more engaging approach that integrates many forms of media (video, mobile, location based). Ads are so yesterday, content is the future.

This seemingly muddled mess of social everything creates the perfect storm of opportunity for online and mobile marketers.

Here are a few tips to see if your content is “magnetic”:
1. Is the content unique and useful?
2. Is the content fun and engaging?
3. Is the content well-executed and taking full advantage of the channel?

Here are the five best practices for magnetizing customers through social media:
1. Don’t think social media. It is social marketing in the broadest sense.
2. Leverage the secret ingredient: Trust. Show both good reviews and bad reviews.
3. It’s like dating. Listening comes first.
4. Add value, do not talk just to hear yourself type.
5. Be authentic, transparent and humble. This makes you credible.

If you don’t believe us, take it from the guy that revolutionized the Internet as we know it. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg estimates that the amount of content shared on networks will double in 2012, and again in 2013.

So where do you stand? Is your content currently magnetic, or is it pushing people away rather than drawing them in?

• Contemplating a decision to enter a new market or product category in which you have not as yet established a position
• Assessing the pros and cons of extending a brand into a new product category or developing a new brand for that category
• Determining whether to sub-brand or utilize a corporate brand – and to assess the balance between the two
• Brand market share is slipping or is not meeting realistic expectations because of competitive activity
• Considering the establishment of a new product category in which your brand will be the first participant.
• You are not certain of your brand’s position, strength or effectiveness in relation to competitive offerings
• It’s time to establish a cohesive branding plan, and implement it through the creation of relevant branding elements: name, positioning statement, logo, packaging, graphic standards, associations, events, etc.

A brand audit needs to be objective to truly identify problem areas.  GuideStar suggests hiring a consultant to focus on the following types of brand audit activities (from Brand Strategy Insider):

• Research:  Does the brand have a clear understanding of current customer need states, attitudes, values, etc alongside the market and competitive landscape?
• Positioning: Does the brand positioning leverage target consumer research to strategically differentiate the brand (along with benefits and personality) within the market?
• Identity:  Is the brand’s visual and verbal identity (name, logo, icon, tag line, type style, colors, symbols, messages) consistently applied based on the positioning?
• Advertising:  Does advertising creatively convey the brand benefits and break through the clutter to effectively reach the target audience?
• Internal marketing team: Is the marketing team well-rounded with a curret toolset inclusive of skills in leadership, creativity, marketing, and innovation?
• Strategy: Is the marketing team partnering with executive leadership to create long-term brand vision and impact-focused marketing initiatives?

The output of the brand audit should identify clear action items and help direct your focus to building a short and long-term strategic plan of action. Main areas of focus should be determined by weaknesses identified in the brand audit (i.e. if you needed to completely overhaul the advertising to better refelct your strong positioning). As a marketing leader, the brand audit is an opportunity to re-strategize, re-position, and creatively adjust the brand identityto maximize marketing and brand effectiveness for tomorrow.

Image by Eugene Z from Stock.Xchng

For starters, you need an email to even log on to Facebook. Fundamentally, Facebook and email go hand-in-hand. These two seemingly similar platforms can really make a great team if executed properly. And both are needed in your social media arsenal. According to Exact Target 2011, 58% of adults in the U.S. check email first thing in the morning. There is nothing that is going to kill email anytime soon.

Another myth is that you must have a Facebook page to get more customers on Facebook. Even 44% of corporate social marketers look at Facebook as a way to get new customers, according to Wildfire 2012. In reality, this is completely inaccurate. We like what we like. You like companies on Facebook that you already have an established relationship or experience with. 84% of fans of company Facebook pages are current or former customers, according to DDB 2011.

In short, Facebook is a ratification of a relationship, not a creation. Facebook helps your customers remember you, and email does the exact same thing.

How are email and Facebook similar?

• An email subscribe/unsubscribe = a Facebook like/unlike/hide
• The percentage of email opens = Facebook reach numbers
• The number of Email click throughs = Facebook engaged users
• The number of email forwards = the number of Facebook shares

Tips to leverage email and Facebook’s strengths:
1. Use Facebook to source email content. Ask people their opinion, what they want to hear from your company, what they’re interested in.
2. Use Facebook fan posts as email content. Don’t tell your customers how great you are. Let other customers share their opinions.
3. Use Facebook to provide your fans with exclusivity. Give your Facebook fans a 24-hour heads-up on special email deals. This will not only make them feel special, but also grab the low-hanging fruit by obtaining any email addresses of Facebook fans you do not already have listed.

Another great tip, is to always be testing. Each time you update a Facebook post or send an email, analyze the number of opens/likes/shares. See when the most effective time for posting/sending emails is. You want to optimize your marketing.

Currently, only 18% of corporate email marketers include social icons in their emails. Your emails, website and social media platforms should always drive traffic among themselves.

And always remember that with Facebook, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. What this means in relation to your company is that if you are not updating your Facebook page with interesting content, your post will fall to the bottom. The easiest thing about Facebook fans is that these are people that already like you and want to interact with you. Don’t lose the opportunity to speak to them.

1. Start with title tags
Use “title tags” to indicate to both the user and search engine the title of your website. The contents of the title tag will usually appear on the first line and in bold if they match the search query. Create a title that is both descriptive and unique to help Google identify your site. In addition, write a concise, yet telling (and interesting) description meta tag. The meta tag is displayed under the page title to clearly communicate the page’s content matter. The search engine will pull fragments from this description to display in the user’s query. Be sure that to use unique title tags and meta tags on independent pages across the site to improve search results for both the user and search engine.

2. Valuable site content
While this may seem obvious, truly rich site content will increase search results organically. Captivating content will be posted in blogs, linked into social sites, and shared amongst others through emails, forums, etc. Quality content is commonly the basis behind the organic buzz, and thus site reputation, created by both users and search engines. Beyond quality, sites must stress the importance of unique and fresh content to gain a consistent and growing visitor base. While you must certainly be mindful to include keywords throughout your site’s content, writing for the user, not the search engine, is essential.

3. Proper anchor text
Anchor text is the text displayed as the result of a link and clicked on by the user. Every link contains anchor text, yet not every link contains descriptive anchor text. To inform the user and search engine about what they are about to click on, create anchor text that explains the content accurately. The more descriptive, concise, and formatted the anchor text, the easier the navigation will be for both the user and search engine.

4. Searchable images
Every image on your site has an individual filename and an “alt” attribute that can be optimized to improve search results. If the image cannot be displayed for some reason, the “alt” attribute is the text that is specified as an alternative for the image. “Alt” text can provide guidance to a confused user by stating a description for the image that was intended to appear. To further facilitate guidance to the user, create a directory (and Image Sitemap) to store all of your site’s images. This consolidation will simplify the course to your images, as well as provide an aid to the search engine through the sitemap.

5. Deep linking
Creating links into and between the most pages on your site as possible is the basis behind deep linking. In order to be found on the first page of search results for related searched words or phrases, your site must be highly ranked and reliable, meaning that the search engines find that other highly ranked, reliable sites have links to your page. In doing so, your site should have links form other sites, Facebook, your internal blog, etc. directed to as many interior pages on your site as possible. There should also be links on your homepage to move visitors to and between as many interior pages as possible. Generally, the more multifaceted and mixed the deep linking, the higher search engines will rank your site.

6. Promotion through quality content
Self promotion through link sharing is an effective method of gaining quick detection by people sharing common interests, but must be used sparingly. Blog posts and newsletters promoting changes, additions, and new features to your site will help to increase traffic and viewership. Promoting on social media sites and throughout your sites’ associated community will match interested groups to relevant information and quality links.

7. Easy navigation through breadcrumbs
A user-friendly site is one that is easily navigated. To simplify navigation for both the user and search engine, start with your “root” page (homepage) and base a row of internal links that stem from the homepage. The directory structure outlines the way a typical user would pilot through your site. Referred to as a “breadcrumb” and displayed at the top or bottom of the page, this row of internal links will facilitate fluid user navigation on your site.

8. Site maps and webmaster tools
Preparing two sitemaps is crucial to display the structure of your site to both the user and search engine. An HTML site map (in lower-case) is typically displayed to help a visitor who is having issues finding certain pages on your site. An XML Sitemap file (in upper-case) helps search engines display correct URL’s for the various pages on your site, as well as outlining all of the pages on your website. In optimizing both site maps and the rest of your page, utilize webmaster tools provided by the majority of search engines. Webmaster tools will better control how search engines interact with your website, thus getting useful information to the source and performing better in search results.

9. The dreaded 404 page
Without the use of a breadcrumbs page or sitemap, a user may get lost in translation and land on the dreaded, “page not found” 404 page. A 404 page can come from a user typing in the wrong URL or following a broken link that does not exist on your site. To avoid potentially losing this visitor, create a custom 404 page that matches the design of your website and has a link to your site’s homepage. Creating a guide back to your page with your site’s design will greatly enhance the user’s experience; it is possible to have a constructive 404 page.

10. Go mobile
In comparison to normal desktop sites, content from mobile sites is formatted and managed quite differently. It is important to configure your mobile site appropriately to be indexed and crawled by search engines accurately. Creating a Mobile Sitemap and ensuring user-agent access will verify that the search engine indexes your mobile site. In addition, make certain that your mobile URLs are recognized by the search engine through testing from various mobile devices. Once testing is complete, verify that a mobile site display for a desktop user is redirected to the standard version of the site and vice versa.

While independently these modifications may seem insignificant, the combination of the above best practices will influence your site’s overall search engine marketing effectiveness and reach. For further reading on search marketing, we suggest these search marketing articles: Improve Your Google Quality Score, Optimize Text Ads for Search, and Boost your CTR. Sparxoo Agency is a specialist in search marketing. Please contact us if we can be of assistance in your search marketing campaign.

10. Exclusive Access
The popularity of Royal-Class airport lounges and invitation-only Centurion credit cards are just two examples of modern man’s immense need for respect and privilege…This ‘exclusivity for the masses’, or “Massclusivity” can be an instant add-on and revenue booster for many services in the public domain.
—TrendWatching.com

Are you on the list? Well of course, isn’t everyone? We’re all members to some “exclusive club.” Whether it’s from the miles we rack up with our favorite airline carrier, or the card we use to basically charge everything—we’re all special because we’re members. Today, it’s this exclusivity that earns brands their fans, and it’s this exclusive access that maintains these fans. Fans come with a price, according to a 2011 study from ExactTarget.com, 58% of Facebook likers expect both access to exclusive content, events or sales, and discounts or promotions through Facebook. Gilt Group takes this statistic to heart, and offers its Facebook fans exclusive access to sales, as well as the ability to preview the site’s daily flash deals an hour early. Just like consumers play favorites based on exclusive access, companies are taking this exclusivity trend and making it into a competitive advantage. YouTube, for example, recently secured the rental rights on hundreds of Disney movies.
What Others Are Saying
• Facebook ‘Likers’ Expect Access, Discounts
• YouTube Snags Hundreds of Disney Movie Rentals
• Gilt Brings Exclusive Sales to Facebook

11. Power Couple Effect
“Our acquisition of Drugstore.com today significantly accelerates our online strategy.”
—Greg Wasson, president-CEO of Walgreens

It could be called the hottest look for the New Year. Digital mergers are in vogue, and making all the difference to organizations large and small. It’s wheeling and dealing in snatching up start-ups. Larger companies are acquiring smaller ecommerce companies. Commonplace are joint ventures and multiple acquisitions to address strategic business initiatives. EBay has already spent billions acquiring a laundry list of companies for its future expansion in the ecommerce realm. Facebook also recently acquired Foursquare competitor Gowalla, a location sharing service provider. These digital mergers demonstrate the benefit of purchasing “pre-packaged goods.” Digital startups already have the dirty work completed, and once both signatures are on the dotted line, a firm’s digital arsenal grows tenfold. This growing trend addresses a few additional movements in the digital arena, like growing digital ecommerce (hint: refer to trend 2).
What Others Are Saying
• Twitter Acquires Mobile Security Firm Whisper
• Hottest Trend in e-Commerce? M&A.
• E-Bay’s e-Commerce Strategy

12. Upping the Game on Loyalty
“As a customer’s relationship with the company lengthens, profits rise. And not just by a little. Companies can boost profits by almost 100 percent by retaining just 5 percent more of their customers.”
—Frederick Reichheld, author of The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value

It’s the loyalty game. But today’s winners aren’t merely rewards program. Today’s winners are engagement champions, as this is what ultimately creates brand loyalists. Various aspects of marketing can help increase loyalty. Many companies are expanding their rewards programs to provide further incentive for interaction. Southwest recently launched an enhancement to its Rapid Rewards program—aimed at making the brand more engaging. Facebook has also been called the ultimate loyalty tool. As your fans are the prime consumers, those who you want to further develop and maintain a relationship with. Gilt City used Facebook Groups to establish a private loyalty program for its users. Justin Kistener the social-media products director of web analytics firm Webtrends said, “Facebook is really the anti-Groupon, because it’s more about preaching to the converted than getting new converts.” Corporate responsibility is another way many companies are tipping the loyalty scales. Pointers to develop loyalists—listen to your consumers. They are the voice of the brand, you, are not.
What Others Are Saying
• Building Brand Loyalty Among Fickle Digital Consumers
• Does Corporate Responsibility Build Customer Loyalty?
• How Brands Should Think About Facebook: a Loyalty Program

6. Super Healthy
“Our intention is to reinvent this category in the same tonality that we have reinvented over the last 40 years the basic commodity of coffee. We see a lot of white space.”
—Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on the acquisition of Evolution Fresh Inc.

It started with the explosion of Cross Fit. It progressed with the success of health foods stores nationwide. And once coffee juggernaut Starbucks was on the super health bandwagon, “health” as we knew it ceased to exist. Nowadays, simply being healthy and fit is not enough. Today’s goal is to be “super healthy.” Goodbye calorie-portioned microwavable dinners and 30 minutes on the elliptical. Hello vitamin-enriched juices, fortified protein bars, and stretching your body’s limit with cutting edge fitness. The trend of super health is upon us. Extreme fitness has now become the norm rather than the exception. Cross Fit and Tough Mudder have helped shift society’s view of fitness as recreation, to fitness as a lifestyle. Starbucks has even acquiesced to the super health trend with its $30 million dollar purchase of Evolution Fresh, with plans to reinvent the premium juice segment. Whole Foods, once a niche grocer, is now a main player in the super health
movement with fiscal Q4 revenue growing to $2.4 billion, on 31% earnings
growth. 2012 earnings are projected to grow to over $11 billion.
What Others Are Saying
• Top 2012 Food Trends
• Tough Mudder: The Future of Grueling Obstacle Event
• Can Starbucks For Juice What it Did for Coffee?

7. Lean and Mean
“Increasing pressures on organizations to be more competitive, agile, and customer focused—to be a ‘lean enterprise.’”
—Judith Heerwagen, Ph.D., J.H. Heerwagen & Associates

A fundamental shift has occurred in the marketplace. The initial change stemmed from the volatile economy. The recession setback even the most stable of firms and overpowered giant enterprises. The unexpected downturn forced many companies to rethink, redesign and reposition themselves. Companies are now turned toward “lean” endeavors—constantly trimming fat where they see fit. Starbucks contributed to this lean movement, cutting close to 7,000 jobs and closing 300 stores in the past few years. Also, according to Bloomberg, companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 generated free cash flow over the past 12 months of $883.4 billion, 119% more than in 2006. This excess of cash demonstrates that firms recognize they can no longer afford to waste neither time nor money. Today’s lean organizations are more agile. They can react to change fast and keep up with the ever-dynamic marketplace. This is key to remaining competitive. Consumer perception can shift on a dime; therefore, companies today have to be able to keep up.
What Others Are Saying
• Simplification of Lean
• A New Way to Teach Entrepreneurship
• The Changing Nature of Organizations

8. Green Revolution
“This is a great development—an indication that leading businesses are beginning to define their roles as true stakeholders in the future of our planet.”
—Jens Martin Skibsted, founding partner of KiBiSi, a product design consultancy, and Rasmus Bech Hansen, director at Venturethree, a global brand consultancy

They’re starting a revolution. And no, there are no radical protests or occupying of any main streets. The revolution is a green one, an eco-friendly one if you will. Businesses—large and small, national and worldwide—are starting a revolution of sustainability. We’re not talking a few feel-good green initiatives, but green company initiatives, that will ultimately better the earth as we know it. The best way to create educated consumers is to lead by example, and that is exactly what a number of corporations are doing. PepsiCo recently donated $8 million to Water.org to provide 800,000 families in India safe water by 2016. AT&T recently offered $20k for its “Power Your Future” contest to create an eco-minded mobile app that delivers an environmental or energy efficient benefit. We’re seeing an ongoing trend of companies bettering the world, not just their country or even company, and helping to build sustainable societies. Welcome to the evolution of “Green” into the foundation of corporations.
What Others Are Saying
• US Airlines Getting Greener as Biofuels Rule the Air
• Why Standardized Rules About Sustainability Don’t Make Sense
• The 7-Stage Evolution of a Socially Responsible Brand

9. Seeing is Believing
“…The resume infographic is a trend that foreshadows the future because one thing is certain: the way we consume data is changing, fast.”
—Jen Jenkins, founder of the Punctuation and Language Appreciation Society & Social Media Manager for LIME Marketing

We live in a skeptic nation. Nowadays, distrust towards news organizations, the government and big business are at all time highs. With shorter attention spans and a need for instant gratification, an infographic movement has transformed the way we take in data. Today, a picture is truly worth a thousand words—as the public generally trusts photos and visual representations more than the written word. We are also in an age of engagement. Words on a page do little to engage a reader. A visual graphic, however, does. Retail giant Saks has taken this train of thought into their holiday displays by creating the world’s longest outdoor video mapping experience with “The Saks Fifth Avenue Snowflake & the Bubble” projected onto their New York store. Even resumes have taken to the infographic trend. Images engage and captivate an audience. But it doesn’t stop there; the future of infographics is boundless. Many believe HTML5 will create interactive-rich creative, others reason real-time data visualization will come into play; and there are also those who presume user-interface design will once again transform the infographic trend.
What Others Are Saying
• 3 Trends that Will Define Infographic Future
• Saks 3D Holiday Display
• Content Marketing to the Next Level

Check back for the rest of the 12 Trends of 2012 next week…

3. Interactivity is Key
“This ad unit takes advantage of how users interact and explore with the iPad as opposed to other digital and mobile devices.”
—Dionne Colvin, national manager of media for Toyota on its new Yahoo Living Ad

Gone are days of passive consumers, who were content with being spoon-fed brands. Today, it is consumers who tell companies what brands stand for. They are now key players in the branding process. Consumers want to be engaged, and companies acknowledge this trend by making interactivity paramount in new initiatives. This key engagement creates brand loyalists. Domino’s Pizza Tracker allows pizza lovers to follow their pizza from order placed, to baking, to delivery. Taking interactivity to the next level, Domino’s also developed the Pizza Hero mobile game for iPads. Even print ads are now upping the game on interactivity. Murat Paris’ interactive jewelry ad allows a smartphone to be placed over the hand in the ad and try on different bracelets and rings. Television is also changing with this trend. CBS Sweep Week is a chance for fans to interact with their favorite CBS stars as they take over the network’s social media. Yahoo’s new Living Ad for the iPad grabs users with photos and videos—creating an entirely new digital experience.
What Others Are Saying
• Yahoo debuts “Living Ad”
• Interactive Jewelry Print Ads
• CBS Stars Take Over Social Media Accounts

4. The Connected World
“Humans crave other humans inside of search.”
—Bing chief Stefan Weitz on Facebook in search

It’s accomplished a lot more than simply the ability to “poke” someone. Facebook—while revolutionizing social connectedness—has shifted the renowned 1967 study that hypothesized everyone in world was separated by 6 degrees. Today, that number is 4.7 based on a new study of over 720 million active Facebook users. This isn’t hard to believe, since if Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s third largest after China and India. Taking social connectedness to the next level, Facebook is now partnered with Bing to allow search results based on the “likes” of your friends. Search-engine optimization will now be returning results customized to the individual user. “We are, first of all, not solitary creatures and second of all, we are deeply embedded in the lives of others,” states physician and social scientist Nicholas Christakis. Today, connectedness is a way of life, and influence is more important than ever before. In order to adapt with this trend, companies must realize who influencers are and how they carry their message.
What Others Are Saying
• How Facebook’s Partnership with Bing will Change SEO
• Q&A w/ Nicholas Christakis, Our Modern, Connected Lives
• Infographic: Mobile Statistics, Stats & Facts 2011

5. Scaling the Great Wall of China
“I would anticipate that China would become our third market quite quickly and within a few years will be our second-largest market.”
—WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell told AFP. At the moment, China is WPP’s fourth-largest market in terms of revenue, behind the U.S., Britain, and Germany. The company’s annual revenue in greater China—including Hong Kong and Taiwan—is around $1.1 billion.

Our western eyes are set on the east. Visions of new profit markets are encouraging many companies to turn to China, while American consumers continue to recover from the economic downfall. Just last year, Levi Strauss was the first Western clothing company to launch a new line in China—called dENiZEN—before launching in the US. Gap has stores in both China and Vietnam, with plans to have 15 more open by year’s end. Abercrombie & Fitch opened its first store in Japan last December with two more stores in the works. Arguably, companies are beginning to see the buying power and potential of the east, which is embracing many “American” ideals, including social media. Mark Zuckerberg has been in talks with China’s search engine giant Baidu to bring Facebook to China. Rovio Entertainment, the creator of “Angry Birds” is opening its first retail store in China, which happens to be its fastest-growing market. Starbucks recently partnered with the Foursquare of China—Jiepang—for its holiday promotion, rewarding customers for check-ins. China’s growing fast, and for many companies, scaling its Great Wall is an idea that’s growing even faster.
What Others Are Saying
• Starbucks Taps China’s Foursquare for Holiday Check-in Push
• China Must Innovate to Keep Up
• Infographic: Asia-Pacific Social Media Stats

Check back for more of the 2012 Market Trends next week.

Indeed, the web 3.0 drumbeat is getting louder as the social web matures. Will Facebook reach 1 billion users in 2012? With nearly 1,000 apps submitted per day just for IOS, mobile has arrived and is ready to take center stage. We note Facebook’s recent acquisition of Foursquare competitor Gowalla.

Companies must evolve to stand out in this increasingly digital world. From engaging ad campaigns to exclusive access such as Gilt sales on Facebook, companies are becoming clever to stand out from the crowd. In the spirit of standing out, our Seeing is Believing Trend is based on the increasing importance of photos and video in communications. Don’t just rely on the written word!

Onto macro trends, we are all aware of the obesity issue in the US. With one out of three adults being obese, the rising trend of the Super Healthy gives hope that consumers will proactively manage their health. Finally, we cover macro trends that continue to stay in the forefront, including the Great Wall of China and the Green Revolution. If your company is lean & mean, put innovation at the top of your agenda and grow with the trend in 2012 and beyond.

1. Web 3.0
“If Web 1.0 was all about companies selling stuff to you, and Web 2.0 is about information sharing and user-participation, then what’s Web 3.0 going to be? It might be a whole new angle on browsing, for one: In three dimensions.”
—Kit Eaton, writer, Fast Company

They say the first phase was all about information. They called that Web 1.0. Next came the era of socialization powered by networks, what we now call Web 2.0. After these periods we were left with an onslaught of byproduct clutter. Welcome to the next phase. Welcome to Web 3.0. In a world literally laden with data, Web 3.0 is a shift in the “live” Web experience, aimed at filtering this info. There are various speculations as to what exactly Web 3.0 will evolve into. Here are some of our best bets. Mobile will undoubtedly be a large part of Web 3.0; as the way we have come to consume information has changed. Stagnant web pages have been replaced with “live feeds” and media streams. Technological changes will also be much of the driving force behind Web 3.0—aka the semantic web. Databases are a main pillar of Web 3.0’s expectations, intended at deciphering much of the information overload. Linking data—to be exact—will power Web 3.0.
What Others Are Saying
• LinkedIn Founder, Web 3.0 Will Be About Data
• Web 2.0 is Dead, Eclipsed by Data-Driven Content & Live Feeds
• Web 3.0 Explained with a Stamp

2. Digital Commerce
“If I had to guess, social commerce is next to blow up.”
—Mark Zuckerberg

According to Wired Magazine (UK), 90% of all purchases are subject to social influence. BazaarVoice.com states 67% of consumers spend more money online after such socially influenced recommendations. Suddenly, we’re in the realm of a real game-changer—social commerce. As more traditional and retail stores are moving into the ecommerce field, we see all digital players suddenly vying for headway. When we say “digital commerce,” we don’t simply mean online sales, even though those are at an all time high. As proof to this, consumer spending was 31.3% higher on Cyber Monday compared to Black Friday this year. There have also been some real wins for F-commerce (Facebook shopping) lately as well—Pampers sold 1,000 diapers in 1 hour on its Facebook Store. In 2015, social commerce is predicted to reach $30 billion in revenues. Starbucks recently announced that one in four transactions are now done via mobile. Like all things digital, commerce is experiencing an ongoing transformation. This trend is predicted to change the way consumers spend, including on their mobile devices.
What Others Are Saying
• Can Social Shopping Finally Take Off
• The Value of Social Commerce
• Infographic: The History of F-commerce

Check back next week for more 2012 Market Trends…