2012 Social Media – The Ultimate Year of Share

If we learned anything about social media in 2011, it’s that it is almost impossible to predict, but we figured we would try to anyway, just for fun. Check out what we think will happen with social media marketing in 2012:

Your friends will have more influence than ever
(Yes, we started off with an easy one.) We’ve already seen Facebook place a large amount of weight on the “share” button as it now appears on every wall post, and new analytics keep track of how many people share your brand with their friends.

In addition to that, the recent introduction of Google’s social search shows your friends’ likes, dislikes and overall commentary on almost anything you search. We saw this rise toward the end of last year and then receive a power boost at the start of 2012. This will only continue as marketers have determined that you are more likely to make a purchase based on a friend’s recommendation.

Social customer service will improve
This has been a tricky area for a lot of brands. One of the most astonishing stats we saw in 2011 is that 90 percent of brands don’t respond to users on Facebook. We hope companies will see the light this year and realize social media is an extremely valuable tool for customer service. There will come a point when brands can’t ignore their fans’ demands and questions in the social world. They’ll have to learn how to respond quicker, too.

Not only that, listening to users talk about competitors or comment about your product can give you an advantage. Real-time feedback also means companies will need to be more flexible and understand a business plan may need to be reworked many, many times.

Converting “like” to “buy”
Oh, the ever-elusive social media ROI conversation. Can you measure it or not? That answer will become clearer in 2012. As analytics tools evolve, we’ll gain a better understanding of our customers and their purchasing habits.

The problem is, we’re trying to understand and scale human behavior and not just measure how many times something gets clicked on or viewed. Once businesses invest in their customers, brands will begin to see the return. We just need to look at it from a different viewpoint than what we’re used to.

Social TV just keeps getting bigger
Have you noticed all the hashtags and Twitter handles popping up all over TV lately? Not only that, social tools such as GetGlue are growing in popularity as people flock to their mobile devices to dish about the latest movie or what that actress was wearing on the red carpet.

Even brands such as Nike are starting to integrate hashtags and Twitter accounts into their commercials with campaigns like #KobeSystem. The integration will only continue to get more noticeable and become common practice.


EVERYTHING becomes more social
Facebook introduced the new Open Graph Applications to developers last September. You may have already seen an example of this with the Spotify app that keeps you updated on the music your friends are currently listening to. The Open Graph offers a whole new way for users to experience a brand and share that experience with friends, which, as we mentioned above, is going to be an important aspect as friends continue to influence purchasing habits. The Open Graph allows users to tell their friends what they are doing with your product in real time. Also, this handy new tool allows brands to target ads to people who like your content (for a fee, of course).

Likes and followers aren’t the best gauge of success
When companies first started jumping on the social media bandwagon, watching likes and followers increase was viewed as a factor in determining success on the platform. At one time, more Facebook likes were valuable because each company update would show up in each users’ feed.

Facebook threw us all for a loop last year by changing the way status updates are viewed and now the emphasis, again, is on sharing. The focus has shifted to how can you gather valuable information from users (whether they click the like button or not) and what you do with it. Keep in mind users can share or retweet your information to 100 users instead of merely clicking like, so who that person is sharing your content with also matters.

Understanding online influence
Klout is considered the leading free tool when measuring a users’ influence right now. There are extremely differing opinions on its effectiveness. We have a pretty strong opinion that this tool is pretty much hogwash, BUT this premise is genius. We do need to find a better way to understand influence, but again, we’re trying to measure human behavior and it’s hard to tell someone who influences you about something and why. Only you know that. In the “Ultimate Year of Share,” we’ll be forced to figure this out.

Demonstrate your value
Sure Facebook and Twitter contests are fun and attract people to your page, but does it really translate into anything more than a page like or follow? First of all, done the right way, contests, discounts and giveaways can provide valuable customer insight, but to keep them coming back, you need to demonstrate your value to them. I’m rarely blown away by an email I receive from a company, but Ann Taylor Loft really hit the mark when they sent an email to all cardholders to introduce their new Facebook tab designed specifically for me (see below image.)

Notice how they point out exactly why I’ll want to keep coming back, and I can even share this awesome news with all my Facebook friends directly from the email. There are many things they are doing well here and is a great example of what companies need to consider in their social media marketing strategy for 2012.



That’s all folks
So there you have it, some of our top predictions for social media in 2012. It will be fun to look back on these come December, because the fact is, we really can’t predict social behavior, much less social media. Basically, just be prepared for the unexpected.

Did we miss anything important (or just think we’re crazy?). Tell us in the comments section below.

About the author::
Melanie Eyerman is part of thunder::tech’s Public Relations team where she concentrates her efforts on this crazy thing we call social media. When not obsessively checking mentions, posting comments or analyzing stats, our Georgia Bulldog loves playing rec. sports, cheering on her favorite football teams and enjoying a good bottle of wine with close friends.

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