5th January 2012, by Barbara Ott
The Syncapse Social: Social Media Priorities for 2012
Welcome to the first edition of the Syncapse Social – Syncapse’s monthly newsletter. To start receiving the Syncapse Social in your inbox each month please send us an email at press@syncapse.com. Happy reading!
Happy New Year!
As we all make our way back into the office and engage in the friendly “who had the most impressive holiday” banter – perfect weather at the beach, a foot of fresh powder on the slopes, or the more honest “I love my kids, but I’m glad they’re back at school” – it won’t take long for the reality of a new year, and for many, the new fiscal, to feel heavy on our shoulders.
It’s now 2012, Mark Zuckerberg will turn 28 this year, it’s almost 8 years since he launched Facebook – his little brainchild has taken as many years off the rest of our lives. Ah, social media…you make TV seem easy.
Though the world does not need more social media pundits (nor political for that matter), we thought we’d have a go at what we are seeing as the four topics that will remain top of mind throughout 2012.
Measuring Social Media ROI
If you thought “MEASURING SOCIAL ROI” came up in 2011, you should think Rod Tidwell in 2012. CEOs, CMOs, CFOs – they’re all asking it, and truly “owning social media” requires an answer. It’s nearly impossible to obtain a global or regional cross-channel view of activity from the platforms themselves, especially when large corporations are
now managing an average of 178 accounts across social media networks.
What is possible?
Customized measurement dashboards and data visualization can surface valuable information and insights, and allow marketers to integrate all channels on which they are active (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, etc.) into a single view. Aligning KPIs and setting them up now is critical.
The new “normal”
Complete understanding of “owned” properties
:
- Earned media value
- Consumer engagement
- Brand sentiment
- Campaign effectiveness
- 3rd party data integration to get “owned, earned, and paid”
- Listening platforms
- Paid media
- Scan and survey data
Social CRM
Social CRM (sCRM) the infamous buzzword of 2011, will become a real business driver this year.
According to Gartner, Inc, the sCRM market is forecasted to reach over $1 billion in revenue by the end of 2012.
What is it?
It’s what it sounds like – CRM as we’ve always known it, but now including social consumers and their data. The issue is, brands can’t control CRM the way they did traditionally. But that’s the reality of social media – get used to it. The nature of the open dialogue means a clear value exchange between the consumer and the brand is required.
How it works:
- Facebook and Twitter know a significant amount about your “Fans” and “Followers”, but you can’t access it without permission.
- Fans and Followers “opt-in” to brand apps, granting brands permission to access their information. On Facebook alone, this happens more than 20 million times every day.
- By responsibly collecting and processing user data, brands can understand key activities, which contribute to a consumer’s overall social value to the organization.
- Understanding the social activity within a brand’s fan base allows organizations to create a strategic platform for engaging consumers, mapping it to your business value and driving clear action on your lifecycle management.
The result?
A more robust view of the consumer and a greater opportunity for personalization in your brand’s overall marketing strategy.
The Marriage of Marketing and IT
Social media is not just transforming the way brands communicate, but the way companies strategically organize and manage their businesses. #Winning in the new year will mean recognizing that social media can no longer be considered a separate Marketing or PR function, but rather a collaborative effort applied to all areas of business—increasingly IT.
According to Forrester Research,
of the top social media pain points as reported by 99 US companies, three of them were directly related to IT:
- 10% reported concerns around technology and infrastructure development
- 8% revealed they were worried about data and security risks
- 4% indicated they were apprehensive about IT liability.
With the growth in popularity of social applications, consumer data continues to proliferate while managing scale, cost, consumer data, and privacy become ever more important to Marketers.
2012 will see a new set of services and offerings emerge to meet the social media needs of large enterprises.
The Social Media Platforms That Matter
Decisions, decisions… we understand, there are numerous social media platforms, and everyone wants to be ahead of the proverbial curve, but don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees – it’s not that complicated. Do major brands buy TV media on the Hallmark Channel?
Must haves:
On your radar to crack:
Observing:
There will always be internal pressure to be where the competition is or be on the cutting edge of new platforms – but budgets are not always increasing and often times it is more effective to apply resources to fewer channels that are proven to achieve your brand’s goals. For now, we recommend fishing where the fish are.
Happy New Year from the team at Syncapse!
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