Citizen Marketer 2.1

Aaron Strout

  • Home
  • About Aaron
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

2013 Predictions from a Bunch of “Dummies”

January 2, 2013 By Aaron Strout 3 Comments

As we roll into the new year, it’s always a great time for us marketers to look ahead to what is in store for us. This year, I wanted to take a unique approach to my predictions of 2013 by asking some of my fellow Dummies book authors to provide their perspective within their specific areas of expertise. In most of the cases below, these predictions fall into the realm of social media/social media marketing (Marsha Collier is unique in the fact that she’s written several books including one on eBay for Dummies).

I do plan to do a predictions post on mobile/location-based marketing which will appear in my monthly MarketingLand column. You can also find thoughts by several industry experts on the state of the state in location-based marketing in this post I put together for my friend, Jason Keath, of Social Fresh here.

Without further adieu, here are the predictions by several very smart “Dummy” authors:

Marsha Collier (too many Dummies titles to list)

I think this is a great idea for a post – especially because “For Dummies” authors examine their topics so deeply. Seeing as I cover three areas in Dummies books…. you can find a fairly complete list of current books here:

eBay:
eBay will further to shed it’s “garage sale” persona (yes, there are still plenty of people who do not shop the site on a regular basis). Major brands will finally see eBay as a profitable and legitimate venue for end of season and liquidation selling. Buyers will realize that much of the merchandise bought on the site is covered under the same warranties as alsewhere – and are covered by eBay’s customer buyer protection policy.

Seniors and social media:
By exposing themselves more and more to social media, seniors will see through the myths that fostered fears of social media. It will become an accepted communication venue across the generations.

Social media commerce:
I first predicted this in 2009, but it is finally coming to reality. Consumer brands will realize that online/social powered customer service is far more expedient than phone for first contact. Brands that adapt in 2013 have the opportunity of learning from very public mistakes and create their own voice to their customers – without broadcasting. New relationships with the customer have proven to build sales.

Paul Dunay | Facebook Marketing for Dummies

Retailers Get Smart using Facebook Data
Major Retail Companies have failed at creating commerce on Facebook because they approached the channel as another outlet for their wares when in actual fact they need to be leveraging the data within the Facebook channel to provide the ideal customer experience on their site. Next year we will see this shift begin.

 

Laura Fitton | Twitter for Dummies

I see 2013 could be a really interesting turning point for Twitter, especially as IPO speculation heats up and business model clarity is needed. You have some of your most intense early adopters already trying to pronounce it dead or dying just because they’ve moved their more intense sharing onto other platforms like Path and Facebook. While that’s true there’s just no way to discount the upside potential of a truly mainstream Twitter. With 200 million monthly active users and nearly constant mainstream media exposure on television, print and radio, continued growth is almost guaranteed. On the other hand, the DM spam problems are getting terrible and I seriously wonder what the future of that feature will be, given how poorly they support it. Mainstream small businesses are really just getting exposed now to how they could use Twitter to better connect to their existing customers, let alone to grow their base of new ones.

The platform continues to suffer from terrible DM spam, and a lot of the early adopters are shifting their more personal interactions to other platforms

Kyle Lacy | Twitter Marketing for Dummies

The year will be forever remembered as the year of consolidation and leadership in the world of interactive marketing. Organizations will start to deconstruct marketing departments to cater to the need of cross-channel communication with consumers. Leadership will be defined as the organizations who listen to the customer and deliver personal messages via all channels – email, mobile, and social.

Deb Ng | Online Community Management for Dummies

Community management is going to be a more strategic role moving forward. While less brands will see community managers as glorified tweeters, I think the role will evolve into more a social media strategist role than specifically a community building role. It will be less about growing a community and giving a warm, fuzzy vibe, than it is about getting the right messaging out. Because of this, I also see community managers handling content distribution.

Note: Deb is also the co-author of Social Media Marketing for Dummies. 

Michael Schneider | Location-Based Marketing for Dummies (Mike and I are co-authors of this book)

I don’t see the “stitching data together” problem getting any easier in 2013 as more niche apps and new graphs emerge. The hot thing will be mood / wellbeing. Apps that use relationships and data to make us healthier and happier will be huge. We saw a lot on the fitness front in 2012 with Nike Fuel Band, the Nike+ suite, Larklife and the incumbent Fitbit. Garmin integrated with Strava for serious cyclists to build community, competition and virality. I see apps like InFlow, Happier, Superbetter, Happify and Hmmm that try to combine semantics, science, location and social to make us feel better being big.

Lori Randall Stradtman | Online Reputation Management For Dummies

When I think about which social media tools, trends or ideas I am most excited about as we head into 2013, I’m thinking big data tools. I absolutely can’t wait to get my hands on a social media monitoring tool that can dive deeper than we’ve ever seen before into the dark waters of Big Data and surface with real-time treasures that show segmented information so that brands can find “their people” and create approaches that appeal to them specifically. This will also be huge for crisis management. The best way to deal with a social media meltdown is to nip it in the bud by paying attention to what’s happening around your brand.

 

I may have another 1-2 predictions coming from some other Dummies authors who are in the process of polishing their crystal balls. But in the meantime, if you have a prediction of your own (or one that you’d like to see, please include it below in the comments).

“It’s Social Marketing B#tch”

November 26, 2008 By Aaron Strout 10 Comments

http://www.utterli.com/fp/slimline.swf?1222724994
For those that choose not to listen to the uttercast, I’d like to provide a little more color commentary around the title of this post. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to do a podcast with Dennis and Aronado of Lucky Startups. During the show, Dennis and Aronado were looking at the Powered.com site (the company I work for) and saw that the messaging on our site talked about “Social Commerce.”
The short version behind the term is that as Powered was evolving from an eLearning company to a social marketing company, they were looking for a term that captured the essense of “social” but also differentiated them from being a “tools” play. “Social commerce” seemed to make sense but obviously wasn’t exactly the right term. As a result, our current site still reflects the old messaging but we are in the process of updating the site so that it reads “social marketing” vs. “social commerce.”
Following the podcast I did with the Lucky Startup boys, their mention of “social commerce,” spurred my good friend, Adam Cohen, to throw out the question, What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the term “social commerce? A few people chimed in and their answers were pretty harsh (Ed Illig and David Schuette’s in particular). At first, I was a little put off by the responses but then immediately realized, I would have had the exact same reaction if I were in their shoes. So rather than stew, I decided to take a humerous approach and record my thoughts this AM on my walk down to Starbucks.
That brings us to the title of this post which is a humerous play on comedian, Dave Chappelle’s “I’m Rick James, b#tch.” During his show, Chappelle loved to play the aging, disrespected Rick James who needed to let everyone know that he was “Rick James, b#tch” and how dare anyone disrespect him. I thought it was apropos given the fact that I didn’t want to come across as defensive as I was explaining that Powered doesn’t do “social commerce” but in fact builds successful social marketing programs for well-known companies like Sony, HP, iVillage and Motorola, to leverage that same approach.
To that end, next week there will be no more mention of “social commerce” on Powered.com – I promise! Thanks for the inspiration Mr. Cohen! 😉

Mobile post sent by astrout using Utterli. reply-count Replies.  mp3

Recent Posts

  • How We Arrived at the What 2 Know Podcast: A Brief History
  • A Walk Down Memory Lane: My Third Ever Podcast… with Michael Arrington
  • 45 Things I’ve Learned in My 45 Years on Earth
  • SXSW Best Bars, Restaurants, Panels & Pro Tips from W2O
  • Austin Breakfast Places FTW

Recent Comments

  • jmctigue on Austin Breakfast Places FTW
  • aaronstrout on My Wife the Community Manager
  • Mike Troiano on My Wife the Community Manager
  • aaronstrout on My Wife the Community Manager
  • Samiina Mirza on My Wife the Community Manager

Categories

  • Analytics
  • Blog
  • content marketing
  • facebook
  • location based services
  • mobile
  • pre-commerce
  • social media
  • social media marketing
  • twitter
  • W2O Group

Search

Copyright © 2021 ·Stroutmeister Theme