Social Media Predictions in 2012

Social Media Examiner recently polled 30 of its industry experts on their top social media predictions for 2012. Many of the experts had similar themes to their predictions, so I'm consolidating them into a few key categories that I'm particularly interested in.  Just think of this as the cliffsnotes version.  Feel free to check out the full article here.

Smarter Marketing Strategies for Social Media:

Strategy takes center stage for social media

• "We’ve had enough of the hippie, tree-hugger, Kumbaya nonsense and want to start using social media as a strategic business driver." Jason Falls

Marketers adopt smarter social media tools

• "I strongly believe that the people who commit to learning the new and most effective social intelligence tools as they are introduced will create a significant competitive advantage. These tools will make you more productive and grow your online influence while the competition is still floundering around trying to figure out how to be consistently visible and valuable to their target markets!" Stephanie Sammons

Rise of the media specialist

• "One individual must be able to blog, market, work on a multitude of platforms, work within the tech sphere and perform high-level SEO tasks. Otherwise, how will he or she be able to spot social opportunities when they arise?" Carla Dewing

Takeaways

• Social is becoming a more defined and measurable avenue for marketers.  The good news? It means more strategic insights for what works and what doesn't work for your business, which means less dart throwing and more decisive direction.
• People who are learning the new tools are going to be setup for a competitive advantage?!? Okay, not a huge shock. We should all be continually learning if we want to stay ahead, otherwise, we'll be left in the dust.
• To Carla's point, it's important that people in this space can do it all, but a team is most likely needed to get all the work done. The team to flourish is one that works closely with each other to present a consistent voice and has the ability to quickly maneuver as changes arise.  Having a flexible and highly responsive team is key.

Smarter Marketing Content within Social Media:

Businesses consolidate social media activities

• "The old mantra of “be everywhere” will quickly be replaced with “be where it matters to our business.”
• It will be essential to focus where you’ll see results. And that may not necessarily be Facebook or Twitter for your business." Michael Stelzner 

Businesses learn to choose the right channels 

• "In 2012, I think that much of the overzealousness currently in social media will be replaced by a nuts-and-bolts focus on getting the most out of the channels that fit your business. 
• Companies will focus on fewer channels, and they’ll want to dominate them instead of being diluted across all channels. The adage of “master your craft” will ring true for the companies that stay focused." Ryan Malone

Regularly creating unique content becomes essential

• "For a company or brand to be successful marketing with social media in 2012, two main things will need to happen:

1. Create unique content. So many brands and individuals are creating amazing content that you will need to do something not only amazing but unique, so that you gain the attention you’re looking for. 
2. Be consistent. You can’t just create this unique content a few times; you need to create a schedule for yourself to come out with unique content on a consistent basis." Lewis Howes

Marketers learn to craft messages to get above the noise

• "My social media prediction for 2012 is that successful marketers will take greater care to design and package their messaging for attention, usefulness and conversion.
• As the tolerance for social media noise approaches a breaking point, the quality of social media content will significantly rise to meet the higher standards of both consumers and search." Jeff Korhan

Businesses invest in quality content

• "I believe we’ll see a surge of quality over quantity in content marketing heading into 2012." Stephanie Gehman

Takeaways

• The reason the old mantra of "be everywhere" is being replaced by "be where it matters" is a result of the growth of analytics in the social media space. Sure, a company can make educated assumptions of what social tactics will be the most beneficial for their company, but now they can look at the results to see if their assumptions were correct.
• Focus on quality content in key channels, don't mass blast the generic or you'll be ignored.

Traditional and Social Play Nice:

Email and social call a truce 

• "Smart marketers understand that social and email marketing are not mutually exclusive. As email becomes more social and social becomes better at finding leads, the platforms will complement one another for smarter, more targeted messaging and list-building efforts." Jason Miller

Businesses fall in love with email marketing again

• "The quick adoption of Google+ both by users and as an infrastructure change for Google highlights a problem with social media marketing: fragmentation. It’s important to interact with customers where they are, so wisely using the increasing number of tools is good. 
• But I predict in 2012, savvy marketers will fall back in love with email. Email response rates tend to be greater than most other social media tools. And email is fairly “low-tech,” allowing business people to reach more of their customer base. So I think there’ll be a new wave of blog posts and tools helping people grow their email lists." Marc Pitman

Traditional marketing interweaves social media 

• "2012 will be the year of the boomerang. Marketers of all stripes will return to classical marketing thinking. They won’t abandon social media, mobile and the like, but they will demand that those efforts be intelligently interwoven with their existing offline/traditional marketing efforts." Tom Martin

Takeaways

• I love traditional marketing tactics. It's where my passion for analytics started. And I have a solid understanding of the value it can drive for a business. So I am beyond excited for these points. Using social as a way to build leads and email as a convenient way to reach people? Yes, please.
• Intelligently interwoven. Sounds like a balance between the shiny, hip, new social media and unglamorous traditional tactics is in order.

More Focus on Mobile:

Convergence of social and mobile (but maybe not what you’re thinking) 

• "What you will see is that a significant amount of the online activity that consumers previously conducted through a computer and traditional web browser will now be done through a smartphone or tablet.
• This means that before worrying about the new-new thing, companies need to think about how existing core marketing initiatives carry through to the mobile web. It needs to be just as easy for someone on a mobile device to not only access content but also to act on that content in a social manner—i.e., “Like” it, share it, etc. 
• In 2012, smart marketers will be thinking first about optimizing current assets for mobile and then about unique attributes of the mobile experience, such as geolocation, that they can tie into their overall marketing strategy." Ben Pickering

Marketers embrace mobile

• "Gartner predicts that by the end of 2012, the number-one way that consumers will be interacting with the Internet is via their smartphones and tablets." Jamie Turner

Takeaway

• Ben hits the nail on the head - focus on making sure the existing content can carry through a mobile device. Once this is done, then companies can start thinking about what's next.

Any other exciting social media predictions on your radar for 2012? If so, share below!