Five Social Media Projections for 2011

According to projections done by Forrester Research reported by MarketingProfs, as social media marketing matures in 2011, a host of new challenges will likely confront marketers, including increasingly cluttered social platforms and growing privacy concerns. Thus, even more than content, personality, or responsiveness, social media's new currency in 2011 is likely to be trust.

Consumers' privacy fears are increasing: 36% of surveyed adults—and 50% of Older Boomers age 54-65—say they are very concerned about their privacy on social networks, up from roughly 30% a year earlier. Such growing mistrust will make it harder for marketers to gather friends and followers, or to engage users in social programs in the coming year, according to Forrester:

1. Marketers will therefore have to work harder to earn confidence and involvement from consumers in 2011.
2. More social media clutter will make it harder for marketers to connect with their target audiences. Clutter is even a greater challenge among younger audiences: 80% of Gen-Y adults are Joiners and have an average of 220 Facebook friends. Activities on social channels will continue to grow, not just with messages from friends but via a growing stream of check-ins, deals, sweepstakes, and loyalty program updates from marketers.
   
3. More marketers will jostle for attention. Nearly 60% of marketers are already using paid or created social media, and another 25% plan to do so within the next 12 months, leaving just one in six companies absent from social channels one year from now.
   
   More than two in five (43%) marketers surveyed say their interactive budgets will increase in 2011. Mobile and social budgets will increase the most: 48% will increase social budgets and 53% will increase mobile budgets.
   
4. Facebook won't own social media. Facebook is just one piece of the social pie. Although 59% of US adults are Joiners, only 45% of men age 45-54 have Joiner behaviors. So the most successful marketing programs won't simply be contained within Facebook; successful marketers instead will "think outside the Facebox." Marketers will continue to use traditional forms of communication and promotion with more and more creative products generated by companies like Sharper. Also, marketers will keep exploring the hottest strategies now in mobile marketing.
   
5. Paid social media may become an important tool for marketers. With 16% of marketers surveyed saying they have no plans to use either paid or created social media in the next year, will paid social media become a legitimate tool for marketers to overcome social media clutter or will there be an even more emcompassing media that reaches audiences more directly and readily? The answer could be in mobile. Mobile marketing is slated to be marketers' next best friend in years to come and marketers are now already combining the technology with traditional and social medias to create winning campaigns, measure ROI and reach audiences in new and exciting ways.

About the study: Combine mobile with your social media presence or other traditional strategies, contact us today for more information.

Source: MarketersProf