As we gear up for the New Year, marketing, advertising and public relations professionals alike are beginning to explore trends that will help them navigate their designated industry and will ultimately translate into happier clients and consumers. Thanks to social media and 24 hour cable television, news travels at the speed of light. It is challenging to keep up with new innovations and tools to send your business into the future, but with the help of professionals in the field we get a look at some of the top trends shifting our business in 2013.
In this week’s PRSA “Friday Five” post — an analysis of the week’s biggest public relations and business news and commentary — we look at a diverse mix of shifts and trends affecting various professionals in the communications industry. Get a handle on the various applications that will impact multi-channel communications today and insure that you are not left behind in the New Year.
Get Ready for Five Big Sentiment Shifts in 2013 (Ad Age)
Ad Age’s Judy Shapiro talks directly to marketing professionals. Want to know what to expect for 2013? Take a look at current sentiment shifts that will set the stage for marketing in the New Year. Here are just a few to get you started:
- From privacy to control. Privacy regulation is an ongoing issue in the digital world. In order to navigate these rocky waters better, marketing professionals should focus on offering more customer control of any messaging being delivered online. Make it about the customer and soon you will garner more trust from your targeted publics.
- From reach to relevancy. Keep your content relevant instead of exhausting your resources to reach a wider audience. Consistent messaging over a longer period of time is likely to grow your audience, as opposed to ad hoc messages that confuse your audience ultimately losing their attention and buy-in to your cause.
- From big data to GOOD data. Try to figure out the difference between casual online behavior and the consumer’s true intent. While algorithmic data can offer you diverse information about your audience and their online behavior, it doesn’t provide any qualitative research that helps the marketing professional better understand what makes their audience tick. The marketing professional of 2013 will learn to extract value from both sides.
Digital and Social Marketing Trends for 2013 (iMedia Connection)
iMedia Connection’s Mike Gingerich continues the marketing trends conversation by delving into the digital and social aspects of the profession. Gingerich looks at four areas that jump out as having a major impact on marketing in the coming year: social media, mobile technology, location-based marketing, and gamification. Here are a few trends that he thinks will impact those four areas in 2013:
- Social Media Marketing. Gingerich argues that this will become a top priority for marketing at all levels, international to small business.
- Gamification. This is an area that is growing in popularity as more companies learn the benefits of online contests and promotions that reward consumers for their participation.
The Can’t-Miss Social Media Trends For 2013 (Fast Company)
Looking to grow your social media skills to a more strategic level? Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes prepares you for what’s to come for corporations engaging in the social media realm. Get the insider’s scoop on social media trends set to transform business in the New Year.
- Mobile social media usage continues to soar. In September Facebook noted in their quarterly SEC filing that the number of mobile Internet users is set to pass the number of wired Internet users by 2015 in the U.S. This means that social networks will have to put more effort into differentiating their online vs. mobile platforms.
- Social advertising grows and evolved. Traditional banner and interruption ads will be on the decline next year as more and more companies are seeing the benefit in developing more mobile advertisements. Options like Promoted Tweets and Sponsored Stories offered by social media platforms are gaining are popularity and advertising professionals will soon see a major innovative shift.
- International and niche social networks experience dramatic growth. International social media users continue to increase at rates faster than that of North America. The prepared professional will be ready to keep up with social platforms across the multitude of platforms developing all over the world.
4 Trends Affecting PR Departments (Ragan’s PR Daily)
The public relations industry has evolved throughout the years; however, over the past few months several trends have led to major shifts in the profession.
Cassie Boom of Ragan’s PR Daily outlines the recent trends:
- The internet is killing the “expert.” Anyone with an internet connection can declare themselves an expert.
- Freelancers are taking over traditional media. More than 70 percent of magazine content is produced by freelancers, who may be harder to connect with than traditional staffers.
- Consumers are growing skeptical of statistics. With the popularity of visuals, there has been a plethora of branded statistics.
Technologies of The Future: 5 Trends To Watch For 2013 (Forbes)
Forbes contributor and president-elect for the IEEE Computer Society, David Alan Grier, shares how the Society sees the computing world unfolding in 2013:
- New companies and applications will bring the long-held vision of the Internet of Things closer to reality.
- Visualization and analytics will help solve the challenges of big data.
- The battle over Internet censorship and control will reach new heights.
Nicole Castro is the public relations associate at the Public Relations Society of America.
