2015 Tech & Digital Marketing Predictions

The digital marketing field is a great place to be these past few years (if you like change & innovation!). It seems every few months, there's a new gamechanger, or new consumer behavior that's changing the way things work, and it's almost always for the better.

My top five predictions for 2015 include the following:

1. Personalization in marketing content  
1. Consumers have spoken and it has become imperative for businesses to stop shouting at customers via social media or advertising or print and start working on personalization. They're willing to pay attention to your ads if and when you've learned their likes & dislikes, and cater to them. Remarketing ads have begun popping up like wildfire left and right from many big businesses, and while they're starting to get the right idea (Yes, I was staring at this pair of shoes while on your site, but no I don't actually want them unless you sweeten the deal) the amount of information collected can be put to much better use.
2. Rise in wearables
1. The rise in all the fitness-oriented smart watches has really taken off in the past few months. The reason? The approachable price of many. Before, only serious fanatics had some options, and they were mighty pricy. For those who don't want to commit to an expensive fitness tracker, newer devices have come on the scene that fit any type of lifestyle and provide a more approachable device than the expensive brands that previously catered to serious athletes. 
3. Rise in virtual homes
1. Devices like nest & kevo have really stepped onto the scene & picked up their advertising and word of mouth. With the announcements and success of Apple Pay in 2014, it seems people are more interested in being 100% connected all the time, and in the dream of owning a "smart home". The ease and ability to check on your home via smartphone may change the game for other industries such as travel (iPhones opening doors becomes standard, anyone?). 
4. Pay-to-play from social media channels
1.  Gone are the days of reaching 100% of your audience on Facebook organically. It's probably for the best, because for every 1 person out there effectively marketing their business to consumers, there's probably 3 people out there about to be unliked for their terrible usage of social. For those who've jumped on the social media bandwagon, it's not time to start diverting a small portion of your online advertising budget to continuing to grow and nurture your social channels. It's not just free anymore, and if you want to be effective, you're going to have to look into social media advertising options.
5. Mobile is a must
1. I've said it before but this year I really mean it. If you aren't looking into mobile advertising or optimizing your site for mobile & tablets, you are missing out on A TON! 

What do you think will be the biggest shift in digital & social this year? 

2012 Tech Predictions.

With the start of the new year, everyone's been coming out with lists, resolutions, "Best ofs", and 2012 predictions... so why not jump on that band wagon! I think 2012 is going to be another great year for social media, e-commerce, tablets, smart devices and... hopefully... mobile! Technology keeps evolving and it's only helping consumers experiences become better and better all the time. I honestly cannot wait for the day that I ENJOY watching commercials, reading e-mails from businesses and clicking ads on various websites I visit because they all take into account things I am genuinely interested in.


Obviously, popular social media channels will continue to stay on the rise, and any companies who have yet to jump on this band wagon will probably realize it's all here to stay. Something that I think people need to begin sorting out are the rules and laws that individuals, clients and companies need to follow and are supposed to be aware of. It seems like many people are running into issues with who owns which fans and things of that nature, and it doesn't seem like it's going to be easy to sort that out.

I am also one of the biggest fans of mobile advertising because it just makes sense to me. People are always ON their phone or NEAR their phone, you can't tell me that's not the perfect place to try and advertise to your customers.  Many people also use them for multitude of things, and use them while watching TV, while driving, while walking, etc. so why not try and reach them there as well? 


I know that tablet advertising is also something that's relatively new, especially because the percentage of tablet owners is very small... but still. The demographic is perfect for many large companies, and not too many are fully embracing it so why not jump on it when it's cheap and you can? I'd be willing to bet the click through ratios are higher on ads here than many other venues.


The last techy trend I'm hoping for this year is personalization... Companies seem to be obtaining various types of information about consumers, especially somebody such as Facebook and Google so please, if you're going to take and sell my information I've given you anyways, let's make it enjoyable for me and others. Personalize my ads and I will be more willing to watch and even click on something. 


Hopefully next year I will remember to look back on my yearly rantings and see what, if anything, came true in any sort of way. Happy New Year! 

2011 Tech Predictions and Trends...

It’s the start of a new year and the start of plenty of new, competing ideas and speculation about which social media sites will prevail and how customers and businesses will continue to embrace them.

There’ve already been plenty of predictions about which social media sites will prevail this year, what Facebook is going to be pressured to do, and how businesses are busy working on ways to include social feedback.

In my opinion, one of the industries that need to reevaluate the way they do business online is the travel industry. Some leaders have begun to realize that they need to listen to customers, engage with them, offer exotic deals that no one else can and give customers a unique experience as well as find a way to create loyalty and relationships. All travel agents and travel groups should be embracing all social media channels and updating the way they do business, because people aren’t interested in paying someone to just plan their trip. They want more, and know they can find it if they really want to. They want personalized and interactive trips, and the best way to show them is through youtube channels, Facebook pages for the hotels they’re interested in and Twittering with the hotels they’re interested. Travel agencies need to change the way they’re doing business, before they become obsolete.

The next big prediction/game-changer has to do with Facebook. Since Facebook introduced their Location Based Services- do you think it’s going to be a Foursquare killer, or work in parallel with it? It’s hard to tell which will prevail, or if either would find a way to integrate further with companies such as Groupon and LivingSocial.

I think either Facebook or brands with Facebook designers that decide to take it upon themselves need to find a way to exchange more information and recommendations on Facebook. Obviously, there are plenty of successful brands on Facebook who allow fans to comment and like various posts, as well as post their own opinion. But this can be cluttered and doesn’t always allow other customers to gather an opinion about a product… There needs to be a better way to do this.

What are your thoughts on social media in 2011? What is going to be the game-changers or next big thing?