Digital trends :2014

The digital trends which I predict for 2014:

2014 is going to be interesting year.We may call it as inflection year for Indian Digital marketing. While we may see consolidation in Telecom sector, closure of few digital portals, e-commerce hit or miss year, smart TV ecosystem readiness, among many India will touch 250 Mn internet users - which is more than 25% of Indian going online.True inflection point .  Hey, marketers you do not have choice but to go online , as audience will be there .

 

-Social media will no more be just Facebook and twitter:

Watch out for whatsapp, vine, instagram , pinterest, and many more to come in 2014. Hey watchout for karp's tumblr? Afterall it is the big bet for Marissa@yahoo. The similarity - all are visual app ( not text based app like twitter). Video and image based apps / content will rule in 2014.
Research reveals the primary reasons for people to go social is to showcase their own identity; secondary is to connect. As humans, have always had an innate need to express ourselves- an Identity based Eco-System. India is a visual identity country ( if you don't believe me come to chennai during election!). With Indians welcoming 3g (though patchy at this moment) and broadband par 2Mbps speed, consumer will zoom to visual based social media. 

Indian brands will show new interest in vine , snapchat, instagram video sharing among many. These 6 sec, 15 sec video social network may be next big trend, specially among youth (50% of India). Mahindra already doing good job on Vine with Gul panag. Twitter strategy to acquire vine is in right direction. Now, we will have to see how Indian marketers can use it to its favor. 
Few interesting campaigns : https://vine.co/v/h15FI6tl0dL

- Hastag searches will be polpular and not just web searches:
 I see lot of consumers searching on social networking using hash tags on relevant topics and successfully getting gratified. Similar searches on regular searches are a challenge. Hash tag will stay. Marketers needs to think beyond SEO/SEM.

- There will be App for everything : Portals will Lose the mojo but will still be there for sometime (my guess): In a country with 50%  of active internet users (210 Mn) access internet from smartphone devices (many have used mobile as starting point of internet) there will be app for everything. But portal still will have relevance more from the CMS ecosystem readiness point of view. Though adaptive and responsive layouts are making inroads, my felling is the web portals have another 18-20 months before it becomes secondary entry points. Marketers can build brands on these portals specially vertical portals with good ROI models.The possibilities of adopting offline media  campaigns into web portals are huge , adapting to interesting online campaigns.

- Geo-targeting and location-based consumer services will see a rise . Smart apps are making inroads to help marketers target consumers more effectively. I remember at yahoo how focus was yahoo oneseach drive and our engineers were excited that we could pump in coupons with "local search". Those were great ideas but lost glitters with apps like foursquare. The click thru rates will also increase with this geo targeting and interesting concept like snapchat.

- Native apps Vs Web apps ; and the winner is! : We are yet to see if brands will show the courage to build Native apps and improve the user experience . My feeling is brand will do and there will be support ecosystem developed around this by the  app developers who need to see revenue streams from the challanging app monetisation models. Brands will be innovative in being close to consumers in both connected and non connected scenario, given Indian patchy 3G network. Though I see Android will lead the show followed by windows8. I am a big believer apple does not take India seriously with 1 Bn mango people (130 Mn using Mobile internet). India is a different country. Average user used 15 apps (mostly free);

http://marketingcacophony.blogspot.in/p/my-favorite-applications.html

 

-Content marketing . In 2014 ,I believe all marketing departments specially in B2B should have a default position in the organization- "content marketing manager" (why not Director Content marketing). It is critical. This is best way to build brands. Case studies, thought leadership, blogging, distributing the content are going to be the key. Many old edge marketers has to learn this . Email-ers with just 2% open rate is too much leaving communication to chances. Blogs are good way to build thought leadership. However social media like Linkedin , twitter , slideshare will be very effective with proper content. All product managers needs to create the brand. Marketing department will be custodian but responsibility will be with all stakeholders. (Avoid sales pitches on blogs ; be social media communicators . C-suites should be Social media literate).  

Also consider google hummingbird release !

(content marketing will include: Blog posts,Guest blog posts,E-books,Email newsletters,PowerPoint presentations,Podcasts,Standard videos,Micro-videos ( Vine, youtube ),Social media posts,Live presentations,Webinars,White papers)

 Read more : http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/10/08/the-top-7-content-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/

 

build kiskass content : http://www.audiencebloom.com/2013/04/how-to-build-a-kickass-content-strategy/

SEO to algorithm proof SEO: http://socialmediatoday.com/irfan-ahmad/2112491/sustainable-seo-methods-and-tools-work-2014#!
 

- Bigdata is here to land and rule. With deluge of data generated (few pentabytes) and with internet of things getting popular, marketers need to have data that is useful and trash which is useless. Analytics will be darling for marketers and one good profession for 2014, where pointers will shift from knowledge economy to learning economy. All marketers will go thru the transformation of learning more about their consumer and products thru big data analytics. Digital marketing will use this agile data more effectively for customized communications and better targeting. Opportunities for marketers will be more ( beyond SEM , contxtual banners).

-2014 will be election year. This election year is very special to India. With "Netas" leading the show , we can expect lot of activity in Social networking sites (Netas are recruiting digital media strategist ) . All these  will increase penetration of digital content. Lot will join and spend time online to understand who to vote for. AAP targeting to do "croudsourcing" is very interesting case study. But I see this as Urban phenomenon , rural will stay away from this and will wait for next best monsoon.
 

-"Value" will be the New Normal . Post-Recession both consumers and Marketers are coping with the new normals. ROI from marketing investment will be even more demanding . SEM or CPC or performance based campaigns are the 'only cost effective campaign' is comeing out to be a myth. Marketers will be more creative and analytical to arrive at optimal digital media plans . Increasingly engagement metrics is important consideration. Diversified referral traffic source (not just Search engine) will be important. Maturity of digital marketing will move from "lets try" to "lets excel!".