By The Editor
During her recent presentation to the Australian Chambers Business Congress, Facebook’s former head of marketing Randi Zuckerberg outlined her top 10 social media trends for 2012. What should businesses watch out for this year and in years to come?
Here is part two of Zuckerberg’s top 10 trends, featuring trends six to 10.
Be humorous
Embrace the fun side of social media and let your personality shine, Zuckerberg suggests. Your social media profiles can add a human element to your brand, although it’s important to remember that humour at inappropriate times can backfire. See these tips for further advice.
‘Crowdsourcing’
Similar to the ‘people as curators’ trend, brands are harnessing the passion and knowledge of their followers. Ice cream producer Ben and Jerry’s allowed fans to choose their newest flavour of ice cream, and at the same time highlighted their commitment to using fair trade products. Also, social media is being used to raise funds to launch innovative new ideas and creations – Zuckerberg says the majority of movie festival films are now funded through Kickstarter, and not film studios.
People as brands
Social media has allowed people to establish their own brands, respected for their opinions and influential in the public reactions to new products and services (one person’s reaction can influence the decision of thousands of others to buy or not to buy), as well as being able to produce and promote their own content. This trend presents opportunities for people to establish a brand on social media as much as businesses can.
Video streaming
Businesses (and individuals) can become broadcasters and can easily stream or record video that is sent straight to social media fans and followers. Recently the Prime Minister participated in a Google hangout, answering questions directly from the people rather than journalists, and we can expect to see much more of this not just in politics but across other areas of business – Deloitte has a section on its Facebook page where prospective graduates can ask career-related questions via video.
Gamification
Younger people have been brought up with video games and now those games can have practical application to your career or everyday life. Zuckerberg highlighted the neat example of the charity alarm clock phone app, which donates on your behalf every time you hit the snooze button! There’s also the Nike+ running app which tracks your progress and can spur you on if you start to flag, and even the performance review is now adopting gamification elements to increase employee engagement.
Part One of Randi Zuckerberg’s top 10 social media trends to watch
