Digital Marketing Anti-Predictions: What I Hope Goes Away in 2009 - Jory DesJardins - MediaBizBlogger

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This week I decided to spare everyone a 2009 Predictions column after reading the scores that have already been written by very smart people, and when I realized that my predictions were more wishes for an improved economy than informed guesses.

As a former "traditional" media gal who discontinued most of her print subscriptions in 2005 then found herself clawing back to the Sunday Times in '08,I couldn't write my first piece of the year without acknowledging how the inexorable shift in content consumption still hasn't changed our desire for real world experiences. Why should Facebook change that? But some of us have taken this push technology to the point of, well, pushiness. It made me think that this week we might all be better served by looking at what didn't work in 2008. Trends that I'd rather not see perpetuated in 2009.

Last year we saw some reactive tactics that spread among brands like bad rumors at MacWorld that have to abate if we are to extract the full value of social media. Here is what I predict we will see less of in 2009:

1.Use of social media tools for no other reason than because they exist

We'll be more strategic with Facebook and stop inviting everybody to our various projects. We'll realize that having 500,000 weirdos, er Friends, on our product's MySpace page isn't necessarily building brand cache. We'll read many, but only know what a handful of blogs in our RSS feed actually look like. We'll reserve email outreach for people we actually know. Relevance will trump popularity.

Consider what's possible if you attracted community and kept them there because you provided them with something mission critical and you could build on this bond of value. Dell accomplished this in '08 by building a resource on Facebook that gave more than it received. Any visitor could visit Dell's page and learn how to start a blog for their business, learn to track and measure growth, even start a Twitter marketing strategy. Original content provides links to blogs and other resources not related to Dell.

With just over 1,500 fans the group is not big enough to sway an election, but Dell has captured all the right people to help spread the word, and even taught them how.

2.Product blogs

Companies will realize they do not necessarily need their own product blogs, but rather they need customer outreach strategies that increase the likelihood their product will show up in Search, social shopping sites, and bookmarks. This is not to say that blogs will be going away. They won't, despite recent hoo-hah suggesting blogs will go the way of the Betamax. There is plenty of commentary that backs my own thoughts in favor of blogging; suffice it to say the universe has managed to have both Macbeth and Cliff's Notes, and it still runs OK.

But if you do insist on creating a site, look at Wal-Mart's model of a community resource for value-seeking moms. These unpaid, yet highly motivated, women (bloggers mostly) participate for two reasons: 1) Because they get to help other moms who are trying to save money, and 2) because no one is required to shill Wal-Mart products. It's all about providing real (sometimes even competitive) solutions. And the exposure that comes with being part of one of the most trafficked sites in the U.S. doesn't hurt the bloggers.

3.Mistaking Twitter for brand Miracle-Gro

For a day or two, Twitter was the best-kept secret of the most digitally progressive marketers. How did Sandra get 150 Mombloggers to sample her product? She asked, in 140 characters. But now engagement is harder to come by, even with exponentially growing adoption of Twitter.

You may have been successful getting bloggers to mention your brand, even tout giveaways to their many followers on your behalf. But how many times can you go back to the well of willing Twitterers? Or better put, how many times will followers continue to trust the same, suspiciously willing supporters? Pay Per Post had to class it up by revising its disclosure policy and renaming itself; likewise, organizations that pay per Tweet with cash or product will have reputation issues.

Brands will use Twitter for deeper engagement in ways that are still rare but happening. Companies like Comcast are building this kind of responsiveness into its operational DNA by enabling customer service on Twitter. Before Thanksgiving, Tyson partnered with San Francisco-based food bloggers in an effort to feed the hungry. The blog and Twitter campaign resulted in 200,000 pounds of product going out to the neediest San Franciscans.

4.It's the ROI, stupid

We'll look at the marketing philosophies we've been extolling—giving up control of the conversation and embracing the long-tail are examples—and smack them upside the head with the realities of the business world. With our budgets being cut to shreds, it's mighty hard trying to justify a "show us how you would run our business" campaign on YouTube. We'll look to these philosophies as nice to emulate, hard to integrate, and start burrowing into the muck of such things as lift data to justify our YouTube channel.

5.Over-reliance on the Wisdom of Crowds

This weekend my vacation was dedicated to catching up on my RSS feeds, and I stumbled on a Business Week feature asking the community for nominations of Web 2.0 gamechangers of 2008. (Full disclosure: At the time my name was not on the list, but it was kindly tacked on, with my partners,' shortly thereafter). This seemed like a nice thing to do—ask the community to nominate leaders. But accusations of linkbaiting and laziness on BW's part by commenters ensued:

"Sorry to be a curmudgeon," wrote nominated marketing guru Seth Godin, "but I really like BW best when they lead the discussion, not referee it."

Customers will applaud companies that crowdsource, but they won't look highly upon those that lead only by asking. This is the year to say: Thanks for the suggestions; we've heard you. Based on who we are as a brand we've decided to do THIS ...

My prediction (OK, my wish) for 2009: We'll back away from these engagement quickies that became as popular as microblogging in 2008, and we use these distribution tools to build fans/friends/readers/customers in real life, for life.

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