Three media experts offer their insights and observations about 2013 to offer some clarity of context: Jeremy Porter, director of social and content marketing at Definition 6 and a blogger at Journalistics; Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center and a blogger at Positively Media and Media Psychology Blog; and Lisa Denten, social media manager and blogger at Cision.
When asked in an interview last year to identify the biggest innovation in media, Porter believed that mobile was the most crucial. Looking back on this year his answer was the same. “People are really engaging with content via mobile – whether it’s books, magazines, papers on Kindles/iPads, or portable versions via cell phone,” he said, “While it’s not ‘innovative,’ necessarily, it’s the game changer. Think mobile first (don’t tell Newsweek though).”
Rutledge found that maintaining market intelligence has become increasingly difficult with the amount of content put out on a number of different platforms. Therefore, the biggest innovations were made in applications and dashboards that allow users to engage multiple platforms in a single location.
“The proliferation of platforms and information is raising the demand for filtering, organizing, and tracking. Dashboards that integrate accounts and allow for content management and measurement have seen and will continue to see an increasing demand at all market levels, from personal to commercial enterprise,” he said.
Experts agreed that the most difficult challenge to overcome regarding media this year was balance. What garners a positive response from an audience on Twitter might gain negative response on Facebook. Engaging an audience on different platforms with an appropriate message is equal parts important and taxing. “Spreading the collective social media energy across all the channels,” Porter said, “Coming up with great content on one platform is hard enough and doing it across eight different channels simultaneously is even harder.”
It is easy to get caught up in the clutter with so many platforms readily available to users, making it more difficult to successfully reach a target audience in a meaningful way. “More tools mean more information and more noise,” said Rutledge, “Communication is an exchange. It requires the attention of the audience, not just the production of message.”
So, in the endless sea of social, who floated to the top in 2013? Denten pointed to Linkedin as the dominant platform in the business to business category. “Since we’re a B2B company, most of our industry interacts with the platform and uses it as a way to find and share new content,” she said. Indeed as Linkedin has increased user ability to post content outside of job listings, it has become a more powerful player in the social platform shuffle.
Porter and Rutledge agree Facebook and Twitter as the year’s biggest winners. Porter notes that brands are coming into their own on these platforms by figuring out clever ways to engage audiences and generate excitement, citing Oreo and Taco Bell as brands utilizing social media to its full potential. Rutledge points to Twitter’s IPO as an indication of a platform’s ability to adapt to market trends. Also, Twitter’s acquisition of six-second video application Vine demonstrates the capability of these staple platforms to acclimate to the fickle needs of its users.
Pinterest was a platform that both Porter and Rutledge believed was gaining the most momentum over this year, and believe it will continue to flourish as the ecommerce industry expands.
“Pinterest, once thought of as a predominantly “women’s” network will become an integral part of retailer’s marketing strategies, particularly as the content is linked more fluidly across platforms,” Rutledge said.
Porter echoed the same sentiment saying, “If you sell products and you’re not using Pinterest, you’re missing out on a big opportunity. Pinterest is highly effective at social-to-ecommerce conversation.”
In the midst of all this clutter, how in good gravy is anyone supposed to make sense of it all and at the same time be effective and engaging across multiple platforms? The experts agree, keeping it real is the only sure-fire way. Denten sums it up to the tune of keep calm and social on:
“Social media is just another platform to reach your audience. It shouldn’t be a goal in and of itself;” she says, “instead it should be part of a larger effort – to drive more viewers to your content, for instance, or to engage with more clients. Use it as an add-on to efforts you’re already coordinating.”
Porter agrees: be yourself. “Think about the audience when posting for the masses, and just be real and have a conversation in one-on-one situations.” It can’t be overstated that being genuine with an audience across all platforms creates a social identity that the brand will benefit from.
Rutledge believes that the shotgun approach isn’t ideal for every brand. “The biggest ‘trick’ is always the same – spend time figuring out your goal and then decide what technology and social platforms support it best.”
Contact Information
Jeremy Porter
@jeremyporter
Journalistics
Definition 6
Pamela Rutledge
@pamelarutledge
Positively Media
Media Psychology Blog
