“Social journalism” (i.e. allowing your audience to interact and engage with your story, your brand) will pick up momentum. 2012 will see yet more stories shaped by real-time, outside influence evolving them into something bigger, something more organic, something shared. Looking at the brand as a living, breathing collaboration between the company and its audience will be what forward-looking companies seek to achieve. After all, “the quality of the brand is measured by the people who surround it.” ₅
NB If you’ve decided to make content marketing an integral part of your 2012 marketing strategy we recommend you read the full trends report from Marketing Profs and the Content Marketing Institute. If it’s not, you may change your mind once you’ve read it. ₂
Take action: Let go. Be open to co-creating your brand together with the community (customers, influencers and employees). Consider how you can collaborate on content production that is going to represent your brand. Make sure your social media monitoring allows you to interact with your audience in real-time. With economic times still looking tough, look to your partners for opportunities to collaborate on co-marketing campaigns, and benefit from economies of scale.
Behaviour matters: As trends evolve and shift so too do those marketing behaviours which support them and bring them to life. Based on our research, here’s why engagement, authenticity and looking after your customer’s data are important in relation to this key trend.
For a run down on the facts and stats, marketing behaviours and technologies, companies and developments every marketer should be aware of as they enter 2012 download our ebook here.
Photo credit: Ryan McGuire / gratisography.com, published unchanged.
SOURCES: