By Augie Ray, Forrester.com
Social media does not make marketing any easier. Although it is a powerful tool for marketers to reinforce their brands, energize advocates and strengthen relationships, it is also yet another marketing channel that requires attention, investment and innovation. And much like the Web 15 years earlier, this is a channel that challenges the status quo and defies easy metrics.
In 2011, social media marketing doesn’t get any easier. Although the medium is maturing, that maturity brings with it a host of new challenges for marketers. Primary among those challenges is that social media is becoming an awfully cluttered and noisy space. As more people adopt social behaviors and more marketers increase their social media budgets, it is tougher than ever to cut through the noise, reach an audience and make an impression. In addition, Forrester is seeing a marked increase in the number of people worried about privacy in social channels, and this concern is growing most significantly in boomers and seniors.
In our latest report, “2011: Now Social Media Marketing Gets Tough,” the entire Forrester Interactive Marketing team (plus a number of professionals who contributed in the Forrester Community) came together to predict the future and guide marketers on what these changes mean. The report includes predictions such as:
New social spam filters will stop many of your tweets and status updates from reaching consumers. Social networks, in an effort to keep the signal-to-noise ratio manageable, will implement and tighten social spam filters. These won’t just filter marketer-to-consumer messaging but also marketing messages passed peer-to-peer. Those check-ins, hashtag sweepstakes and other low-value tweets and status updates won’t cut it in 2011.
To read more, visit: 2011 Social Media Predictions: Now Social Media Marketing Gets Tough