The Social Path

Top digital trends to watch in 2012.

Without a doubt, 2011 was defined by the ever-evolving digital landscape. With all the advances we saw last year, what's in store for 2012?

My colleague Chris Zobel, Luckie & Company's Director of Digital Strategy, runs down the top trends of 2012, all of which revolve around data and content. This year, tailoring content to consumers will be key, and savvy marketers are already heading in that direction. 

Digital Trends to Watch in 2012

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To read more insights from Chris, follow him on Twitter and check out his updates on LuckieReThinkTank.com.

Edward Bowser is Community Manager at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by email or follow him on Twitter.

Photo credit: Matthew Petroff via Flickr

Google HotPot: The best app you didn't know existed

Toward the end of 2010, Google quietly launched a great new review application called HotPot. It's sleek, user friendly and thorough. You can search and rate everything from restaurants to toy stores to parks, all from one easy application. 

In order to vote, all you have to do is sign in to Google (so if you're on Gmail right now, you're already logged on). You also must create a username. The voting has a few easy, fun steps to complete, all without leaving the main page. When you select the star rating for the item you'd like to review, the selection flips like a baseball card. Then you can fill in your stats, write a description if you'd like and submit.

In addition to submissions from HotPot, Google aggregates reviews from all over the Web - so instead of nine crummy reviews from one application, you get a true measure of the place's value. 

HotPot is built into the Google Places iPhone and Android applications (without the HotPot name attached at all, which is weird) and is every bit as simple as the Web application. Google recently announced Twitter integration of HotPot in its Google Maps for Android app, but Twitter sharing is noticeably absent on the Web-based and iPhone applications.

This is one of Google's best ventures into social applications, and in time I believe it will become the most reputable and popular. So be sure to step up and claim your business to get into the game early.

The Social Path's vote is five stars! Great service, atmosphere and value - but now we're starving.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

The Super Bowl: Now playing on three screens.

A diehard Green Bay fan will be watching the Super Bowl.  A commercial comes on.  After watching, another one airs, but this one doesn’t interest him, so he pulls out his mobile phone while walking to the kitchen to get another plate of wings, typing in a URL or becoming a “fan” of a product he just saw advertised. Then, he sends a text message to his buddy in Pittsburgh to share the experience, along with a healthy serving of trash talk.  In Pittsburgh, his buddy goes online and Googles the advertiser.  He find the website along with the Facebook site, Twitter, campaign sites, etc.

TV. Mobile. Text. Search. Web.

All while getting a plate of wings.  Welcome to Super Bowl XLV, a marketer’s Shangri-La.

It has been happening for years now, but in the current marketing environment we are seeing an emphasis on digital media on behalf of advertisers.  Examples like the scenario above are the reason marketers will be using their big-budget Super Bowl spots as a springboards to digital experiences in social, mobile  and Web.  Why?  Because this will create an ongoing and transferrable relationship with the brands which will extend far past the game.  Marketers know that in order to remain relevant, they need to create an experience that will include three screens - TV, mobile and PC.

So how will those watching the Super Bowl see evidence of this? It may be obvious to some but routine for others.  When watching ads this Sunday, they will find themselves being driven to destinations outside the norm.  They will be pausing their DVRs looking for hidden codes, texting numbers to enter sweepstakes, tweeting in order to effect the outcome of the next spot and telling their friends about it the whole time.  Marketers are relying on consumer behavior and their use of digital technologies to help tell a story that is seamlessly intertwined into the game experience.

But with all the great emerging ways to reach consumers, the one true thing marketers need to keep in mind is to be relevant.  Consumers are smarter than ever.  Developing a marketing architecture that manages to convey the right message in the right medium is the challenge, but the reward is creating an immersive campaign experience that feels as natural to the consumers as getting up from the couch for that second plate of wings.

Chris Zobel is Director of Digital Strategy at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by e-mail.

Photo credit: CarrieA on Flickr