Five Predictions for 2010
Can you get ahead of the curve by implementing these game-changing strategies before the competition?
It's January -- the time when everybody makes predictions for 2010. And hey, while I'm about as clairvoyant as the next guy, I figured I'd step up and present my expectations for the year ahead, and my reasons why.
1 - Brands Will Finally Have Real-Time Conversations With Consumers
Last year, Twitter blew up the way we thought about communication and the speed at which we thought about it. (Nowadays even the almighty Google incorporates real-time Twitter feeds into search results.) And up until now most brands have only used Twitter and Facebook as a promotional vehicle, announcing new contests, content, products, etc. So the step change? I expect 2010 to be the year brands empower their teams to have actual real-time conversations with consumers. Some companies are even ahead of the curve on this one. Just look at Ford and Best Buy -- both leaders in their space.
2 - Discounting Will Be Expected At All Times
The recession hit hardest the wallets of the lower- and middle-class consumers. But the upper class wasn't spared, at the very least psychologically. Suddenly everyone is questioning what they're buying, what price they're paying, and whether they're OK financially. Couponing sites are reporting surges in traffic. Online discount retailers such as Gilt, RueLaLa and HauteLook are generating hundreds of millions in revenues, and signing up tens of millions of consumers. Not to mention the dozens of new discount/deal/pay-to-bid auction sites that have sprung up. In short, 2009 trained us that we're idiots if we don't seek out a discount for each and every purchase we make. So I foresee brands who meet this need will be winners in 2010.
3 - Web3.0 Will Arrive
Web1.0 was the era of online content. Web2.0 was the era of social interaction. Web3.0 is the merging of content and social interaction -- and I'm predicting it will become built into the DNA of every web strategy this year. Facebook has done a great job of creating a platform where consumers can connect, interact and share. However, people still want to consume content in their interest areas and connect with people who share those interests -- and let's face it, not all of your 400 friends on Facebook share, say, your love for vampire stories. The platform everybody's implementing this year (Facebook Connect) will truly enable Web 3.0 to emerge on content-rich sites.
4 - Ethical Second-Guessing Will Lead to Corporate Social Responsibility
I've talked to so many friends, brand leaders, entrepreneurs, etc., who are appalled at the sketchy ethics revealed during the bailouts of the financial sector last year. The lies, the irresponsible risks, the unfair profiting -- and the lack of a just outcome when these people and institutions were saved. It's enough to make a responsible, hard-working, live-within-my-means citizen second-guess whether they took the right path. Just for a second, anyway, before the morals, ethics and good sense we grew up with kick back in.
But there is an upside to all this, which I predict will kick in during the year ahead. We as citizens are going to be much more conscious of corporate social responsibility. We will vote with our dollars, supporting those companies and their leaders who respect the environment, their communities, their employees, their partners, and their consumers in an ethical and responsible way.
5 - The Internet Will No Longer Be Flat
In his best seller "The World Is Flat", Thomas Friedman credited the internet for creating a level playing field for individuals and companies across the globe. Then came blogging/microblogging, which extended that flatness in the last year or so -- creating a world where CNN tweets have the same impact as tweets from unknown individuals.
While that sounds like democracy in action, consider this: It's also at the root of numerous cases of false reporting, erroneous victim reports, false donation information in the recent Haiti crisis, the list goes on and on. As these horror stories surface in 2010, individuals will rekindle their scrutiny of sources: Who do I trust? What brands? What individuals? Who has proven themselves to me? And sure, while it's technically a de-flattening of the internet, the search for credibility and truth is a great sign of us as citizens becoming more enlightened.
- Emrah Kovacoglu, Founder and CEO, Total Beauty Media, Inc.
