For the communications industry, 2014 is set to be a year of digital maturity, with a rise in adoption rather than innovation, according to a new report.
The report from Hotwire/33 Digital, identifies key trends including the rise of niche social networks and social media in schools and an increasing emphasis on privacy in a post-Snowden era.
Each year our specialist teams examine the concepts, applications, and mindsets that we predict will change communications for good. Last year the group highlighted the rise of big data, digital health, and social business. This year, the trends are focused on digital maturity rather than the emergence of new technology.
For anyone in communications, 2014 will be a world where privacy will be built into services, artificial intelligence will take over from human advisors, digital artisans will take centre stage and companies will be able to serve each and every customer individually thanks to the adoption of social business principles. It’s going to be an exciting year.
The ten trends for 2014 are:
1. Niche social networks – networks such as Strava for cyclists, StyledOn for fashionistas, Jelly for knowledge-sharing and Current for businesspeople have emerged, meaning that social media management for clients will have to examine the relevant industry-specific networks as well as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn;
2. Data for the moment – the infamous Oreo Superbowl tweet has gone down in social media history, but in 2014 reacting to audience and other data immediately will become commonplace; the trick will be in combining that data and creativity for flawless campaign execution;
3. Digitisation of retail – shoppers are no longer limited to the digital versions of bricks and mortar stores or online ecommerce behemoths. Instead content providers will become virtual storefronts, where producers sell directly to interested consumers;
4. Death of anonymity – in the wake of the NSA revelations, brands will strive to regain our trust in privacy. For communicators, this means ensuring transparency, accountability and instilling confidence in use of data;
5. Pre-emptive computing – Google Now already predicts what information you need at any given time, and this level of pre-emptive computing will come into its own in 2014;
6. Social media in school – instead of shunning social media, schools will start to use it to their advantage, with platforms like Edmodo and Skype in the Classroom specifically designed to improve education;
7. The digital artisans – as the public have fallen in love with aged effects from Instagram, sketching on iPads and USB typewriters, this penchant for the vintage will have a knock on effect for companies as brands strive to create the same feel for homely authenticity revealing the story behind the brand;
8. From customers to community – customer services and social media have been coming together for years, but 2014 will be the year that customer services loses its reputation for starched-collar-stuffiness and community managers gain the authority of the organisation;
9. Big media is back – business models for the media are shifting, but the biggest opportunity is the change in expectations for the media consumer: we’re all big media now;
10. Measurement – it will become essential to properly provide ROI on communications activities, and the breadth of digital tools available mean that measurement will become commonplace across communications strategies.
Peter Sigrist, editor of the report and MD, 33 Digital, comments, “This year, we expect our clients to be impacted less by new service launches, and more by the opportunities presented by those that exist. This technology has now passed the fascination period of ‘how it works’, and instead brands and communicators will simply ask ‘what can we do with it?’”
Alex MacLaverty, UK Group MD at Hotwire, said, “Our annual report represents some of the most forward-thinking and specialist knowledge that our team has to offer. Over the last five years we have correctly identified many of the technologies and behaviours that have shaped the communications industry, and the shift to wide-scale adoption now is just as significant. What is most exciting is how we translate this knowledge into more effective ways of engaging with our clients’ customers and the wider influencer base.”
Visit the Digital Trends Report website to view excerpts from the report or download the full PDF.
http://www.digitaltrendsreport.com/