2010 was a big year in terms of businesses starting to establish a social media presence, and 2011 expanded on that with an explosion in the number of businesses that started taking social media seriously as a marketing tool. Now that we’ve done an adequate amount of setting things up, it’s time to start thinking of 2012 as the year when we really push forward and begin to innovate in terms of using social media in the best possible way, and customizing the experience so that each business is serving its own customers in a manner that suits their particular situation.
With the unveiling of Google+, and more recently the public debut of Facebook’s new Timeline format, it’s clear that social media channels are evolving to meed the needs of a community that perpetually demands more from its online networking. Whereas before we might simply have been looking to stake a real estate claim on the social media landscape, now we want to decorate our spaces to more accurately reflect our businesses.
As SEO strategies evolve to give greater weight to businesses who provide engaging and relevant content to their customers, social media networks will become the place where much of that engagement happens. If, up until now, you’ve been treating your business’ Facebook or Twitter account like a blog, with mostly one-way communication, 2012 will be the time to start opening up more of a dialogue. You’ll want to encourage your customers to talk to you, and to talk about you in their own social media circles.
Google is already starting to reward business that are more frequently discussed on Google+, by giving those businesses higher rankings in search results. Effective SEO is no longer about static links and self-created keyword density, but about real interactions with real people, and the amount of buzz you can create in your target market. The buzz, of course, is the reward for providing your potential customers with quality products, great customer service, and an online conversation that goes both ways.
2012 will be a stellar year for those who can see where this new customer engagement model is going, and can find ways to provide even better communication than is expected. Both search engines and customers have learned to see through the SEO strategies of the past, so this year the focus should be on moving forward with finding new methods to engage with your audience in ways your competitors haven’t thought of.
