While many business owners sit on the sidelines testing the water, top media pros are diving into the interactive marketing pool. Forester has released (January 27, 2009) a five page report covering the “Top Social Computing Predictions for 2009,” which can be purchased from them for $279. Here’s the info:
Top Social Computing Predictions For 2009
Experimentation Gives Way To Meeting Business Objectives As Social Computing Goes Mainstream
by Jeremiah K. Owyang, Josh Bernoff, Sean Corcoran, Steven Noble
with Thomas Cummings, Zach Hofer-Shall, Emily Bowen
Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)
With adoption of all Social Computing technologies increasing in 2008, brands will move beyond experimentation and focus on real business impact in 2009. New technologies will arise that allow platforms including email, the Web, and mobile devices to connect with communities. Brands will start to integrate social applications with traditional marketing campaigns and revise campaigns based on social feedback. As a result, we recommend that interactive marketers start efforts now, embracing listening platforms that help monitor brand while taking advantage of the recession to gain experience with social applications.
(Visit Forrester.com here for additional details)
Forrester also reports, “Despite a predicted online advertising growth rate of 12 percent, offline budgets will decline in 2009. Interactive marketers of all types will be pressured to squeeze as much value as possible from their online spend.” See “Online Advertising Predictions For 2009” for more on ad spend predictions.