What Social Media Will Look Like in 2012

It's easy to get caught up in today's trends or even focus on the next six months. Marketers finally acknowledged that social media was more than just a fad, with almost complete adoption by all major marketers. Here are the top 5 predictions for what social media will look like in 2012.

1. Privacy expectations will (have to) change
There will be a cultural shift, whereby people will begin to find it increasingly more acceptable to expose more and more of their personal details on different forms of social media.
2. Complete decentralization of social networks
The concept of a friend network will be a portable experience. You'll find most digital experiences will be able to leverage the power of your social networks in a way that leverages your readily available personal information and the relationships you've established.
3. Our interaction with search engines will be different
Real-time information in Google search, e.g. from Twitter, blog results and user reviews, will be more prominent. Google's Social Search will change the way we interact with search engines by pushing relevant content from our personal networks to the front of search results, making them more personalized.
4. Rise of the content aggregators
The amount of content online is growing at an exponential rate, and most online users have at least three online profiles from social networks to micro-blogging to social news sites. Filtering and managing content will be big business for those who can get it right and provide easy-to-use services.
5. Social media augmented reality
Openly accessible information from the social-media space will be used to enhance everyday experiences. For example: the contacts book in your phone links to Facebook and Twitter to show real-time updates on what the contact is doing before you put in the call.

Freddie Laker is director of digital strategy at Sapient and can be contacted at takemetoyourleader.com.

Batteries to be Plentiful for Electric Cars
EV battery supply may well outpace demand, is the word coming from the Green Car Conference in Detroit. Automakers believe electric vehicles will be both popular and profitable but it will take time to match supply and demand.
Detroit News, June 17, 2010

Saab Plans Marketing Blitz for 9-5 Sedan, Reduction in Dealers
The Saab 9-5 will go on sale in Sweden beginning June 19 surrounded by marketing, part of a wider marketing campaign costing $150+ million, to move globally and reach the U.S. by August. Saab is hoping to reduce dealer count and increase profits per dealer by 2012.
Bloomberg.com, June 16, 2010

Edmunds.com: 7 New Vehicles Projected to Appreciate This Summer
Edmunds True Market Value Predicted Price Trends spots several vehicles that should increase in value this summer, bucking traditional declines over the summer months -- due to automakers' limited production and fewer units available for sale. Click here for a full list.
AutoRemarketing, June 17, 2010

Toward Which Brands Will Mercury Shoppers Turn?
Based on AutoTrader.com cross-shopping data, Mercury customers are likely to turn to Ford, Chevy and Hyundai. Only 7.5 percent looked into Lincoln models.  

GM Offers Incentives on Certain Used Vehicles
GM will offer financing from 3.9% down to 1.9% on select certified used vehicles through June 30.  Qualified buyers are eligible to receive 1.9% financing through January 3, 2011, on Pontiac G6.

Auto Suppliers to Get Revised Contract Terms From Chrysler Group
Chrysler is revising terms and conditions for contracts with its suppliers. The new terms should help repair frayed relations and improve work stability. Included in the changes is a review board for supplier grievances.

Free Reporting Service from Auto Data Direct

Auto Data Direct is the first to provide a free vehicle reporting option to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System INMVTIS) for the auto recycling and insurance industries. Allows users to satisfy federal reporting requirements by uploading junk, salvage and total loss vehicle data to the national database. For more info visit www.ADD123.com.

Time to Discover Dealer Services Corp

Dealer Services Corporation, the leading independent floor plan finance company for the used vehicle industry is America’s largest independent inventory finance provider for used automobiles and other diversified products sold by automotive dealers. DSC provides flexible and cost effective inventory financing solutions to dealership operations. For more info visit www.discoverDSC.com.

Dealer.com Named Top Small Company

Dealer.com, global leader in online marketing solutions for auto dealers, is one of 20 North American companies named a “Top Small Company Workplace” by Inc. magazine and Winning Workplaces. “We are very proud to be recognized by Inc. magazine as a top small company workplace,” said Mark Bonfigli, CEO of Dealer.com. Visit Dealer.com and read full 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces report at www.inc.com.

Creating Your Social Media Plan
By Lisa Barone

If you enter into social media without a plan, you will fail. You wouldn’t jump into a raging river without knowing how to swim, so don’t create a Twitter account without knowing how to use it. Before you get started with using social media, you need to understand the tools you’ll be using:

Secure Your Brand
The first step of a successful (and long term) social media plan is to grab your brand everywhere you can, regardless of whether or not you plan to use it. It’s always better to have the username, and not use it, than kick yourself later when someone else grabs it.

Set Your Metrics
Before you jump in, define success. Is it:
•  Building buzz and conversation around a particular product?
•  Better overall brand awareness?
•  More traffic?
•  Blog subscribers? Increased leads?
•  New knowledge about your customers and how they view your brand?

Know Who You Are
For most businesses, marketing is storytelling. It’s about using the tools available to you through social media to pique your customer’s interest and make them invested in who you are. Figure out your story in the market. What does your company believe in? What are you known for and what do you want to be known for?

Create Rules for Engagement
Some things you’ll want to address are:
•  How will social media be integrated into the company’s core strategy?
•  Who from the company will engage? Will there be one voice? A team using one branded account? Personal accounts?

Assess Your Success.
The same way you can’t “set and forget” an SEO campaign, you can’t dive into social media and then never look back. You’re going to have to take a look at your on-site and off-site metrics to determine whether or not your social media efforts have been successful, and if not, what you can do to fix them.

Lisa Barone is the Chief Branding Officer of Outspoken Media. Click here to read this article in its entirety.

Choosing the right tires and properly maintaining them are effective ways to enhance your vehicle's performance and improve road safety. Since June 6-12 was National Tire Safety Week, leading tire manufacturer Michelin wants to remind consumers of the benefits of choosing the right tires and of simple, cost–effective ways to contribute to tire safety. After all – your tires are the only part of your car in contact with the road.So click here and then click on the image for tips on keeping your customers and their loved ones safe!

Automotive News Green Car Conference and Exhibition
Interview highlights by Jim Stickford, Automotive Digest

Innovators speakers at the Green Car Conference, June 16, 2010, Rock Financial Center in Novi, Michigan, are doing something about moving the country toward eco-friendliness. Click here to learn more about the conference and what leaders in the industry are thinking.

"EVs are going to be really a different category of cars. It's quite a disruptive technology. So you'll see collaboration between among the automotive players, but also the energy and utility players, and the electronics companies that come together to build out this new industry." -- Richard Canning, CEO of Think North America
 
"We're adding later this year Transit Connect Electric, a full-battery electric vehicle, and in 2011 we bring Focus Electric to the road, another full-battery electric vehicle built right here in Michigan. And then in 2012 we bring out our next generation of hybrid, and we add a plug-in hybrid to our mix." - Nancy Gioia, director of global electrification, Ford Motor
 
"One of the newest technologies that we've come up with, we think is very synergistic and will help advance the adoption and improve the performance of direct injection technologies is turbo charging because there are some advantages on direct injection gasoline just ad you find on common rail diesel." -- Michael Crane, hybrid and electrical vehicle activities, Continental Corp
 
"There are always components within cars that could be more environmentally friendly. As time goes by we become more aware of the impact they have on the environment. In particular, within the brake industry we know by the very nature of our product we produce a by-product, which is brake dust, so we have to make sure we're good stewards of the environment." -- Tom LeBlanc, project manager Fras-Le

Hawaii -- The Mecca Where Everything Electric Began

The former king of Hawaii (long before it became a U.S. state) claims electricity was installed in the Royal Palace seven years after Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb. If you're ready to accept that, then you're on track for knowing how intent Hawaii is in having 50,000 electric cars on its roads by 2015 (and 200,00 by 2030). If anyone can do it, Hawaii can. Why? Because it has to import all of its energy (51 million barrels a year), people don't drive very far (afterall it's an island) and it will be the first U.S. state to receive units of Nissan's Leaf. There's a lot more to this fascinating story. Click here and click on the image to learn more!