Digital Marketing and Web Strategy by Bob Hazlett | One Half Amazing!

If you read one thing to prepare yourself for upcoming trends in digital media and technolgoy, make sure it’s Razorfish’s annual Outlook Report.

Jeremiah Owyang speaks with Blake Cahill on what he sees the future of the social web is going to bring us. He theorizes that there will be 5 era’s of the social web. He believes that people will start to own the market instead of companies and that communities will continue to take charge over brands. Here’s a break down of each era.

1. Era of Social Relationships – Simply connecting with others online (i.e. – facebook, myspace, twitter)
2. Era of Social Functionality – An era we entered in 2007 where third-party applications could be built on top of social networks to allow the user to do something extra. Jeremiah believes we’re still in the early days of this era.
3. Era of Social Colonization – Your entourage of friends come with you wherever you go online or with your mobile device. You will make decisions based on what they’ve purchased and what they recommend.
4. Era of Social Context – Content (web, advertisements, TV, etc) will be tailored to your preferences. The more data that a user reveals about him or herself, the more relevant the content they receive. Brands will offer added benefits to those who have favorable preferences to their products or services. He predicts the death of the registration page.
5. Era of Social Commerce – Communities will come together and define entire products and features they want. These groups will then bid out their wants to competing brands. PR models will flip and agencies will now represent groups rather than companies.

A new advertising trend I’ve seen recently isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but I think it signals a new shift in the way major companies and advertisers are thinking about social media in their campaigns.  I’m starting to see both online and offline ads pushing users to their facebook page rather than their .com homepage. Check out the Bud Light banner ad below or watch one of the new Vitamin Water 10 commercials.

My quick thoughts on why this is a good thing;

• Once the user takes an action, the advertiser doesn’t have to pay to retarget you with new ads.
• The advertiser gets more bang for their buck.  The word of mouth marketing is worth a lot more than a visit to a lame website with only nutrition facts available.  Your entire network now knows you’re a fan.
• If you google ‘Vitamin Water 10′ the only page (besides paid placements) that is related with Glaceau is in position 5 and falls below the fold. This probably has to do with the entire site being in flash, lacking detailed product page titles and basic SEO, but I guess if you can’t own your brand name, then you change the rules.
• Facebook allows you to create almost an exclusive club for the product, providing a stream of new content and interactions with the brand on a regular basis.
• Directing users to your social site allows you to talk to them in the space they spend a lot of  their time without the waste of the usual banner ads.

What do you think?  As a consumer, would you rather interact with a brand on Facebook? If you’re an advertiser, have you tried this approach? If so, how did it work?