2012 was a booming year for the digital side of marketing. In this type of industry we as marketers have to be on top of the fast paced evolution of social platforms, SEO tactics, Google’s algorithm, design technique, and much more. Although it can become overwhelming, it has been an exciting year for the interactive side of marketing. As for 2013, I predict this to be a year of interactive priority.

Social 2013

Pinterest and Instagram were the new kids on the block this year. What they have in common is a market of imagery and convenience. These social platforms also emphasized attention towards a user, which in social, it’s all about the fans and followers. I predict that this will be the year of value over quantity. 2012 focused more on fans, however now that there is more confidence in social media marketing, I see the shift of a valued fan being more important. As for Instagram, bgr.com stated in September 2012 that, “Instagram was a small company with no revenue and only 860,000 daily active users, but since the acquisition the company’s traffic has increased to nearly 11 million users per day.” That being said, I see Instagram being used more by businesses to drive a connection to their consumer. What better way to gather a testimonial than by a consumer posting themselves using your product? I predict Pinterest, unfortunately, becoming more commercialized and adding display ads. Lastly, I believe 2013 will be the year of a social lock-down.  2012 appeared to be a year of experimentation, but now businesses know what works and what doesn’t for their marketing goals allowing for them to focus more on what will bring them in a social ROI.

Mobile 2013

This is no surprise that mobile will be most important for businesses in 2013. We have already seen more requests for a mobile site, or nonetheless a responsive site. Not only is a mobile site important for your smart phone browser, a mobile app is a next step as well. According to Forrester mobile apps are a $6 billion market today, steadily increasing to a $55.7 billion market by 2015. Gartner has also stated that smart phone users download more than 45 billion apps a year, which has doubled since 2011. With the increase of tablet owners and smart phone users, it’s obvious that taking a mobile approach is necessary. I also predict more cross-channel marketing and mobile being used with print ads, television shows, and events in 2013.

Web Design and Content 2013

Responsive design 2012, mobile site 2013. Web presence is key, but to have a web presence that works across all tablets, PC’s and smart phones is even more important. Now that there is more awareness for value in content and design, I predict we will see more websites worth scrolling through. I do believe content will only get better, and ecommerce will become even easier. Retailers  are aware that ecommerce is necessary if you are looking for more sales. Internetretailer.com predicts global e-commerce sales will top $1.25 trillion by 2013.  Email marketing will hopefully become more interactive and can tie into product purchasing more than before. I see the value of an email becoming more prominent and a silencing of mass email newsletters blowing up your inbox.

I don’t see 2013 as a hard year to predict based on trends in interactive marketing of 2012, however I do see 2013 as an exciting year for us as marketers!

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