Media outlets love to post 2010 lists this time of year. CNN posted its Top 10 Tech Trends of 2010 yesterday, and it was a good one. While some like to say “that’s cool’ after seeing a list like this, my mind started thinking of how a business leader could take advantage of these trends to attract, convert, and retain consumers.
CNN’s 10 trends are below in bold. Next to them are my thoughts on what to do with this valuable information on consumer behavior:
- The rise of the tablets (iPad) - Tablets are designed to provide nearly the same web experience as your regular computer, but in a more mobile, user-friendly fashion. You don’t need to create an app for these devices. You do need to recognize that more web surfing and shopping is happening on the go, and make sure your regular website has tools to meet the specific needs of mobile shoppers. Example: “Sign me up to receive hot deals via mobile”
- Resistance to Facebook is futile – Obvious is stating the need for most businesses to maintain a FB page.
What still needs to be stated is the need to treat your FB page different than your website. Don’t just post content. Interact, post surveys, create promotions that reward interaction (see TGIF promo at right), post more viral content, encourage fans to share your page with others and check-in, link your website with your FB page via FB Connect, allow purchase behavior to be posted to FB. You get the point. - Mobile Check-in apps – Yes, this was popular in 2010. Then FB created Places. This will steal lots of the fire from these apps. Nevertheless, reward your shoppers for checking-in at your store. Monitor the analytics from these apps (ex: Foursquare) and see how people are interacting with your business. (Here are some Foursquare promo ideas.)
- Motion-sensing video gaming – Hmm, not many ways to take advantage of this trend unless you can figure out how to get in-game placements/sponsorships (example: be the beverage that Wii tennis players reach for in between matches, etc.)
- Watching the web on TV – Your consumers are doing it. So make sure you have a marketing presence here. Consider using a video ad network to place :15 videos before, during, or after TV shows that play on channels such as Hulu or ComedyCentral. You will reach people who have happily dropped their cable subscription (like me!)
- The saga of the iPhone4 – Not much to say here.
- Escalation of the smartphone wars – The big lesson from this trend is that if you already spent $30K-$50K
to build an iPhone app, you will have to do the same to build a Droid app since the latest US smartphone data show that the two platforms are neck-in-neck. Or, better yet, forgot the focus on apps and just build a mobile-optimized website so that your shoppers don’t have to find or download an app. They just visit your regular website on their phone and experience a great site. (Boulder, CO’s mShopper will do this for you for $99 and have it ready in a day.) - App-tastic - See notes above. Apps are great, but are expensive, have to be built for every smartphone platform, and have to be found and downloaded before they can be used. Just build your mobile shoppers a website. Why? An average of 11% of global web traffic *already* comes from mobile devices.
- Privacy matters – Treat your personal consumer information like gold. Keep it and transfer it via secure methods. Ask consumers for permission before using, even if you are aggregating it and reporting on trends.
- Net neutrality – This is a scary one, especially since the December ruling suggests that those who control the infrastructure serving info via the web can now price out their competition. Yikes. Keep an eye on this one.
Filed under: Best Practice Tips, Exciting News Tagged: | Facebook, iPhone, m-commerce, mobile
