So a couple weeks ago in class we learned about the Top 7 social media trends that will dominate 2016, according to Forbes.  Well, I wanted to learn more and stumbled upon the “Top 10 Digital Marketing Stats of the Week”. In this post, I’ll not only explore some of the top 10 trends (I won’t go over all of them but feel free to look at them yourself!), but also see if they are aligned with the Top 7 trends that were shared in class.

1. Basket abandonment has risen 15% since 2010

What does basket abandonment mean? Well, this means that people are shopping in-store less and less. Check out this Vancity Buzz article that pokes fun of the Black Friday sales. There was literally no one in stores.  This is pretty much in line with Forbe’s prediction that online BUY buttons will DOMINATE.

2. Insider fraud on the rise in technology, media and telecoms industry

Uh oh. As we see digital marketing on the rise, it means that we need to be a lot more careful with our privacy and personal information online. As Forbes predicted, “User privacy concerns will hit an all-time high”. This is no surprise and in my opinion, should be alarming. As our society becomes more comfortable with technology, we really need to think about the reprucussions and the bad guys that might be out there trying to steal our information. A great example would be the new “Hello” Barbie doll that just came out. This doll can apparently talk to your children, record information, and make sense of data. Click here to read more about the controversy surrounding this doll and how parents question whether it is safe, or just another tactic for marketers (like you and I!) to “steal” information for our own promotional ganis.

3. Three in five marketers aren’t currently targeting Instagram users

Uhm…what!? Don’t worry, I was shocked too when I read this. According to the article, marketers are still late to the game, with “over half (53%) of marketers [planning] to make use of Instagram in 2016 to boost their sales.” What’s interesting is that 1 in 3 Instagram users actually buy products that they see on Instagram, this goes to support the rationale behind the # store, that I blogged about earlier in the term. Referencing the Forbe article, that predicts “fewer small platforms will emerge”, I wonder how long Instagram will be here to stay. While it is predicted that fewer platforms will emerge, it is only a matter of time before the next big thing, and for Facebook to be another “My Space” or “Nexopia”.

All in all, I’d say that the Forbes article is pretty accurate. But while I can see that our purchasing behaviors are changing drastically and that businesses will need to find a way to survive in the online space, I wonder what will happen to brands and companies that rely on the customer experience. Yes, people can buy your products online, but there is still something about touching the product, experiencing it, and being immersed in the customer experience. It will be interesting to see how these companies (especially in the luxury industry) will adapt.

As many of you are aware, on Friday, November 13th, terrorist attacks broke out. What also broke out, was social media, as people not only expressed their condolences and prayers to France, but united over hashtags such as #prayforparis, #prayforiraq, #prayfortheworld, and so on. During this dark day, a community on social media was formed. However, beyond this, what I really want to write about, is the hashtag, #porteouverte.

This is the first time in my 4 years of being a business student have I seen a hashtag change the way I see social media. The idea behind #porteouverte was for people in Paris to welcome those on the streets that their homes were open for shelter and protection. People without shelter would be able to look up #porteouverte to connect with those who were willing to lend a helping hand. In theory, this hashtag would work wonderfully and I fully understand it comes from a good place. However, the hashtag became so popular that people who weren’t even in Paris were using it to spread awareness. Unfortunately, because so many people were trying to spread the word (to the point where it was trending on twitter and facebook), the hashtag was not being used for what it was really meant for, and it watered down the true #porteouverte hashtags that were meant to help.

To me, this is a prime example of the strong influence social media has. Once things become viral, it really becomes out of your control. This event has caused me to think about how social media will evolve in the future to become a tool to connect those in need. Social media is now much more than just updating everyone on what you’re eating or doing. It’s become an essential part of human life and how we communicate with each other. Even with Facebook, during the attacks, people from Paris can mark themselves as “safe” in order to share with their family and friends that they were unharmed. Personally, I had a couple of friends on exchange in Paris, and it was such a relief to know that they were OK—all of this from one update on Facebook.  It will be interesting to see how social media will integrate in our health and protection systems in Canada and beyond during major crises. However, in the case of what happened with the hashtag, #porteouvert, there will need to be a perfect balance for how things go viral and which audience is using the right hashtags.

So I’ve seen the above photo floating everywhere on the internet, and I decided to look into it more to see if it linked to the digital space that we live in. I never knew what phenomena this was, but upon my research, I learned that is is something called the Sharing Economy. What is the sharing economy you ask?

“A people’s economy based on ‘access to’ rather than ‘ownership of’ physical and human aspects like time, space, and skills.”

The Sharing Economy is an emerging phenomena of peer-to-peer sharing of access to certain goods and services rather than requiring direct ownership. Trends such as car sharing, p2p traveling, and social lending are all by-products of the Sharing Economy. The Sharing Economy is the result of emerging social technologies (ie: mobile apps) that have consequently enabled users to connect like never before!

So why do I share this? Well, as I looked into this phenomena, I learned that it all started because of the digital era we live in. Mobile apps have allowed us to migrate to this so-called sharing economy. Now, as you can see,  the Sharing Economy heavily relies on technology and mobile platforms that make it easier for peers to connect with each other. That said, these P2P platforms create the potential for marketers to insert algorithms to track not only consumer and seller behaviour, but also the science behind ‘matches’ (ie: What preferences to the buyer/seller have? What is their consumption/selling pattern and who do they most do business with? Who do they trust?). By tracking such behaviour and exploring how consumers/sellers ‘trust’ one another, marketers may be able to create more tailored campaigns (ie: creating a campaign for BMW executed by a marketer who also loves BMWs).

Platforms used to host the Sharing Economy also unlocks the potential for micro-targeting. Since these P2P networks are very community focused, marketers can create more grassroots brand-building approaches and allow communities to experience their brands, rather than wasting money doing mass-marketing. By tapping into the technologies used for collaborative consumption, marketers can better invest their efforts to smaller groups of people. Doing so can allow marketers to enable more brand ambassadors within the community and share more content (ie: between seller [brand advocate] and buyer [consumer]).

In my opinion, in order for the Sharing Economy to be sustainable and successful, trust is needed. Therefore, we can predict that, if the Sharing Economy continues to be successful, consumers will be demanding more transparency in order to trust what is being marketed to them. Therefore, things such as peer reviews and trials can potentially be of even more importance in the marketing realm.

Finally, despite backlash from corporations and the government, the Sharing Economy is unavoidable. This type of economy allows people to conveniently access goods and services without compromising cost, engage in experiences they may not otherwise pursue, and create efficiency to their day-to-day lives. Even if it becomes unsuccessful and unsustainable, it is only a matter of time that our economy shifts towards a model that is similar, especially given the fact we are entering a completely digital era.