A good year for social data, internal collaboration and ROI in 2014

It’s that time of the year again, when people look back and begin to look forward. Never one to shy away from a challenge, the DMA Social Media Council have dug deep to come up with their predictions for 2014. Here’s my one to get the social crystal ball going.

I think 2014 will see Social TV’s real potential crystallise as the ‘test and learn’ strategies of 2013 mature. The true users and behaviours will emerge showing that Social TV is a tool and not necessarily the second coming many are hoping for.

And, in no particular order, here’s what some of my fellow council members had to say.

Leo Hugo, Hugo Strategy Ltd
“We’ll start seeing the social networks moving towards more ‘direct’ advertising products (ie addressable & measurable), in order to close the gap between awareness and conversions/ROI.”

Adrienne Grubb, eModeration
“Internal collaboration platforms such as Jive, Sharepoint 2013 and Yammer will also grow in influence and be used to support improved communications between geographically diverse teams and remote workers. They will also challenge traditional ‘top-down’ lines of communication, enabling the workforce and ‘management’ to share a two-way exchange of information.”

Simon Hughes, Microsoft
“2014 will see brands investing in developing their own niche social networks/communities on their web properties – including exposing social generated content (photos, tweets) on their websites and also into campaigns. eg Real-time competitions during TV ad breaks.”

Lynsey Sweales, SocialB
“There will be greater emphasis from social apps of apps launching you rather than you launching an app – with GPS, listening and clever algorithms we are going to become slaves to our phones / apps with the social media platforms desires to move another tier up the social media ladder.”

Joel Davis, Agency:2
“Social data will emerge as a business foundation. Throughout an organisation: from HR, to Brand, PR and marketing teams, Social data will play a major role in building a richer level of Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) in order to create a better understanding of customer, prospect and employee insights and actions. With CRM analytics and social data, companies are able to create predictive models, benchmark and support the decision making process.”

Here’s to a measurable and manageable one! Leave your predictions in the comments.

By guest blogger, Paul Armstrong, Founder of Digital Orange Consulting and DMA Social Media Council member