Do you know the 7 social media trends that could transform your online strategy?

Patrick Salyer from Gigya talking at Social Media London

Patrick Sayler from Gigya gave a talk at the Social Media Forum (London Olympia) on Social Media trends, and their implications for brand and company sites and digital strategy. He raised some really exciting and important factors, and not surprisingly his talk attracted a large audience - all madly making notes!


This is my takeout and thoughts on Patrick's 7 Key Trends in Social Media and why they are important:


#1: Social is taking over search. Discovery increasingly how people are finding sites and content by seeing what their online contacts are looking at and recommending. Many sites are starting to see more traffic coming from this than from search engines. Implication: Ensuring you have content that people want to share and recommend, and making it easy for them to do so.


#2: Life streaming. People are starting to share more and more about who they are, what they are doing and when doing it through social tools. They are literally streaming their life in realtime! Implications: How to design sites and content that is informed by this and delivered at relevant time.


#3: People bringing their "real" identity online. People used to hide behind "fake" personas online. But now, through things like Facebook, they are exposing their real identities and information. Implications: You can now better tailor and target content through this data.


#4: Users want personalised social based experiences. Linked to the above point, people are expecting a more targeted and personal experience that addresses what they are interested in. Implications: Many sites now let you sign in using one of your social profiles (like Facebook and Twitter), and this is something all should seek to do as provides the information to tailor experiences and content better.


#5: Users want to interact with friends wherever they are online. People are by nature social animals and like to interact with their friends and others they share interests or affiliations with. They are expecting this. Implications: Sites need to provide the ability to enable this, such as adding the ability for suers to invite their friends into chat or interactions on the site in realtime.


#6: It's all about influencers. Not everyone is equal online. Some people are more influential than others through the networks and influence they have. Sites like Klout and Kred try and measure this. Implications: Brands and sites need to attract and find ways to get the more influential online users to recommend and help drive users to the site.


#7: Social "gamification" drives engagement. Getting users to engage with your site and content is always a challenge, but the use of games can help a great deal. Facebook found this when games like "Angry Birds" as an app on the site, and also Foursquare enables this. Implications: How can you get users to engage more through activities and games.


Patrick said that sites and brands that focus on these factors have seen on average the following results:

• Sites using social network sign-ons (like using your Facebook or Twitter user log-in) have seen on average +23% registrations.
• Users logging in with their social networks spend on average +52% more time on the site (as you can personalise the experience more).
• Users logging in with social networks on average view +179% more pages.

Thought and comments? Leave a comment on the blog posting!

Subscribe for email updates of new postings. Follow me on Twitter. Join the Marketing Unleashed Facebook page.