WOW, there is so much going on! After attending the Search Engines Strategies conference in NYCÂ my mind is spinning! Some perspective:
40 years ago – newspapers, Broadcast TV, Broadcast radio, magazines
20 years ago – add cable TV, Computers
Now – Internet – add email, blogs, online video, cell phones, mobile internet, mobile video, text messaging, podcasting, IM, blogs, social networks, I could keep going and going.
Most notable and popular at this year’s conference (with over 6,000 attendees) was the emergence of what some are calling the “User Revolution”
Communitainment (Communication and Entertainment) sites – Yahoo Answers (social search), My Space (social networking), Wikepidia (online encyclopedia), You Tube (online video), Blogger (blogging) and Facebook (social networking) all over 15 million UNIQUE visitors a month! According to Piper Jaffray over the next 10 years more than half of the internet usage will be Communitainment.
As a marketer how do you communicate with the consumer? The answer to this question will be the challenge for the foreseeable future. However, where there is challenge there is excitement and opportunity. The consumer decision making process is becoming more sophisticated.
My two cents…no matter what your marketing strategy may be in the next few years, search will remain the navigation tool for the consumer, and will assume an even more central role. Today there are 600 million searches daily and the world is just starting to get confusing! What does that mean to today’s marketer? Create a comprehensive, cohesive search strategy today! What does this mean to the pharma industry? Consumers are turning to search for health info & finding information from peers. Social media represents a new way for consumers to instantly discuss products and treatments, representing a huge fundamental shift in healthcare.
