You’ll find predictions covering web design, mobile, music, search, social and more below in our marketing and technology predictions for 2012.

While our crystal ball severely over heated from all of the predictions, there is no doubt this year will be another one full of cool technology and marketing integration.

2012 Staff Predictions

TABLET: I think we’ll see the integration of tablet PCs with more mediums.  For example in the same way Nintendo’s Wii is introducing a controller that resembles a Tablet PC, I wouldn’t be surprised to see things like cable companies adopt this theme to improve their TV / Video On Demand user experiences.
Joe Barhorst – Developer

INTEGRATION: Social, Digital & Mainstream Marketing collaboration.  Example being a Coke ad synced across platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others.
Erin Moore – Project Manager

GOOGLE +: Since Google just introduced Search plus Your World, I see either a strong exodus from Facebook and Twitter to Google+ profiles, or many people being turned off by the new search and using Bing.
Alicia Neubauer – Social Media Intern

SEARCH & SOCIAL: Search engines will be pushing information from social networks towards the top of the search results.  This continues to emphasize a huge need for tools and apps to help combine and organize multiple social network platforms.
Travis Neiderhiser – Developer

WEB DESIGN: Responsive web design is going to be the major trend when designing/developing websites to suit multiple different devices.  I feel that companies will find this a huge advantage of having one website conform to any device without having to load content multiple different ways or for that matter having multiple budgets to support the design & build of different websites for their company.
Jeff Wagner – Creative Director

MUSIC: Technology focused on music sharing will engage music fanatics and freaks even more than the Spotifys of today. I’d love to see a solution connect the creators to the listeners on a tighter level.
Becca Tollefson – Project Manager

TV: I foresee interactive TV’s being the center of our media universe and this will gain even more traction in 2012. No longer will be the days of a central media server rather all media content will be streamed from a central source such as a TV to a more local device such as a computer, iPad or mobile.
Mike Rynchek – President

SOCIAL: The never-ending online social network and media coverage realms have continued to boom as we move forward in the age of technology. More companies begin to realize that connecting with the client and customer on a deeper level is more important than knowing “what’s hot” for the moment.
Lisa Ostrander – Executive Assistant

APPS: The app-centric approach to technology will increase and even spill over to the wider technology sphere.  This means increasingly specific apps that interact with other apps.  It also means a cohesive experience between devices.  As marketers and developers, it’s our job to sell an experience, not just any one app or site, and now more than ever it’ll be our job to make sure that is simple, cohesive, and engaging in an environment in the midst of dramatic transition.
Perry Govier – Developer

VOICE RECOGNITION: The integration of voice recognition technology, like Siri, into our daily routine. This technology will be used in everything from apps to make our lives easier, to selecting entertainment choices, to finding information faster and easier.
Jennie Eukel – Project Manager

MOBILE: 70% of Americans will own a smartphone (44% now).
Barb Vanags – VP of Finance & HR

VOICE RECOGNITION: More hands free technology on all devices. Apple always starts a trend, so I know we’ll see more devices with voice recognition like Siri.   I want my phone to know what I want to read and read it to me so I can drive and hear the stories I want.
Liz Tunheim – Social Media Manager

SOCIAL: Pinterest and its booming growth is going to find a beautiful way to deliver extremely relevant ads to you. Ads you, as a user, are happy to see because they will be integrated with the boards and pins of those you follow. These new “AdPins” will match the look and category of those items/products/yards/homes/quotes you would normally see on the boards you follow.
Jamie Lee Jacobsen – Lead Project Manager

FACIAL & VOICE RECOGNITION: Facial recognition software will allow for customized public display advertising based on age, gender, and other visible demographic metrics.  Also, this will become reality.
Tracy Henry – Search Marketing Associate

GAMIFICATION: There will be a bigger push towards “active interaction” through devices such as Wii and Kinect, which could influence everything from how we interact with games and movies to how we control our computers, or a presentation.
Travis Manick – Developer

MOBILE: Mobile devices will become as powerful as high end laptops. A user will have the ability to plug their phone into a screen and use it as a computer.
Ben Olsem – Designer

MOBILE: Consumers more and more are looking to utilize their smart phones (check-ins, deals, payments, etc.) and brands still know this. Last year was another large year in mobile adoption, but this year I think will be defined by consumers maximizing their mobile to better navigate all aspects of their lives (health, finance, social, etc.).
Nick Bryant – Senior Account Executive

SEARCH: Changes to search engine results and rankings continue to become more frequent at Google. Local, mobile, social and personalized results are all morphing at a rapid rate as Google mashes it’s technology and data across a massive audience.  Will it all be for the good of search or just the good of Google?
My prediction – Aaron Weiche

What will actually take hold in 2012? We might see all of these or just a few, but it’s easy to see that our industry is busting with innovation, growth and opportunity. No doubt this year will be another exciting one.

Do you have a prediction or comment to share on technology and marketing for this year?  Drop your comments below.

Let’s take a look at what we did for Rapala USA and also consider these are valuable steps for any business looking to maximize their Facebook marketing.

1. Custom Facebook Welcome Tab

Rapala USA’s custom welcome tab is titled “Get Hooked Up” and includes Rapala USA branding with integration of Rapala USA’s existing marketing channels, including email (Rapala eRAP-UP), the Rapala YouTube Channel, and its Facebook Photo Albums to help entice fans to post their own pictures using Rapala USA’s products.

By integrating each of these networks on this tab, Rapala USA is making it easy for its fans to engage where and how they want.

Creating a custom welcome tab is the best way to bring your brand to life on your Facebook Fan Page and highlight other valuable content.

2. Add a Facebook Fan Gate to Gain Page Likes

Rapala USA added a fan gate to the page to push visitors to “like” the page. By including this fan gate, it saves the content on the Custom Welcome Tab for fans. We’ve blogged in the recent past on the benefits of using a Facebook fan gate.

3. Integrate Facebook With Existing Marketing Channels

Your Facebook page should not be a standalone and is more successful when integrated with your other online marketing channels. With this launch, Rapala USA emailed its existing eRAP-UP list to visit its new Facebook page.

Don’t expect customers to find a new Facebook page themselves. Leverage your existing channels to announce the new page as your fans are used to those existing channels. By using this existing marketing channel to create awareness, Rapala USA has acquired over 500 fans in a little over 48 hours.

4. Connect With Fans By Sharing Engaging Content

It is not enough to just create a fan page, companies must engage with fans to give them a reason to come back to the page. Upon launching the page, Rapala USA immediately engaged new fans with a post encouraging them to share their favorite fishing stories or photos.

This post created an early spike in activity and inspired 239 Facebook users in the first 72 hours to post a photo, comment on fan photos, or share photos on their own profiles.

Facebook Insights calls this data point “People Talking About This,” and this is one of the most important Insights to seeing if your content is relevant with your Facebook fans and is the key to continued growth of your Facebook fan community.

We’re excited with the outcome and opportunity that Rapala USA has with their Facebook presence. If you have other tips besides our four above, please drop us a comment with what’s worked for you.

This new friendship makes it easier for fat fingered users like myself to use the full functionality of Facebook on the iPad.

Facebook Ipad App User Features

• Photos and video can now be taken, tagged and posted to your newsfeed within the app and can be viewed at full scale on your iPad or through airplay-if you have Apple TV.
• Improved content sharing without visiting your inbox.
• Integrated gaming allows for full screen gameplay and enhanced notification features.
• Friend check-ins can now be tracked on a global map via the Nearby feature.
• Access to your messages, requests and notifications can now happen without losing your place in the timeline.

Facebook iPad App Developer and Marketing Features

• App specific actions can now be automatically added to a user’s timelines once they select the option.
• Users will be able to tap a notification and be routed to the appropriate version, be it mobile or native iOS, through a new request dialog for seamless integration between devices.
• Bookmarks will automatically be updated as users access the app.
• Users will be able to search for your app even if they have not logged into it previously.
• Facebook credits will allow for payments within the app via mobile platform.

I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone starts to implement and take advantage of the new app features.  What features would you still like to see? What do you think they did successfully?

Here are 5 tips for writing a better ad that I adhere to when executing Facebook advertising for our clients.

Some of the following “best practices” are similar to writing good search marketing ads with Google AdWords, though some are totally unique to Facebook.

Follow these best practices and you may dramatically increase the performance and ROI of your Facebook advertising campaigns:

1. Create a compelling ad title

Sorry, but odds are the viewer you’re targeting doesn’t care what you’ve decided to name your business. Even if you’re Sears, Best Buy, Target, Amazon, or any other big name company, the viewer only cares about what you can do for them. Most often, they won’t even get past the title unless you give them a reason to. Put yourself in your viewers’ shoes. What would make you read the rest of the ad?

2. Include a benefit and a call to action

This is one of the most basic, simple tips, which applies just as well to Facebook ads as to Google search ads. Give the viewer a benefit for clicking through then ask them to click through.

3. Use a relevant ad image

Facebook was nice enough to give us an image to work with, but couldn’t they have made it a bit bigger?  Even with the limited real estate, the basic rules of advertising still apply; show the product in use, eyeballs facing the text or facing forward.

Another image option because of the limited space, is to use your logo for Facebook Ads.  However, using your logo will only help you if your target viewer is familiar with it.  If not, you’re better off with a product-in-use photo.

Cute images and sex appeal still attract attention, but they won’t necessarily correspond to the message you’re trying to send.  That might be great for impressions, but it will probably be lousy for click-through rates.

4. Target very, very narrowly and leverage Facebook advertising strengths

If they’d let me, I’d write an ad with your name in the title and display it only to you.  We can’t get that specific yet and we probably never will.  But, if I know your age, what you’re interested in, where you work, and where you go to school, I bet I can target you and maybe a dozen other people at maximum.

If you’re not targeting viewers by interest, employer, or school, you’re probably targeting too broadly.  Age, gender, relationship status, and location can help narrow your audience, but writing highly effective copy is easier if you can get even more specific.

5. Use the correct metrics

Click-through rate is almost useless for Facebook ads.  If somebody loves my ad and clicks it the first time they see it, they probably won’t click on it the next 20 times they see it.  Thankfully, Facebook also offers the unique click-through rate (clicks divided by reach), which is the main metric you’ll want to use to judge performance.

Keep an eye on frequency too. Displaying your ad too many times to the same group of target viewers will start to grate on their nerves.  Refresh your ads if you feel you really need to continue the campaign.

Example Facebook Advertising

Below is an example of an ad I targeted to employees of Kohl’s for our client.  I achieved a unique click-through rate of 1.43% for this campaign.

Below is another ad with a unique CTR of 1.24%. I targeted this ad to people whose interests include Prairie Vodka.

Have you used any of these techniques? Let me know what kinds of Facebook advertising and ad writing techniques have worked well for you.

Creating a Facebook fan gate can help boost your Facebook “likes” and community numbers. Let’s look at what a fan gate is, how it helps and a few recent examples we’ve worked on at Spyder Trap.

What’s A Fan Gate?

A fan gate is essentially a “gate” through which a new visitor must pass before they get to view or engage with your Facebook content. To get through this “gate” the visitor must first decide to “like” your page.  This concept is also referred to as a “like gate” or a “reveal page”.

By using an iFrame to pull in PHP code from a separate site you can create a fan gate within your Facebook page.

Why Should You Use A Fan Gate?

A fan gate creates an incentive for a visitor to click your “like” button.

If a new visitor is interested enough in your company, restaurant or organization to get to your Facebook page wouldn’t it be nice to remind them to “like” the page in order to continue to stay connected?

What you don’t want is for that interested potential client, donor or constituent to visit the page once, read the content and then forget to come back. Boo! Wasted opportunity!

The fan gate, through its very obvious reminder, will increase the likelihood of that individual becoming a fan for a long time. Do note that the gate does not restrict access to other areas of your Facebook page, a user can always click on one of the other pages on display to the left of the main content area.

Fan Gate Examples

Spyder Trap recently launched two fan gates for a couple of our clients.  The early results show a solid increase in “likes”.

WA Frost and Company
www.facebook.com/wafrostcompany

WA Frost saw a 136% increase from the week prior for “likes” when their fan gate was introduced.

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
www.facebook.com/childrensminnesota

After one week of having the fan gate and a supporting “like us” ad campaign, Children’s saw their “likes” increase by 91% compared to the previous week.  Children’s is now nearing 5,000 who like their page.

Facebook Fan Gate Tips

So now that you know what it is and why it’s a good idea to use one, here are a few tips to keep in mind when creating a fan gate:

1.    Tell the visitor why they should want to “like” the page. On your fan gate, in a few words, let them know that liking the page will give access to special offers, news, tips or other information your audience is interested in. Really consider your audience to maximize this incentive.  A great example is The New Yorker who knew its readers would be interested in liking the page if they were offered access to a to a fans-only short story, so it used a fan gate to tease the content.

2.    Visually tell the visitor what to do when they land on the page. Some use arrows pointing at the “like” button others may use the “like” button in the copy as we did for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

3.    Consider running a “like” Facebook Paid Advertising campaign in tandem with your new fan gate to increase the number of new individuals visiting your Facebook page, encountering the gate and liking the page.

Big Brand Examples

There are endless big brands utilizing fan gates currently.  From Diet Coke to Macy’s to the Chicago Cubs, big brands are experiencing success in building their audience and reach with fan gates.

Do you have a favorite Facebook fan gate or have you created one for your business on Facebook?  Drop us a comment.

Still being a newbie to Spyder Trap, I wanted to survey Aaron for the day, network, and learn from the other industry professionals who were leading various sessions.

This was a great event  (event photos) for small businesses trying to determine how to get started with online marketing and social media—moreover, it was a great reminder of how important it is to understand the basics before investing in any social or search campaign.

With changes in our industry everyday, more than ever, a basic understanding is of the utmost importance to ensuring any investment put into your marketing is advantageous to your company and of course your bottom line.

Still Trying To Decide If Social Media Can Help Your Business?

Here are some tips and best practices shared by Aaron in his keynote to help you get started:

• Social media allows you to connect with your customers for a lot less than traditional marketing; however, it should be part of your marketing strategy, not THE strategy.
• Start simple – write about what you know and be an expert in your niche – all businesses can succeed by engaging their customers and providing timely, interesting content.
• Make the goal to make connections with your customers, not just garner contacts. Real connections create lasting relationships.
• When determining your ROI, start with the end goal and set objectives; then write the strategy.
• In sum, social media is a tool for your business to help you be an expert and create lasting relationships for your customers.

Want More Social Media Tips?

There was a lot of great information shared on Twitter throughout the day and you can access it by searching hashtag #bootcampII.

You can also see a great sampling of online tools shared by the presenters that they use to help them work faster and smarter.

Facebook, too, utilizing the existing technology of Skype, has seamlessly integrated video chat into Facebook, where most people won’t realize they are actually chatting via Skype while on Facebook.

Facebook Video Calling

Based on recent events, my predications for the future:

1. 1. More social integration across social networks first, then extending into non – social networks second.
2. 2. Increase in integration between platforms. (ie. online, computer, mobile, tablet and yes, TV.)
3. 3. Drastic increase in “hands free” capability.”

Video Chat Shows The Value Of Integration

First let’s look at Facebook Video Chat. Facebook’s integration of video chat has given them cross platform reach. Integration is a word that will become commonplace in the technology space. By taking advantage of the growing popularity of video chat within their own environment, Facebook has yet again proven they know how to stay relevant. Additionally, they have continued to strengthen connectivity by adding new and better features.

Pandora is an example of ubiquitous accessibility, providing integrations across multiple platforms. It remains relevant by providing a service when I want it wherever I want it. Pandora adopted this model early on, providing seamless integration of their core service. This has not only allowed fallibility of use, but also a much more rapid adoption rate.

Now let’s look at Google Voice Search. Voice recognition we know is growing, but how could it realistically impact the immediate future? Take your car for example. Now imagine performing any function you want without taking your eyes off the road. Envision being at home and while making dinner audibly looking up the recipe. The world of voice recognition opens up a wide variety of opportunity in the technology sphere.

What are your thoughts? Where will we go next?… Better yet where should we as technologists go next?

Social Media continues to be the current darling of the web.  It’s growth, popularity and visibility stretch from the websites we visit, to our nightly TV news broadcasts to our local youth sports fundraisers.  With the masses engaging in social media on a frequent basis, we look at it’s role and benefits in the healthcare industry.

Social Media Statistics & Growth

• It took nearly 40 years for computers to become mainstream—it took Facebook less than 6 months to add 100MM people.
• In winter 2011 more than 500MM people used Facebook regularly. Among adults in the US, 42% use social networking sites. Among young adults (age 18–29 years), the figure is an impressive 86%.
• Facebook hit 750MM users mid June 2011. That’s a 250MM jump in less than six months.
• Social media now reaches the majority of Americans 12+, with 52% having a profile on one or more social networks.
• 37% of Internet users have actively contributed to the creation, commentary, or dissemination of news. In addition, 75% of online news consumers get news forwarded through e-mail or posts on social networking sites.
• Sharing produces an estimated 10% of all Internet traffic and 31% of referral traffic to sites from search and social. When it comes to sharing, 80 percent of people share only one category of links and more than 70 percent will only ever click on one category.

Getting Social To Connect With Customers

First, your customers are using social media.  Of adults who use social network sites:

• 23% of social network site users, or 11% of adults, have followed their friends’ personal health experiences or updates on the site;
• 15% of social network site users, or 7% of adults, have gotten any health information on the sites;
• 14% have raised money for or drawn attention to a health-related issue or cause; and
• 9% have started or joined a health-related group on a social networking site.

Second, your healthcare competition is using social media.  U.S. Hospitals are now using more social networking tools:

• 1,188 Hospitals total
• 548 YouTube Channels
• 1018 Facebook pages
• 788 Twitter Accounts
• 458 LinkedIn Accounts
• 913 Four Square
• 137 Blogs
• 3,952 Hospital Social Networking Sites

One example of a growing health professional social network website is Sermo. Sermo has 115,000 community members, all healthcare professionals.

About Doctors on Sermo:

• Average age: 47
• Median yrs in practice: 13
• Represent 68 specialties
• Practice in all 50 states
• Spend 35,000 hrs/month online

Here are some additional statistics on doctors and their technology use:

• 72% of US physicians carry smartphones
• About 30% of physicians access medical information using a handheld device or smartphone; 95% of physicians who use smartphones use them to download apps to access medical information.
• According to Manhattan Research, 80% of nurses direct patients to trusted healthcare sites online.

As a healthcare provider, your audience is online and is quickly adopting social media as a trusted source.  Do you know and own what is being said about your brand online?  You should consider your audience and create a plan to be where your audience expects you to be present, otherwise your competition may be there and create a new relationship first.

Remember, 42% of adults in the US are using social media sites, and therefore planning some amount of engagement is an incredibly important tactic in your marketing plan.

Healthcare Using Social Media

Here are a couple examples of good social media use by healthcare providers.

Kaiser Permanente & The Department of Veterans Affairs
The positive network effect provides fast and free distribution of messages to health consumers. A recent demonstration of this effect occurred with the media release of Kaiser Permanente’s (KP) electronic health record collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs in January 2010.

Through the use of social networking tools such as Twitter, an audience of hundreds was expanded to an audience of over 75,000 within 48 hours, with 92% of the reach created by individuals not affiliated with KP.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
During the H1N1 outbreak of 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) turned to social networking site Twitter to communicate with clinicians across the US. The CDC employs a Twitter feed for emergency information (more than 1.2 million followers) and also for flu information (46,000 followers).

Are you already engaging with your audience online through social media?  If so, please share what has worked for you.

• Watch next week for our 3rd and final post in this healthcare series on search marketing.

About Google Plus

With another attempt to get social and get into Facebook’s turf Google Plus claims to be a new way to share throughout the web.  The main features are called Circles, Hangouts and Sparks and here is the quick rundown on them from the website.

Google Plus Circles
The easiest way to share some things with college buddies, others with your parents, and almost nothing with your boss.

Google Plus Hangouts
Let friends know you’re free for a video hangout, any time, anywhere. Then catch up, watch YouTube, or… just hangout.

Google Plus Sparks
A feed of just the stuff you’re really into, so when you’re free, there’s always something waiting to be watched, read, or shared.
What will Google+ turn out to be?  Another Google Wave or the next big thing?

Overall the Minneapolis OMS was well coordinated and featured some quality local and national speakers for the audience.

The wide range of attendee experience from newbie to online marketing experts always creates a challenge for the presenters, but most handled it well.  With three different breakout sessions going at one time, I could only hit five sessions for the day, but here are my takeaways from them.

How To Convert More Visitors To Customers

Matt Dombrow’s session was my favorite of the day.  He outlined the importance of anticipating the conversation with a consumer online to take them from search to landing page to conversion.

The conversion conversation outlined by Matt consists of making sure you help the user get answers:

1. Where did I land?
2. What can I do here?
3. Why should I do it here and not elsewhere?

No doubt the importance of conversion in your search marketing should hit these basics and some of the other ideas Matt presented.

Advance Settings For Results From PPC & Display Ads

Jamie Smith walked through a few different approaches and settings to make sure you are getting the most from your paid search marketing.  He put an emphasis on reverse engineering geo-targeting to exclude areas as a useful approach.

Jamie offered some great advice when he discussed the use of negative keywords to outwork your competition.

Lastly from Jamie, was the recommendation to study the design and content of organic results and factor them into your landing page creation.  Since many top organic results hold and convert users, they must be doing something right!  Determine what those elements are and put them to work for you.

Driving An Engaged Consumer With Email, Mobile & Social Success

Email guru Sundeep Kapur put together a great session focused on email marketing. His vast experience and passion delivered some great insight.  While he offered 12 absolutes you need to engage in, these quotes really impacted me.

“Ask yourself, are you really doing everything your consumers expect online?”

” You must capture data to drive personalization. Get to know them at every step!”

Sundeep shared many of his segmentation and engagement strategies that can be applied to any email marketing campaign for greater success.

Google Remarketing

Lisa Raehsler presented on Remarketing with Google and outlined both steps and settings to generate success with this feature.  This underutilized approach can help you get back in front of customers who have already visited your website.  Her preso is up on SlideShare.

One great Remarketing use Lisa pointed out was to apply it to those who abandon your shopping cart with targeted ads that will motivate them to return and buy.

10 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People

Susan Weinschenk, Ph. D has written a few books on web design and the human mind.  Her session drove home the fact that most people make decisions unconsciously, can only focus on 3 to 4 things max at a time and that peripheral vision is more important than central vision.

While the audience took part in some fun exercises to prove these statements, my biggest takeway hit upon trust in design.  People evaluate the trust of your website by taking in the “look and feel” and this happens in under one second.  Design matters, a lot.

Great People

All of this online marketing information was great to learn, be reminded of and take in, but as usual it was the people I sat by, talked with and met that made the day great.  From connecting with new peers in the industry to catching up with old friends to meeting new prospects, it’s better with solid people.

Hopefully you followed my tweets from the day as I shared many tips and pieces of information along with some occasional humor.

If you attended #OMSmin, let me know your thoughts on the day.