Spring Comes Early Online: 3 Marketing Trends Bloom in 2012

This year will be an interesting one for any number of reasons, not the least of which are three areas that represent emerging opportunities for online marketers.

1. Online Ad Spending Overtakes Print Ad Spending

For the first time, online ad spending this year will exceed the total amount spent on newspapers and print magazines, according to eMarketer. By the end of 2012, online ad spending will reach $39.5 billion, while total print spending will be $33.8 billion ($19.4 billion in newspaper ads and $15.4 billion in magazine ads). Over the next five years, eMarketer predicts online ad spending will grow to as much as $62 billion, while print advertising will remain stagnant at no more than $32.3 billion by 2016.

Interestingly, television ad spending in the U.S. is projected to continue to grow, from $64.8 billion in 2012 to $72 billion by 2016. However, the gap between television advertising and online advertising will shrink significantly over the next five years. As Internet-enabled and smart TVs gain market share, consumers will care less about where their content is coming from. Television channels and Internet content may blur, presenting new opportunities for integrated ad buys.

While not unanticipated, it is big news that print advertising is being supplanted by online advertising. This always seemed to be an inevitability, but this year it becomes a reality. When we look back, we’ll be able to say that 2012 was the true turning point for the media world. In fact, the robust growth of both online and television advertising, in combination with the rise of digital newspapers, magazines, and eBooks, suggests that traditional print has reached the point of no return. There is already a lot of mad scrambling by print publishers to reinvent their businesses in digital life forms.

Finally, the marketplace is validating the dominance of online media.

2. Social E-Commerce is on the Rise

Another area that promises to emerge in 2012 is social e-commerce. When all the data is in, only about $1 billion of goods will have been sold in 2011 in the U.S. through social media, according to Booz & Company. However, this amount will grow to $3 billion in 2012 and should reach $14 billion by 2015. The lion’s share is expected to come in through Facebook.

We are all aware of the impact social media has had on the way we communicate, but retailers, advertisers, and online marketers are at the very beginning of the social e-commerce curve. Krista Garcia, an analyst with eMarketer, says:

“It is not surprising that shopping and socializing—activities that complement each other in the real world—are beginning to converge online as well. As social media, and Facebook in particular, plays a larger role in consumers’ lives, people are becoming accustomed to performing routine tasks like reading news, watching videos and listening to music, as well as discovering products and shopping, all while staying logged in to a single site. Instead of compartmentalizing daily routines, social media users are treating Facebook as a one-stop platform.”

Think of the opportunity social e-commerce could present to your business and be ready to put it to good use.

3. Smartphones Fuel Mobile Advertising

A third key growth area is mobile advertising. Mobile ad spending in the U.S. exceeded $1 billion ($1.226 billion) for the first time in 2011, according to eMarketer. In 2012, it will grow to around $1.8 billion, increasing to almost $4.4 billion in 2015.

There will also be a shift in the mobile formats used by advertisers. In 2011, messaging outpaced banners and rich media, search, and video. In 2015, however, eMarketer projects that search will take over the lead, followed by banners and rich media, messaging and video.

Mobile advertising is a new and important opportunity for online marketers. If you don’t have a mobile advertising strategy yet, it’s time to get moving.

A Brave New World

Taken in combination, these three major market shifts will make 2012 significant as the starting point of a fundamentally different time for online marketing. From this point forward, online advertising will dominate, social e-commerce will emerge as not only viable but preferable, and the mobile platform will be commonly accepted and utilized for advertising.

Online marketers who know how to take advantage of these areas will be in a position to flourish.

About Barry Silverstein

Barry Silverstein is a freelance writer/marketing consultant. In addition to writing for ReveNews, he is a contributing writer to Brandchannel.com, the world’s leading online branding forum. He is the author of three marketing books, The Breakaway Brand (co-author, McGraw-Hill, 2005), Business-to-Business Internet Marketing (Maximum Press, 2003) and Internet Marketing for Technology Companies (Maximum Press, 2003). Barry ran his own Internet and direct marketing agency for twenty years. You can find Barry on Twitter @bdsilv.

Website: http://www.barrysilverstein.com