It’s hard to believe another calendar year is coming to an end less than 2 months. I’m amazed at the pace of which digital and social media continue to evolve and get excited when I think of what 2014 might bring in the way of further surprises.
As we continue to plan for the coming year and look for ways to continue growing the Cisco Social Media Training and Enablement program, I’ve been researching various 2014 digital and social media trends. From the “Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That will Dominate 2014” (from @Forbes) to the “6 Social Media Trends That will Impact You in 2014” (from @B2Community), there is a lot of speculation to weed through.
To make sense of all of the digital and social media predictions out there, I thought it would be helpful to meet with an industry expert who focuses on all sorts of related statistics, trends, and data. As part of our monthly “Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Series, I’m excited to announce the next interactive activity.
Join the Cisco Social Media Training Team and our special guest, Molly McHugh (@iammollymchugh), @DigitalTrends Web and Social Section Editor, for a #Ciscosmt Twitter chat on Thursday, November 21th from 9-10am PT. During this lively chat we will:
- Review digital and social media advancements and business impact during 2013
- Discuss key 2014 digital and social media trends as it relates to mobile, big data, content marketing, compliance, and internal and external platforms
- Innovations to keep an eye on and other valuable insights
Invite your colleagues to join us and bring your insights and questions. And why wait until the #Ciscosmt Twitter chat? Share what’s on your mind regarding digital and social media for 2014 now! I’m interested to hear your thoughts and can add it to our Twitter chat agenda.
Cisco Social Media Training Program Opportunity:
If you have any questions or are interested in other types of social media training, check out our complimentary Cisco Social Media Training Program and follow the #ciscosmt hashtag. To request customized one-on-one team training sessions, email ciscosmtraining@external.cisco.com.
For those that might be new participating in a Twitter chat, here are some quick details:
What is a Twitter Chat?
Twitter chats are scheduled gatherings of Twitter users to discuss a given topic, using a hashtag to keep track of conversation.
How do I participate?
- There are many ways to participate in a Twitter chat. You can use a dedicated chat platform, (i.e. Twubs, TweetChat, Tchat.io, etc.), your favorite Twitter client (TweetDeck, Hootsuite, etc.) or you can even just user Twitter search to follow the chat hashtag.
- We want it to be an interactive chat, learning from each other. Join in the conversation with your insights and experiences using #Ciscosmt. And also interact with others, re-tweeting, exchanging ideas, and commenting on other points of view.
- Questions will be labeled Q1, Q2, Q3. If you are responding to a question, please start your tweet with the corresponding answer number “A1”.
We look forward to your insights here and during the #Ciscosmt Twitter chat!
Elizabeth, the big trend for 2014 will be significant budget cuts for Corporate Social Media organizations at large multinational companies. Once again, Cisco is a market leader — being one of the first to reduce spending.
In hindsight, I believe that it’s all good progress. It’s the right thing to do, given the results from past efforts. Let me explain why I predict the deep cuts will continue, until the staffing levels and budgets are right-sized.
While there were some notable successes in 2013, much of the Social activity is not strategic — it has little or no impact on Cisco’s core business objectives. Based on my research, this trend is common across all the tech sector.
Therefore, I believe that we’ve reached an important crossroads, where marketing communications investment will be reviewed much more closely by every savvy CEO.
That being said, I see a huge upside opportunity for new thinking. I’ve outlined a situation analysis in an editorial that’s entitled “Why Social Media is Not Valued by Savvy CEOs” http://bit.ly/15H1yCR
The response I’ve received to my point of view thus far has been overwhelming agreement that the need for a significant change in direction is apparent — in particular, the typical ‘busy-work’ that social media teams engage in must be abandoned ASAP.
In a follow-on editorial, I’ll explain how CMO’s can raise the bar of expectations for their internal staff right now, and start down the path of being in a much better position to take back both the control and the execution of their essential corporate marketing communications.
Thank you for sharing your viewpoints David. You certainly bring up valid points. There are different statistics and reports out there though that show a different story. At the end of the day, it comes down to the organization, how they are leveraging digital and social media for their business, and what steps they put in place to maximize potential ROI opportunities.
I recently learned about Twitter Chats and I am incredibly interested in learning more about them such as who participates, how long someone usually follows one for, the different topics they talk about and more. I think as the calendar turns to 2014 it is exciting to see where Social Media is going. PR is evolving just as social media always is. Twitter is an exciting place to connect and learn and twitter chats are the perfect opportunity to do so. I am excited to take part in a twitter chat soon, and really learn from others via social media.