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Idea: Customer Media and Content Predictions for 2014, Part Two

Last week, we shared the first half of our 10 customer media and content predictions for 2014. Here are the remaining five.

6. By the end of 2014, the term social media will start sounding as dated as the term Web 2.0 and will begin its long slide into buzzword oblivion. That’s what happens to labels that can no longer sell books or draw crowds to conferences. (See chart.)

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7. While the term social media will start disappearing from the marketing lexicon, the web itself will become even more social. Indeed, web and social are redundant, according to the web’s inventor, Tim Berners-Lee. “The web does not just connect machines, it connects people,” he said in 2009.
8. Another term facing extinction in 2014 is search engine optimization (SEO) or search marketing. Even the most scrupulous providers of search marketing services are running from the term. It makes sense. Google has declared war on anything that even hints of trying to manipulate Google search results.

9. While print consumer magazines (the kind you see on newsstands) will continue to decline as a business model in 2014, print customer magazines (the kind sent to you from your favorite stores, alma maters or associations) will continue to be embraced by marketers seeking to circumvent the chaos, clutter and noise of the web.

10. In 2014, the metrics of marketing that clearly measure bottom-line returns on investment will continue to grow in importance, while fuzzy metrics of “likes” and “influence” will either (1) disappear, or (2) be redefined with meanings that are less fuzzy and more bottom-line oriented.

And here is a bonus prediction: 2014 will be the year all your wishes come true.

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