The holiday season is upon us and it’s time for me to make a Christmas list (no, I don’t really celebrate Christmas but it’s still fun). This year, all I want is to make my life easier, so here are a few things I wish I had.
Post in the comments what you want this year and maybe Santa (a VC and smart start-up) will come by and make it happen. To get this started, here’s my list:
A Better Way to Track Social Media
Social media’s bane is absolute tracking and metrics. We can look at indicators but I can’t give you a view through rate from Facebook to a sales page. I can’t specifically assign a sale to a social media effort. These kind of metrics are absolutely necessary.
We need something similar to cookies or we need to be able to cookie users that hit our social media profiles. I want to know that a user went from my Facebook page to my site and then bought a product. I want to know that a user hit my Twitter profile in their sales funnel.
A lot of social media’s tracking issues would be fixed if we could cookie users that access our social media profiles. If cookies are too dangerous or bring up privacy concerns, we need something similar that can help us define real metrics.
A Better Desktop Application for Social Media
I really want a better desktop application. Tweetdeck is great and it lets me track Twitter and Facebook, but what about instant messenger, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Google Reader? I just want an application that lets me pull all my information into one place.
While I write this right now, I have my Mail, TweetDeck, Google Reader, Adium, Skype, and Facebook open. It would be great to be able to just do that all in one application.
Businesses That Better Understand Social Media
Unlike other forms of marketing if one brand messes up when engaging online it hurts everyone. Consumers need to trust companies online and if a company is spamming them, they’re less likely to connect with another.
It’s important that all businesses understand at least the basics before trying out social media. Just because social media is less expensive than other forms of marketing, you should not just jump into it. A brand manager wouldn’t just make and deliver a TV ad. Social media is no different.
I hope more businesses will understand that they must first plan and create a strategy, understand the culture, and then engage online. I’ve put together a social media resource, Training Social, to help this wish come true.
Social Media Standards and Aggregations
I really hope that one day when someone fans my site on Facebook, they also become a Google Friend Connect fan. It is a shame that so much of my community is fragmented and broken.
Profiles and sharing needs a standard so that information isn’t spread thin and communities are easier to build. If OpenID gains more ground, this wish might come true. It still depends on if social networks will share data.
That’s all I can think of for now. I really hope some of these come true in 2010. If they have already come true, let me know! I’d love to hear what you’re wishing for. What would make your life easier? Leave a comment and let us all know.
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