As 2009 begins to draw to a close marketers are starting to look ahead to 2010. So what will 2010 bring for Australian digital? With a big gap between the have and the have not’s – this article identifies the key tactics that will be leveraged by the market leaders;

Mobile Strategy Maturity & Integration;
2009 was definitely the year of mobile internet take up by Australians – with 1 in every 5 Australian consumers now accessing the web via their mobile. In 2009 many digital leaders understood the need for a mobile site, however in 2010 organisations will look to leverage the channel in a more sophisticated manner. Mobile analytics will mature, offering a new depth of insight for marketers to support decision making and assit organisations to build upon their core mobile site offering. Organisations will also look to leverage mobile as a tool to bring the online and offline space closer together. In addition organisations will also look to re-purpose mobile infrastructure to provide the true value of mobile internet for users on the move.

Augmented Reality Trialled by a select few in 2009, such as Queensland University of Technology and Nissan, augmented reality will be big in 2010. This trend has not gone un-noted with some new start up agencies entering the market in anticipation of the rise in demand. Apart from the value as a stand-alone tactic, augmented reality will also supplement tired marketing tactics and possibly bring offline marketers into the world of online as it offers strong integration opportunities.

Vertical Search
2010 will see continual investment in the area of vertical search by search engines. Overseas both Google and Bing have begun pouring signifcant investment into vertical search and the true extent of their plans will become more evident. If they succeed, this will spell the beginning of the end for many product aggregator sites in key categories such as finance, careers, travel and others. In addition however vertical search will increase the importance for marketers to offer content to support consumer decision making across the product purchase process to ensure their brand is ranking for the new filter options search engines will offer for key segments.

Social Search
With search engines losing eye-balls to social media, we will see Search Engines build upon integration efforts with social networks to provide users with a richer / real time experience. In addition social tools such as Google’s side wiki will play a prominent role in the search algorithm as will “real authority” gained through social sites.

Engagement – It Will Be Big
The Government has done it (for Brand Australia), Telstra has started it and Kraft fudged it. A few Australian brands have toyed with concepts to co-create the brand experience with consumers however such activity will increase significantly in 2010. Tactics such as crowd-sourcing will be key, as will spending time in the community on social platforms to gather feedback from consumers and participate in meaningful conversations.

Content Marketing Will Grow
Blackmores in Australia is doing it well, and the real estate sector are starting to jump on it but many digital trend setters in Australia are yet to develop a strong content marketing strategy. With new mechanisms for consumers to seek out knowledge, marketing is moving toward inbound or demand marketing and brands who become publishers providing true value will begin to prosper.

How do you see the digital market evolving in 2010? Share your thoughts below

© Digital Marketing Lab Blog

Written By: Teresa Sperti

It’s been a big year in digital for Australia. And a big year should be rounded off with my biggest compilation of digital statistics. So here they are;

General Internet Usage Statistics

1. At the end of June this year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported 8.4million active internet subscribers in Australia. Sunshine Coast Daily, June 2009
2. According to ComScore Australia’s internet population over the age of 15 in 2009 grew to 12.6 million Australians from 11.3 in 2008. ComScore, November 2009
3. 19% of Australia’s internet population is 55+, 18% is 45 – 54, 21% is 35 – 44, 20% is 25 – 34 & 21% is 15 – 24. ComScore, November 2009

4. In October, Australian users spent 27.2 hours browsing online. Nielsen, November 2009
5. According to ComScore some of the most popular retail categories visited online by Australian internet users include Computer Hardware 22.4% of internet users, Books 21.4% of internet users& comparison shopping sites 18.2%. ComScore, November 2009
6. Around 3 million Australians illegally download music every year, that is 1 in 4 Australian internet users. November 2009

Social Media

7. A study on social networking usage in Australia, found more than 70 percent of Internet users in Australia visited a social networking site in June, up 29 percent from the previous year. ComScore, August 2009
8. Facebook’s now accounts for 29 per cent of all time spent online by Australians – this has seen research group Nielsen define the trend as Facebook Time and Non Facebook Time. Nielsen, November 2009
9. October social networking usage - Facebook’s unique audience was 8.1 million, followed by MySpace which was steady on 2.3 million users while Bebo lagged well behind on 358,000. Nielsen, November 2009
10. Australian Facebook users uploaded 80 million pictures, wrote 32 million wall posts and 45 million status updates in October. Nielsen, November 2009
11. Twitter growth in the past 12 months in Australia equates to 1150%. November 2009

12. 79.1% of internet users in Australia view online video. Universal McCann, July 2009
13. YouTube receives 6.17 million monthly Australian visitors. ComScore, 2009
14. Wikipedia received 5.2 million Australian visitors. Nielsen, November 2009
15. Blogger received 3.1 million Australian visitors. Nielsen, November 2009
16. Yahoo!7 Answers received 2.5 million Australia visitors. Nielsen, November 2009

Online Advertising

17. Australians are some of the least likely to click on online display ads in the world. Latin America and Europe record double the CTR in Rich Media than that of Australasia and North America with the global average standing at .1%. Eyeblaster Research, 2009
18. One third of Australian consumers exposed to an online ad are able to recall that ad when asked. Nielsen Online, November 2009.
19. Australia’s online advertising industry hit record levels for Q3, with online ad spend now equating to $466 million. IAB Australia, November 2009
20. Search and Directories account for 51 percent of the total advertising expenditure in Oz General Display accounts for 26 percent and Classifieds 23 percent based on Q3 2009. IAB Australia, November 2009

21. Search and Directories grew 12 percent for Q3 year on year; while General Display declined 3.8 percent and Classifieds declined 5 percent. IAB Australia, November 2009
22. Online video advertising equates to 4% of the total general display advertising market in Australia. IAB Australia, November 2009
23. CPM advertising equates to 75 percent of the general display category, with only 22 percent reported for response and 3 percent for hybrid in Australia. IAB Australia, November 2009
24. Finance, Computers & Communications and Motor Vehicles dominant General Display advertising, comprising of 42 percent of the General Display spending. IAB Australia, November 2009

Mobile Phone

25. A third of all Australians now check emails on their handset. Australian Interactive Media Industry Association Survey, September 2009
26. Year on year Australians accessing social media sites from their handset have grown from 7% to 32%. Australian Interactive Media Industry Association Survey, September 2009
27. Telsyte forecasts that mobile ad spend will grow to $20 million by the end of 2009 from just $7 million in 2008. Business Spectator, November 2009
28. Page views of Australian mobile internet sites grew 24.4% between October 2008 and July 2009. July 2009

29. 39% of Australian respondents stated in a recent survey that they would accept ads on their mobile phone in exchange for free mobile content or special offers. AIMIA, September 2009
30. 43% of Australian respondents stated in a recent survey that they had used their phones to carry out a mobile search in the last 12 months, compared to 47% who stated they intend to do so in the next 12 months. AIMIA, September 2009
31. 25% of respondents have used their mobile phone for banking in the last 12 months. Males, (26–40 year olds), and those single or living independently are more likely to use the phone for banking. AIMIA, September 2009
32. 14% of respondents to a recent survey stated they have used their mobile phone to buy things not for their mobile phone. Males, those living single independently, and those 25 years and under were also more likely to use their mobile phone to pay for other things. AIMIA, September 2009

eCommerce
33. About three per cent of retail spending is online in Australia, whereas in the USA and the UK it is between six and eight per cent. November 2009
34. Australian online shoppers spend about US$1000 per year online. November 2009
35. In Australia 27 per cent of online shoppers prefer to pay with PayPal which is the 2nd strongest market for PayPal globally. Nielsen, 2009

Search

36. In Australia year on year there has been a decrease in one word search terms of 2.3% and two word search terms of 1.9%. Hitwise, November 2009
37. Search requests longer than three words have increased over the past 12 months by 2.8%. Four - words have increased 1.2% and 5 words plus have seen a solid increase over the past two years, with a 1.2% increase in the past 12 months. Hitwise, November 2009
38. Bing’s search queries having a far greater proportion of single and two word requests, 56.2% versus Google.com.au’s 46.7%, Google.com’s 47.0% and Yahoo!7 Search’s 48.1%. Hitwise, November 2009

39. Google’s share of search as at 1st week of November was 87.79%, whilst Bing was 4.59% and Yahoo was 6.27%. Hitwise, November 2009
40. According to Hitwise search is the largest online category in Australia at 12% followed by social media at 10%. Hitwise, November 2009

References

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/aussies-call-an-end-to-just-phoning-on-mobiles-20090929-ga33.html
http://www.thesheet.com/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=1&selkey=9187&hlc=2&hlw=
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26380786-23272,00.html
http://www.iabaustralia.com.au/index.php?/news/story/online_advertising_posts_highest_quarter_ever_-_466_million
http://www.aimia.com.au/enews/mobile/090929%20AIMIA_Report_FINAL.pdf

© Digital Marketing Lab Blog

Written By: Teresa Sperti