In our last post, we showcased five marketing trends that various industry sources have deemed “hot” for 2012 – one of which is recognizing and using social media platforms as legitimate marketing channels. While there’s no question that social media won’t be going away anytime soon, the term remains rather all-encompassing despite it’s continuous rise in popularity. So we decided to take it a step further and take a closer look at a few of the top social media trends to see what new (or newer) innovative tactics may capture the attention of both businesses and consumers.

Gaming, Gamification, Game-ification: Since 2007, gamification has slowly been picking up momentum and will continue to rise in 2012 as businesses are taking a greater interest in the return of game-like competition to the workplace. According to a recent Forbes article, too many corporations have been focusing solely on collaboration over competition when in fact, the two go hand-in-hand – managers need to create a team environment where collaboration is the focus and collaborative results lead to a competitive advantage both internally and in regards to clients. Whether you incorporate web- and social platform-based games (think leader boards, points, badges, etc.) in your internal business applications or client-related social media strategies (or both!), doing so will deliver “exceptional engagement” to users, which will ultimately generate a larger return on both fronts.

Social Television: Remember when television time consisted of watching a simple cartoon or maybe a movie with the family? Not so much anymore. More and more shows are aiming to engage viewers via text, tweets and teasers in an attempt to make television-watching an even bigger social experience than it already is. Mobile apps now let viewers “check in” to their favorite programs, new programs will be designed with the assumption that viewers have multiple screens (think TV and laptop or TV and phone) and rumor has it that Apple will eventually be coming out with an iTV. Looks like ratings for socially integrated shows will continue to be on the rise in 2012.

The Micro-Economy: Taking a more social approach to solving business problems has piqued the interest of consumers and will continue to do so in 2012. The term “micro-economy” refers to the concept in which goods and services are brought forth on smaller scales, and are also more personalized, ultimately creating a market for entrepreneurs that don’t have access to the resources that bigger companies do. What appeals to consumers about this concept is that the economic value is negotiated and exchanged directly between individuals versus between an individual and business. If you haven’t already, check out a few of the latest and greatest share platforms that have been generating quite a bit of buzz as we head into the new year: kickster.com, pinterest.com and airbnb.com.