Extending the digital brand to drive engagement

Guest post by Craig Ettinger, general manager, TIME.com

Publishers will continue this year to explore new ways to extend their brand's digital presence beyond just a destination website through social, mobile and tablets. 

We will certainly see a continuation of the trend toward social curation.  The success of apps such as Pulse, Flipboard and TweetMag has brought significant attention to this area, forcing traditional publishers to take an even harder look at their own efforts to more deeply incorporate social conversations, shared content and data from Facebook and Twitter into their websites and mobile products.  

In addition, there will likely be more transparency around exactly how consumer data is being collected and used by content providers and other businesses operating online. The upshot: Consumers will see that the vast majority of digital businesses have a valid and reasonable use for the data as it enhances the overall consumer experience. 

Game theory

We are also likely to see more mainstream publishers and other content providers experiment with game mechanics (check-ins, leaderboards, leveling up, badges) as a way to drive user engagement and loyalty on websites and mobile apps.

Finally, the excitement and interest around connected TVs will soar. Similar to the emergence of mobile as a platform, however, it will take several years before business opportunities (beyond that of endemic video providers) of any scale begin to emerge. Non-video-centric businesses should consider experimenting with this distribution channel, but they must be patient.

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