Another year has flown by, and with it, a lot has changed in the digital landscape. With trends such as wearable tech and real-time social media marketing, and big news stories such as Twitter’s flotation, we at The Practice wonder if similar themes are likely to continue, or will there be something new on the horizon?

Our first prediction for the New Year is that social media will become the norm for brands and businesses. This past year alone, for example, 54 per cent of marketers gained a new customer through Facebook whilst 36 per cent of businesses gained a new customer through Twitter. Therefore, it fully makes sense that social media platforms will undoubtedly become “go to” forums for customer service, sales and information, if they’re not already. And according to Harvard Business Review Analytics, 79 per cent of companies surveyed are currently using or planning to use social media in the near future. In line with this greater focus on social media, we predict that businesses will soon begin to hire larger teams of social media consultants, experts or individuals to launch initiatives.

2013 was most certainly the year for great examples of how real-time marketing can add clout to a brand. Oreo for instance, at this year’s Superbowl, proved quick-thinking inspired fan admiration. The brand’s Twitter advert during the Superbowl blackout was perfectly executed, going viral in just a short space of time and generating over 7 million tweets. And jumping on a big event also worked for car company, Mini, who used the “Horsegate” scandal to aid their marketing efforts. When the news story struck, Mini’s social media team devised a Facebook campaign with the tagline, “Beef. With a lot of horses hidden in it.” The clever advert drew thousands of “likes” and “shares” on the social network, while also receiving over 5000 tweets. We definitely don’t see real-time marketing abating this coming year, as brands recognise the success that others have had in 2013. And with more and more social media platforms being used to share and generate news stories, it only seems fitting that topical advertising campaigns will become pretty frequent.

And when it comes to tech, are we likely to see a continuation of the wearable kind? Will 2014 be the year that we all start wearing jawbones? We think that unlikely, although we might start to rely less on our mobile apps for health and fitness in favour of products such as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, the Nike Fuel Band, or the aforementioned Jawbone. Indeed, the team behind another health wristband, Fitbit, are looking to establish themselves in this new market as people begin to concern themselves with healthier New Year choices and habits. The Fitbit band monitors the wearer’s sleep and exercise patterns, helping the user to create lifestyle improvements. We can imagine that wearable tech for health purposes will be popular for this reason, but we’ll be waiting to see just how popular the wider trend proves to be.

Do you agree with our digital forecast for the New Year? Might we witness another tech IPO next year? And is there anything you think we should add to the list, or take away? We’d love to hear your predictions and opinions too, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share them on our Facebook page.