Social Media Optimization | Social Media Marketing Strategies

Facebook and Amazon take Social Commerce to the Next Level

July 28, 2010 By Lisa Braziel Leave a Comment

Amazon has always been a category leader in e-commerce for how helpful and personal its product recommendations have been. Now they are taking this to the next level by pulling in Facebook's social graph to aid them in their current product recommendations. Though this project is still currently in beta, it is a glimpse for marketers into how Facebook can be utilized, not only to create a more personal web experience, but also to help users make purchase decisions.

I've been a long-time user of the functionality within Amazon that allows me to keep and organize wish lists for others (and myself), so much so that I create my entire Christmas and birthday lists within Amazon so that I can remember gift whims I have for others and myself throughout the year.

Now it's not all up to me and my order history to figure out what present to buy. Amazon now allows users to connect their account with Faceook to utilize the data provided on friends' profiles. The following screenshot shows that after I've connected the two, I can be alerted on upcoming birthdays and get a snapshot of the types of products that are currently popular among my friends.

Since it is my brother's birthday today (Happy Birthday Ryan!), I went over to see what types of products recommended for him. As you can see from the screenshot below, I have a nice list of gift suggestions based on his profile.

Unfortunately, after asking him whether or not these suggestions are spot-on, he only sees a couple of items that strike his fancy, and even those are a little bit of a stretch. This is likely because the only items he currently has "liked" on his profile are his evergreen favorites. He is getting closer towards 30 (couldn't resist), so it has been a few years since he created his profile, back when adding likes and interests was more of a deliberate and well thought-out process. Unfortunately, because he isn't actively "liking" new content across the web, I can't tell how his tastes have changed or what he likes now.

On the flip side, one of my colleagues' 13 year old sister has "liked" more than 1,000 pieces of content across the web - most of which is not product related, and most she will likely regret liking after a year or two of maturity. The screenshot below shows how someone in this demographic isn't carefully considering what they "like" and has no idea how this could affect them in the future.

As you can tell from these two examples, for Amazon and other e-commerce retailers to take this to the next level - the "Like" button will not only need to be adopted, but consumers will need to understand what utilizing the "Like" button may mean for them. It also will require the e-commerce site to have some degree of intelligence to be able to translate the "Like" data correctly. For instance, if I "Like" something other than a book, movie, or music - how will that translate into product suggestions? If I were to "Like" something like LoL Cats, will it translate to a suggestion of cat calendars? Or if I were to "Like" content on People of Walmart, would that offer me a Walmart gift card? The next obvious question is the timing of the "Like". If I liked something 5 years ago will it still be relevant to Amazon? Maybe, maybe not.

As you can imagine - there is still a lot to work out on behalf of both Facebook and e-commerce sites like Amazon. However, the biggest takeaway for marketers at this point is that we are currently witnessing a stronger movement of e-commerce sites utilizing Facebook data to improve the product buying experience, rather than inserting the product purchase experience directly within Facebook. It also suggests that in the battle between Facebook and Google to be your default social profile, Facebook has yet another advantage. Therefore, if you aren't considering the impact of Facebook on e-commerce - you will need to start considering. As Amazon has proved to us before, relevant shopping is the best type of shopping.

http://ignitesocialmedia.com/feed/

Filed Under Social Media Marketing, Social Media News Tagged With affordable social media marketing, social media blog, social media consultant, social media expert, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing firm, social media marketing plan, social media marketing services, social media optimization

The Casting Couch: Finding guest bloggers

July 28, 2010 By Luis Oliveros Leave a Comment

Image by elkit

Two of the most important things to remember when blogging for a brand to keep social engagements aflame: be consistent with both the value of the content (the informative and engaging aspects) and diligently follow your set blogging schedule.

Unfortunately, there are unforeseeable circumstances that’ll keep you away from blogging. Extensive failure to follow on a schedule has the potential to start a chain of unwelcomed consequences. These may or may not affect your site stats, relationship with your readers and even your brand’s reputation. One of the most effective ways to prevent these from happening is by having guest bloggers aboard.

Greg Rollett wrote a terrific article a few months back about the benefits of guest blogging. He listed several great factors on what it can do for your brand to jumpstart conversations on the social platform and drive readers into your blog. With his compelling piece, all you need now is to find the right bloggers to craft a post or two for your blog.

In a manner of speaking, finding the apt guest bloggers for your blog can be likened to having a reality show including the tasks and the elimination process but minus thankfully the hair-pulling, the frail attempts at a storyline and the personality disorders. So make like a casting director and welcome potential candidates into the casting couch.

Your comments section
The easiest place to look for people to write for you is by sifting through your contacts. If you’ve been blogging for a while now, surely you’ve got a few comments on your posts. Take some time to go through your comments sections and prepare a list of possible candidates by keeping tabs of who among your commenters are actually actively participating in most discussion. Take note of how they relate to other commenters and how they react to opinions that rival theirs.

Blog networks
If you’re in the blogging space, one of the best things in the scene is that there really are no actual rivalries. Sure, there are a multitude of competing blogs in any given niche, but each one has a different voice, represent different standpoints and carry different personalities. Find good blogs that offer something unique to the table and initiate contact by first engaging in conversations to gain some familiarity within their blogging space. This also gives you an understanding of how they run their blog and if it can be apt should any of them write guest blog posts for you.

Online resources
With the publishing scene (unfortunately) heading south, more and more writers are finding themselves without writing gigs; and then there are people like you who are actually looking for competent wordsmiths to warm your blogging saddle. Online resources like My Blog Guest and Blogger LinkUp aim to satisfy both needs and all you need to do is sign up for accounts. Both sites will send you e-mails with potential takers and you simply have to respond to the ones you find appealing and would match your requirements for your blog.

Social networks
You can also use your social network accounts to find bloggers who are more than willing to offer their writing skills. Sometimes those bloggers and freelance writers are themselves, looking for guest blogging gigs so it’s also best if you scan the status messages and tweets as well. This, of course, works if you have a wealth of contacts on either Facebook or Twitter who can actually churn out nicely written posts but given that you are already treading the social media marketing trails, this shouldn’t be much of a problem for you especially if you are representing a well known brand. To make things easy for you, you can organize them into groups on these sites.

http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog

Filed Under Social Media News Tagged With social media blog, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing plan, social media optimization

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