Good News for Retailers: Drake Morton

Facebook Commerce Holds Promise for Retailers

January 20, 2012

Social networks don’t account for much

eCommerce yet, but heavy Facebook users see it as a one-stop shop

Retailers are still in the early stages of using social media as a sales vehicle, but the channel is poised for growth. Booz & Company estimated that $1 billion in goods would be sold through social media in the US in 2011. That figure is expected to triple in 2012 and reach $14 billion by 2015.

Social media and ecommerce have evolved since 1-800-FLOWERS launched the first Facebook storefront in July 2009. Internet users have become more comfortable with online buying on Facebook as they spend more time on the site.

“It is not surprising that shopping and socializing—activities that complement each other in the real world—are beginning to converge online as well,” said Krista Garcia, eMarketer analyst and author of the new report, “Facebook Commerce: Reaching Shoppers Where They Socialize.” “As social media, and Facebook in particular, plays a larger role in consumers’ lives, people are becoming accustomed to performing routine tasks like reading news, watching videos and listening to music, as well as discovering products and shopping, all while staying logged in to a single site. Instead of compartmentalizing daily routines, social media users are treating Facebook as a one-stop platform.”

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Interesting Stats: Drake Morton

New Research: The Social Media Data Stacks

If you don’t think social media marketing can influence your marketing efforts, consider these facts:

• Social media site users spend an average of 5.4 hours a month engaged in networking sites.
• Facebook attracts 734.2 million unique visitors a month.
• Half of Twitter users discuss TV shows.

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You should read: Drake Morton

by Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter

Social Media Marketing: Cleveland Indian Cater to

Influencers to Increase Sales 174%

SUMMARY: Finding your online influencers and nurturing them into brand ambassadors is more than a “wouldn’t that be nice” kind of theory. This marketing team stepped up to the plate and worked with influencers to increase its social media audience and revenue more than 170%.

See how the Cleveland Indians knocked it out of the park by catering to bloggers, Tweeters, and other influential fans. This case study describes how the team created and monetized the program, and it’s a great example of how to cater to heavy users of social media.

CHALLENGE

In Fall 2009, the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team was finishing the second of two consecutive losing seasons, and the economy was in a slump, as well. The Indians’ marketing team needed to rally fans and thought social media marketing could help.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Activating Social Extensions For Google AdWords

by Janet Driscoll Miller , Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011

Not long after Google enabled Google+ Pages for Business earlier this month, it also enabled a new Google AdWords ad extension type: social extensions. Like other types of ad extensions, social extensions provide a way for marketers to add additional information to their ads, making them larger and more visible, helping an individual one to stand out in a sea of ads on the page. Social extensions add Google+ social information to an ad, including information such as:

How many +1s you have, tallied together.
Specific friends/connections who have +1’ed your website, ad, or search result.
Social extensions are free and fairly simple to add to your advertisements.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Five Hot Tips for Cool Summer Email Programs

by Alex Madison and Lisa Harmon, Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Seattle may have seen some snow flurries last week, but the calendar tells us that summer is fast approaching. That means it’s time to start soaking up some inspiration for sunny-day email campaigns.

Here are our top five tips for 2011 summer success:

1.     Get subscribers into your stores by leveraging cross-channel strategies. Social networking use has boomed over the past year across all age demographics. Take advantage of this growth with an extra push toward community building, especially by using social network connections to invite subscribers to shop in-store and attend brand events. When the weather’s nice, people are more likely to go out for social shopping days or to gather friends to attend special happenings, and cross-channel marketing increases the likelihood that your invites will go viral.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Five Social Trends To Get Excited About Today

by David Berkowitz , Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The digitally social world is moving so fast that as spring shows itself, it’s time to smell the roses. Here are five trends to get excited about right now, with five more coming soon.

1) Group Buying

Why does it matter? When these deals are truly social, there are countless opportunities to reach audiences and grow sales far beyond the initial audiences.

Who it impacts: Anyone with something to sell online can take part, such as retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), travel, automotive, and many others.

How big is it? Needham & Co. pegs the local daily deals sector at $1.9 billion in the U.S., $3.7 billion globally this year, and forecasts it will grow to $4.5 billion here and $10.3 billion globally in 2015.

Watch out: Sometimes merchants must break the bank to woo customers. Certain sites like Scoutmob allow deal size-caps.

Best in class: LivingSocial is one daily deal site that is still social in name as well as deed, given that deals are free if three of your friends buy them.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Teaching Old Dogs Seven New Tricks

The MTV Movie Awards are a trending topic on Twitter and the Internet is buzzing with comments on fashion, funny moments, celebs and performances. Chances are pretty good that teens are also talking about it offline and posting comments on their Facebook pages.
Last month, Twitter updated the algorithm that’s responsible for determining what’s in its Trending Topics list to display “breaking news” and “hottest emerging trends.” The change bumped off 16-year-old singer sensation Justin Bieber, which shocked him and his fans. Fans responded immediately by figuring out how to get him back on the list. They started spelling Justin’s name as Twieber or Jieber to get around the change. Look now, and Twieber is back on the top Trending Topics list.

Smart move on the part of Justin’s fans, and it points to some really important facts about how teens interact through social channels — and how we can learn from that behavior and apply it to traditional email marketing. (more…)

Important to Understand: Drake Morton

Are Baby Boomers The Unicorn In Social Media?

Boomers and their use of social media are creating a lot buzz lately. Are they really participating? Is this the best way to reach older consumers? Is it a tactic to be layered with other more traditional tactics? We were seeking to understand Boomers activities in the social media space and launched a research study to answer these questions.
The first, and not surprising, finding is that when it comes to social media, older boomers behave more like seniors (the cohort known as “Ikes” or the Silent Generation) and younger boomers behave more like the Gen-X cohort.

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Good Read: Drake Morton

Social Media As A Sales Tool

by Angela Hribar , Friday, February 19, 2010

Many companies are starting to experiment with social media and how it can be integrated into their overall marketing strategy to support company goals and objectives.

In addition to creating and promoting a corporate presence on various social media Web sites, it also makes sense for sales professionals to become familiar with social media, and to use it for the benefit of their business.

Getting involved in social media can offer value to sales professionals, without requiring hours of time.  In fact, there are a number of benefits to be gained by spending only minutes a week on popular social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter.

Take advantage of these six guidelines for engaging in social media as a sales tool: (more…)

 Good Information: Drake Morton

Going Social

Anywhere and Everywhere

OCTOBER 30, 2009

Tweeting while driving

Despite the slowing growth of Twitter after its explosion earlier in 2009, many users still cannot get enough. Crowd Science reports that in August 2009, although only 27% of Twitter users posted daily, 46% checked for updates every day. Almost one in five social media users reported using Twitter in the past week.

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