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Social Media Trends to Watch if You Are in the Retail Industry

March 9th, 2011

There are many changes currently unfolding in the social media landscape that will have a profound impact on the buying experience as we know it today. Here are the top trends you really have to know about and you can’t afford to ignore this year if you are a retail professional. Are you ready to evolve?

Trend 1 – Social commerce: The use of social media in the context of e-commerce is gaining traction and the shopping experience is finally becoming more sociable. An increasing number of e-commerce sites are starting to incorporate basic (but powerful) functionality to provide different ways for people to interact. Customers are now allowed, among other things, to share purchases and recommendations with friends, which opens a wide range of opportunities for companies. If you are wondering where all this social commerce concept is headed, take a look at this video about The Future of Shopping.

Trend 2 – Group buying: Collective buying saw an important growth last year and will keep on growing in 2011. Key players such as Groupon.com, LivingSocial, and BuyWithMe are set to drive this trend to new heights. Matching products and services at significantly reduced prices on the condition that a minimum number of buyers make the purchase  is proving to be an interesting alternative to move inventories and sales for businesses.

Trend 3 – Online Video: Did you know that 89 million people, only in the US, are going to watch 1.2 billion videos today? Online video is quickly becoming the preferred way of consuming online content within all age groups globally. Online video viewing growth is outpacing ad spending growth by far. Are you leveraging this powerful, social medium? Brands have a unique opportunity to connect with customers, express their core values and deliver messages with different objectives in creative ways people like. Be honest, who wasn’t touched by the viral power of VW’s The Force video recently?

Trend 4 – Social search engine optimization (SEO): Recent changes introduced by search engine leader Google show the increasing importance of social media buzz and quality content in relation to positioning within organic search results. If you want to increase your visibility through search engines, you now have to start taking care of your social media efforts too. New factors such as numbers of followers/tweets/retweets on Twitter, number of fans/likes/shares on facebook,  the quality of your shared information, among other things, will increasingly affect the authority and trust of your social media links and therefore your SERPs. This trend will only grow stronger in importance throughout 2011 and beyond.

Trend 5 – Virtual commerce: Virtual goods are a fundamental part of social gaming, a market that is expected to pass $1 billion this year according to eMarketer. With this market potential I am sure you can see why so many brands are starting to creatively think about how they can tap into what is considered an aspirational youth market with the power consumers of tomorrow. If you think social currency – already in use by top brands to transact virtual goods using gift cards - can enter the mainstream as a trusted global currency, you are right. Virtual commerce is a reality that is coming sooner than you think.

Trend 6 – Mobile: There are 3.4 billion people with mobile devices today (roughly 1/2 half the population of the planet) and the number keeps growing. Just imagine, 1/3 of global internet users access the Internet only via mobile. Add the surge and power of geo-location social networks such as Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla and you have the ability to reach customers anytime exactly where they are. Just out of curiosity, is your website mobile-friendly?

Trend 7 – Social Media Adoption: Consumer usage and usage frequency of social media is still rising across all generations. From a business perspective Social Media has proven by now to be a valuable, cost-effective marketing tactic to reach, connect and engage your customers around your brand in ways you could not imagine before. Every day more brands are jumping into the social media wagon to avoid being left behind. Are you still not convinced? Wake up, it’s time to rethink your marketing mix.

Would you like to find out how your brand can respond to these new challenges? Contact me for a free consultation and let’s get creative!

Ernesto Sosa is Principal at SOWEB Inc. and leads the marketing consulting practice. You can follow him on Twitter @ernestososa and connect with him on LinkedIn.

What Businesses can learn from the Wikileaks Scandal

November 30th, 2010

Social Media has changed the rules and the way today’s global society manages information forever. The current Wikileaks scandal, besides a very hard lesson on radical transparency for diplomats around the world, is another good example of how social technologies deliver on a fundamental promise: to empower people who gather online to share information, knowledge and opinions using conversational media. Diplomatic and ethical implications aside, let’s take a look at the Wikileaks operational model:

• The website lives from the anonymous submissions from informants around the world via a supposedly secure online form that feeds a data bank, the “wiki”.
• Founder Julian Assange and company review the confidential submissions.
• Information is repackaged into multimedia presentations and encrypted before been published on the Web, still guaranteeing their sources complete anonymity.
• Associated press such as Le Monde, The New York Times and El País are granted password-protected access to all files.

The WikiLeaks model is completely based on web 2.0 concepts such as wikis, information sharing, user-generated content (UGC) and online communities, but it shows us a glimpse of the challenges that lie ahead in terms of information security and risk management, not only for individuals and businesses, but for governments as well. The natural evolution of web technologies and the future of cloud-based information is redefining the nature of information sharing as we know it, but you can start building the foundations for secure, responsible information sharing in your company today.

HOW TO GET STARTED

1) Open an information sharing discussion to all. To get everyone on board they must be included in the discussion to share points of view and become part of the solution. When people are invited to participate and clearly understand the importance of information sharing and their responsibility within their area of influence, technical and procedural controls adoption resistance disappears.

2) Create an information sharing strategy for your entire organization. As part of your information architecture and ECM practices create a strategy specifically for information sharing to address all the risks and opportunities associated with this new reality. Strategy-based initiatives deliver the best results by aligning people, technology and processes.

3) Use established relationships and foster new ones to promote collaboration. True collaboration between business units and departments grows from personal relationships. Getting people in the room to work together and get to know one another on a human level can take some time, but once that happens, it becomes about trust and looking at the world as a place for collaboration, rather than maintaining control.

4) Provide incentives. Employees should be rewarded when they participate in information sharing initiatives and penalized when they don’t. Incentives have proven to be participation boosters to keep people engaged and gain personal commitment.

5) Learn from past experiences. There are enough past experiences to learn from and proactively prepare your organization for potential problems related to information sharing practices gone wrong. Use those learned lessons to your advantage.

6) Educate your team. Employees should be trained in secure methods of data exchange and update that knowledge regularly. Education is the main proactive response to tackle information sharing problems effectively.

7) Share responsibly. As a rule of thumb before sharing any type of sensitive information ponder the potential consequences.  If in doubt, don’t send it.

Everything in life has two sides and the Social Web is no exception. Today more than ever “what happens in Vegas, now stays…on the Internet”, so be careful of what you do, and of what you say, and whom you say it to, because the world is listening. Always keep in mind the risks associated with online information sharing and like your Mom used to tell you when you were a kid “be open, honest and good at all times” because you never know when and where that piece of sensitive information can show up in the future.

REFERENCES

• The Huffington Post
• “Radically Transparent” by Andy Beal and Dr. Judy Strauss
• Wikipedia

Ernesto Sosa is Principal at SOWEB Inc. and leads the marketing consulting practice. You can follow him on Twitter @ernestososa and connect with him on LinkedIn.

SOWEB and POB Consulting Form Strategic Partnership in the US

October 18th, 2010

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, October 18, 2010 — SOWEB Inc. (SOWEB) and People & Organizations for Business Consulting Firm LLC (POB Consulting) today announced a strategic partnership to unite their services portfolios and provide medium and large businesses in the US a new selection of marketing and human capital management solutions to improve business performance.

“Our clients will now benefit from SOWEB’s leading technologies and marketing services by having access to proven, industry-specific solutions that deliver results.” said Javier Tomé, POB Consulting’s President. “New service areas include marketing consulting, advertising and branding, web design and development, as well as social media marketing and online public relations. This partnership with SOWEB provides us with a great opportunity to further extend our firm’s consulting practice areas and start supporting our clients with their marketing initiatives too.”

“We are thrilled to be working more closely with POB Consulting and we think this agreement represents a great opportunity to benefit both client communities,” said Ernesto Sosa, SOWEB’s Principal. “Working together, we are now able to deliver solutions that positively impact our client’s bottom line. Human Resources Management and Marketing are two of the key components every organization needs to tackle to drive growth in today’s economy. By addressing our clients’ needs in both areas, we expect to become value creators and strategic partners for them over the long run.”

SOWEB and POB Consulting will begin to roll out the initiatives outlined in the agreement this year. This will include a joint promotion campaign that will take place over the next several months, with a plan to achieve full implementation in 2011.

About SOWEB Inc.

SOWEB Inc. is a digital marketing company that helps brands connect with the new consumer online. With over 15 years experience and solid knowledge of “what works for what” in the digital world, its mission is to help businesses take advantage of the highly interactive and social nature of the Web. SOWEB is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

About POB Consulting LLC

POB Consulting is a leading management consulting firm focused on increasing productivity inside organizations by selecting the right people for the right job, developing employees to their fullest potential and retaining top performers. Through tailored solutions POB Consulting helps clients understand their strengths and limitations for successful human capital management, identifies opportunities to develop and increase performance and implements solutions that empower people and organizations for business success.

POB Consulting is based in Miami, Florida.

For further information visit www.sowebinc.com or contact info@sowebinc.com .

Innovative Social Media Applications for Personal Finance

August 20th, 2010

Becoming more finance-savvy and making smarter decisions on how to manage your money has gotten easier and more interesting today. A growing number of personal finance-related ventures are starting to take true advantage of the power of social media by connecting people beyond the boundaries of Facebook and Twitter. Peer-to-peer (P2P) collaboration and consumers evolving into co-creators are now part of a new reality in the personal finance field.

It’s not uncommon to see people nowadays relying more on web services to manage their budgets online using web tools such as Mint, creating a financial plan with Gosimplify, estimating the value of their homes with Zillow, or simply finding and sharing useful money management tips through personal finance blogs and online communities. Here is a personal selection of the most innovative websites I’ve found online that are leveraging the power of social media and reinventing personal finance as we know it.  Get ready to evolve and innovate:

Need money for a kitchen remodel? Social Lending might be your best option!

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending sites like Lending Club and Prosper are online communities of people borrowing and lending money among themselves, without the intermediation of a bank. They basically connect borrowers and lenders trough an online auction in which the lender that offers the lowest interest rate “wins” the borrower’s loan. By eliminating the middleman, borrowers usually receive lower interest rates than the ones they would get in a traditional bank. Consequently, lenders can also expect to receive higher returns (Lending Club’s average return is 9.65%!).

My dad’s portfolio is doing better than your dad’s

Online investor communities like Investorvillage, Covestor and SocialPicks allow people to compare their investments portfolio’s performance to those of peers, professional analysts and financial bloggers. As SocialPick’s website claims, it is “Social Networking for Serious Investors”. Other communities, like Tip’d, offer investor advice and “crowdsourced” financial news.  The idea of letting audiences generate finance-related content seems to be growing at a very fast pace.

Want a new bike? Your Facebook friends can help!

Even though it offers one of the highest savings interest rates (2.15% APY at the time of this writing), Smarty Pig is not your ordinary online bank. Behind the cute and friendly interface there is a very innovative business model that uses viral networking to its advantage.

It works like this: users create a free Smarty Pig account and set specific saving goals (e.g. $700 for a bike by January 15; $3,000 vacation fund by August 30). Smarty Pig then calculates how much users should contribute each period to reach your goal. The interesting part is that it then allows users to openly share their saving goals in social networks like Facebook or Twitter  with family members and friends, who can make contributions towards their savings goals.

Let’s coupon together!

There are many websites that offer coupons and deals for online shoppers, as well as many online “coupon exchange groups” that serve as platforms for individuals to exchange unwanted coupons with fellow group members. But a website named Groupon goes way beyond coupon exchange.

Groupon emails it subscribers a daily deal in the city they select. The deal might look something like this: “1 hr. massage at Green Body Spa for $50 in Fort Lauderdale ($100 value)”.  If enough people sign up for the offer that day, everyone gets the deal. By pooling a large group of consumers – and their buying power – Groupon is able to negotiate huge discounts with retailers.

Groupon depends on a lot of people signing up for their deals, so it makes sense that they are paying users $10 when a referred friend signs up and get their first Groupon deal.

Not interested in the $50 Barnes & Noble gift card from Auntie Patty for your birthday? Trade it!

Gift cards have become increasingly popular in the last years. Among their many advantages, they relieve us of the burden of having to select the right gift. But as you might know, some gift cards are never redeemed (between 6% and 10%, as most experts estimate), amounting to huge gains… for retailers.

Thanks to the social trend on the web, sites like Plastic Jungle are able to pool consumers and allow them to exchange gift cards online or even turn unwanted ones into cash. Gift cards buyers can save up to 30% over retail prices and gift card sellers can get up to 92% of the unused card value. Not bad at all, don’t you think?

Social media is just beginning to transform personal finance as we know it and there are many innovations still to come. Organizations that are able to keep the pace and update their business models with the right social media strategies and tools will definitely keep reaping the benefits and leading the way. But remember, regular folks can also benefit from more and more openness and transparency, better deals and better returns. Just start learning the new game today and don’t be left behind.

Do you know of other innovative ways social media is being currently applied to personal finance? Let us know and share them here!

Valentina is a Project Manager at SOWEB Inc. and the new blogger on board with interesting insights on how social media is affecting our daily lives.

© 2011 SOWEB. All Rights Reserved.

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