Steve Fisher, from AppSolve and Network Solutions, is up next to discuss the social commerce, the intersection of social media and ecommerce, here at the Social Commerce Camp in DC.

Following the quick run down on social media from Sashi from Network Solutions, we’re moving forward to the social commerce element of this conference.

Quick Fact: 66% of consumers who use e-commerce also use social media web sites.

This means that e-commerce consumers are more likely to discuss your product or service on their social networks, and are therefore an important market to reach and influence.

Foundations of social commerce:

• The years from 2000-2005 were characterized by the Community Era: Forums and Forms online. People asked questions and interacted with each other about products.
• The years from 2006-2009 were characterized by The Crowdsourcing Area. People used their social networks to ask for opinions about a certain topic.
• However, The Collective Era, estimated to characterize social commerce from 2010-2015, will demonstrate a collective voice related to products and services.

Keeping the forthcoming Collective Era in mind, Steve identified 6 Components of social commerce.  Here are the building blocks of social commerce, with brief descriptions.

• Social Shopping; Individuals who buy their products based on recommendations from others.
• Ratings and Reviews; Yelp.com, for example, is a social networking site where people can add their reviews about a product or service. Including these reviews in your site add credibility because reviewers are brutally honest in their opinions, and demonstrate a third-party testimonial of what you offer.
• Recommendations and Referrals; www.pandora.com, for example, provides recommendations of related products, that gives the user pertinent content and can relate your product to others.
• Forums and Communities; These online niche communities can be converted into your own marketing team because of their relationships with their communities who share similar interests and are a trusted source of information from their followers.
• Social Media; sharing reviews and posting reviews on social media sites. Repost your reviews, allow people to share what they have bought or what event they are going to attend. This way, you’re increasing your WOM about your product or service.
• Social Advertising; paying for social media advertising space, but being transparent about.

That said, these 6 building blocks are imperative to the best practices of social commerce. Social Commerce must:

• Be authentic in social communication; if you’re paying for posts, it is not a transparent or authentic way of communicating a message about your product.
• Go beyond your .com; It’s not just about your site, it’s about how you’re appealing to your constituencies on social networks as well.
• Recruit and Empower Your Advocates; If your community is not behind you, you have so many more barriers to entry on the social commerce site. However, if you’re able to convert influencers to be fans of your product, then you’re able to nurture those relationships with those individuals and create positive communities advocating for your cause!

Overall, a great presentation.

I was looking up some general information on the benefits of small business blogging, and came across this post that gave some great statistics.

Small Business Trends explained the statistics in the following way.

Small businesses that blog have:

• 55% more visitors to their website.
• 97% more links to their website which is a primary factor in where your website shows up in search results. (Want a higher ranking, get quality links to your site).
• 434% more indexed pages – this is the number of pages that show up in search engines. Just because you have a site doesn’t guarantee it is being indexed (findable). Just because some of your pages are in search engines doesn’t mean all of your pages are.

Here’s the general idea:

It would appear that business blogging is potentially a great avenue to invest in. However, I agree with Small Business Trends that business blogging isn’t for everyone, especially those who are new to the social media arena. Here are some questions to ask yourself before beginning a blog:

1. Do you know your audience? Who are you writing to, and what do they need to know?

2. How often should you post? Do you know your industry blogging standards?

3. How will you generate content? Will you have the time to devote to writing blog posts?

If you’re unsure of the answers to any of these questions, perhaps you should consider hiring a consultant to get your social media efforts underway. (note: shameless plug)

Earlier this week, Apple announced their upcoming product, the iPad.

The iPad is like a larger version of the ’smartphone’ iPhone combined with the idea behind a portable netbook–a smartbook, so to speak.

And, while there have been mixed reviews about the product–those against the product because it’s lack of camera and those for the product because of ‘it’s potential to aid the journalism industry‘–ultimately, the consumer conversation about the iPad has been positive. 35% positive and 48% neutral, to be exact. The Apple brand established a reputation for both superior and revolutionary products. As such, even among the  most negative of reviews,  consumers will be apt to purchase the product. The Wall Street Journal predicts 1-5 million iPad purchases in its first year.

What I’m getting at is this: Apple has made such a successful reputation for itself for being the leading technology product company, that Apples’ overall reputation is what’s going to give this product launch a successful turnout. We see time and time again that a corporate brand is the culmination of several factors–and that successful companies strive to create a unique and consistent overall reputation. Apple is the poster child for this lesson. And, even if the iPad is a failure, their reputation won’t be tarnished for good–perhaps it may even be strengthened because of their commitment to being innovative technology product leaders; You have to risk big to gain big–right?

Yesterday, I flew out of BWI, a DC local airport. I was flying Southwest Airlines, (a brand I have loyalty toward due to several very positive experiences with them). There was definitely an increased security at my gate (probably due to the recent airline events), and there were several additional Southwest Airlines personnel at the gate offering assistance before boarding our flight.

I was highly comforted by this act given the recent security breach and further instilled my brand loyalty to Southwest Airlines.

This is an excellent example of brand alignment.  Companies must ensure that every interaction with their preexisting customers lives up to their corporate values and that customers’ previous interactions with the brand. In my other experiences with Southwest, the air crews made my trips a delight and personal experience. As such, I do have high expectations when it comes to flying with Southwest and I have yet to encounter a sub-par experience.

Because I have this brand identification, I am confident that should I have any future negative experience with the brand, I’ll be able to resolve my issue in a quick and efficient manner.  Also, should I experience a negative encounter with the brand, I doubt that I would ‘jump ship’ (jump plane?) and switch to another airline carrier, because my positive experiences would outweigh the negative ones.

However, it is much more costly to overcome a customers’ negative impression from a brand—especially when this impression is the first one had from the company in question.

Which brings me to brand alignment: Brands must live what they say through every interaction less risk the potential of losing a brand ambassador.

Hey there!

Just wanted to link to a recent post on different blog that I write on. It’s been awhile since I’ve been blogging on here but I’m working on some quality posts now. Hint: They have nothing to do with Peanut Butter. Disappointing, I know, but true.

Anyway, enjoy!

The Community Marketing Blog

#FollowFriday Twitiquette (Twitter Etiquette)

When I’m at conferences, so much is going on that it’s difficult to take it all in.

As such, I’ve been reviewing the Twitter feed about the hashtag from yesterday (#GrowSmartBiz) and I’m aggregating my top-20 tweets from the conference in this post.

These are in no particular order, and disclaimer: I picked one of my own tweets, so clearly there’s a bias.

I also included a few of my personal favorites at the end of this post. Enjoy!

1.

gary1943: RT @ramonray: write plans in sand; have goals carved in stone (#growsmartbiz) – roy / networksolutions

brendanlim: Chris Anderson “freemium is first new business model of the 21st century” #growsmartbiz (via @cselmer)

maddiegrant: RB: personality matters because customer loyalty is not guaranteed. WOM #GrowSmartBiz

4.

meganmcq: @RohitBhargava How2 add personality 2 ur business: 1.Write like a human 2.Be humorous 3.Disclose ur purpose 4.Make it sharable #growsmartbiz

theredstapler: Your logo is not your brand – your brand is the emotional aftertaste people have after interacting with you #growsmartbiz

dcconcierge: Love it – A website without search engine marketing is like putting on your really nice suit and then sitting in the dark. #growsmartbiz

GloriaBell: #growsmartbiz Top 10 SEO Tips 2. Linking, Linking, Linking / 1. Know what you are actually up against – u are up against ur competitors

8.

PatticakeGirl: RT @smallbiztrends: John Arnold of @ConstantContact says email comm should be 80% educational value & 20% promotional. #growsmartbiz

9.

LDpodcast: Do an ROI on potential clients- make sure you are taking on work wisely and be willing to say no. Reisa Lesonsky #growsmartbiz

10.

wickedjava: RT @shonali: A customer needs to identify with the brand. A brand needs to identify with an audience (@anthonypappas) #growsmartbiz

11.

chrisabraham: “Brands are built online — 61% of people will probably view your product online before they interact with it” @PappasGroup #growsmartbiz

12.

koa: In a weak economy consistency is important in maintaining brand. #GrowSmartBiz

13.

csread61: Anthony Pappas: Brands are built online. Online mktng is 61% more likely to influence consumers over other media. #GrowSmartBiz #fb

14.

putitaway: Automate any manual task in your small business – Anita Campbell #growsmartbiz

15.

Jillfoster: Customer service is big differentiator for small biz in competing w/ ‘the big corps’ #GrowSmartBiz on small business success index data

16.

ShannonRenee: over 50% of consumers get their 1st brand impression online #growsmartbiz

17.

smallbiztrends: RT @RamonRay Word of mouth marketing has leap frogged online (Danilo B – Loudoun Scene) #growsmartbiz

18.

ShannonRenee: social media allows us to share, connect and LISTEN in a way we couldn’t earlier #growsmartbiz

19.

shonali: Steve Fisher’s 10 Rules for Killer Business Cards. #growsmartbiz #1: Tell me what you do. Quickly.

20.

earthwriter: “See the risk, but seize the opportunity.” Rieva Lesonsky Great speaker! #growsmartbiz

Also, some personal favorites:

debbieweil: RT @chrisabraham: Have a sense of humor (even if you don’t have one) b/c humor is DEAD SEXY, baby. @rohitbhargava #growsmartbiz

Bigm_aem: Love it! RT @maddiegrant: Hate the phone. My VM says “tweet me” #justsayin #GrowSmartBiz

cardcat: Ramon ray: date your leads and marry your customers #growsmartbiz

GloriaBell: Don’t be fearless, just know what your fears are & be willing to face them & conquer them #growsmartbiz

wbjsarah: ! RT @rferrier #growsmartbiz always choose passionate amateur over bored professional

GeoffLiving: Just had a side chat at #growsmartbiz about the ills of ghost blogging, cannot believe this is still thought of as acceptable. Save ur soul!

colderICE: Screw that LOL RT @BrentLeary: Small biz survey: 41% of small biz owners surveyed lowered their standard of living to survive. #growsmartbiz

gwickes: The blogger bullpen goes crazy welcoming @jillfoster to stage for last panel on social media #GrowSmartBiz

Rohit Bhargava is next and will be discussing how to add personality to your business.

Why is personality important?  How about the obvious: to retain your previous customers.

Personality is important because it’s the number one way of retaining previous customers and increasing word of mouth about your brand.

Studying the tools of social media is the smallest part of the process—understanding the underlying principal—having pertinent and valuable content for your readers.

Here’s the 4 main reasons.

1. Talk like a person
2. Have a sense of humor
3. Admit that you’re marketing: Full Disclosure
4. Make it sharable

Simple. Sweet. Swag.

Nice work.

You can follow Rohit on Twitter @RohitBhargava

Today I’ll be live blogging from Grow Smart Biz conference in DC, hosted by Network Solutions.  There is a great speaker lineup and I’m happy to have stolen the password asked politely for the password to the Internet, even though I’m not officially registered as a blogger today.

Here’s the play-by-play: Roy Dunbar just spoke on the state of the small business economy. Next, Alex Orfinger from the Washington Business Journal is headed on the stage and is running down the Agenda for today’s conference.

Now, Chris Anderson, the Editor and Chief of Wired Magazine will be speaking on two things: 1) The opportunity for small businesses overall, and 2) the economics of running businesses today.

As a small business owner in the technology industry, Chris Anderson understands the needs of small businesses and believes this is the golden age of small businesses. Here’s what he had to say:

1) The opportunity for small businesses overall:

This thought is taken from Chris’s first book, The Long Tail.

The niche element of small businesses offers supreme ability to offer better customer service and specialization of trade. Small businesses are able to target a market who want to obtain a highly-specialized product.

As consumers, we are able to differentiate our own unique and individual tastes and preferences–and support those tastes and preferences that best fit our needs. Small businesses can target these customers and refine the means by which the products and services are delivered. With globalization, large companies are targeting ‘the mass market’ and as such, don’t capture the entirety of the market.

To capture this market, small businesses are able to be adroit and ascertain the proper strategies online to reach the markets–a “scale-up” approach to find these niches and market to them. Large companies face a disadvantage when trying to ’scale-down’ to these SM approaches and capture the market.

2) The economics of running businesses today:

His second point comes from the theory outlined in his second book, Free: The Past and Future of a Radical Price.

Pre-Millennium, business owners would market their product by giving away elements of their product, but not its entirety.

For example, they would have people dip-into the product for free, but then have to support it for several months or years afterwards. For example, the razor/razor blade theory—Give away the razor, but sell the blades. This way, people have to buy into your product.

But now, we have a new theory of free—going from a people business to a software business—from brick-and-mortar to the digital. Digital costs are minimized every year. The Internet, for example, is a media channel that is ‘free to use.’

First wave of the Internet included banner ads. The second wave included digital targeted ads. However, the third wave of the Internet is the Freemium model.

The Freemium (sp?) model:  It’s the 21^st century of free. It’s the reverse of the previous understanding of the market. If you give away 90% of your product or service and then capitalize on selling the rest of the product by enhancing it in some way.

Side note: The problem I have with this understanding of the economics of business is that you can’t just offer a product or digital service—‘if you build it, they will come’ theory. Your constituency still needs the power of the Groundswell to illustrate the importance of the product or service. My thought is that building the influence of a product or service has to be an essential element of the marketing and PR campaign—finding and marketing to the increased niche market.

Back on track, however, the thought process is that customers will be using free products and then eventually ‘opt-in’ to the ‘paid-version’ of the products. The ‘free’ option has to be highly valuable, but then, your ‘paid’ version of the product has to add even more value.

For example, the music industry was one of these industries that went from hardware to software. The video game industry and software industries are also going from freemium to premium models of business.

However, the psychology of freemium has to be carefully understood and then created. Having increased convenience, less or zero advertisements, troubleshooting, etc. There are a multitude of ways to monetize the freemium model. The key is to innovate your service.

Another side note: I also think that when companies go ‘digital,’ they can easily lose the personalization of their product or service. They need to ensure a strong brand image through the

Anyway, I’m now gearing up for a special note from Senator Mark Warner, who ran his business in the high-tech industry for 20 years and began Foundations to help private citizens of Virginia before being elected to the US Senate for Virginia.

On November 6th, I’ll be working with Terri from Creative Blog Solutions for a Social Media Soiree, where small businesses and non-profits can come learn more about different social media platforms as they apply to best business practices.

One of the best parts about this venture is the social media marketing campaign surrounding the promotion of this event!

Terri is very active on several social networks and the marketing campaign is consistent and integrated across various platforms, a perfect demonstration of social media marketing.

For example, once you register for the event, you can post the event information on Facebook, while still on the registration page. This function is enabled through Facebook Connect.

Additionally, we’re using the hashtag #socialmediasoiree on Twitter,  so as we’re promoting the event, we’ll be able to link to pre-existing conversation about the event on Twitter through the hashtag. Terri also added the hashtag to Twubs, a Twitter hashtag aggregator that creates groups from the hashtag and keeps track of the conversation on an external site from Twitter. Twubs is great for aggregating data from previous Twitter conversations. While you can conduct searches on Twitter for these hashtags, Twubs may be an easier tool to see the information.

I’m working on getting the Twubs conversation embedded into my Web site, so you’ll have to come back and check it out when I get it up on the site, or we can discuss at the event on November 6th!

Recently, I was held at gun point asked to volunteer for a local campaign in my home town. (Note: The election is non-partisan).

Yesterday, my City had a ‘Olde Towne Gaithersburg Day,’ to celebrate different businesses and causes that are local to Gaithersburg. As such, the incumbent decided to sponsor a booth to increase awareness of his campaign.

We had bright yellow teeshirts and handed out balloons to passers-by. It was a lot of fun.

But almost immediately after the event started, I noticed that there were a majority of Hispanic citizens that were attending the event. Their children would run up to get a balloon and I just looked at them and their parents and smiled. While this would have been the time when I pass out a flier and explain that the forthcoming election is non-partisan and that they would be receiving pamphlets in the mail, this opportunity was lost because I was unable to brake the language barrier that existed between the two of us.

Call me shameful, but I called my good friend and asked him to translate a few phrases for me so I would at least be able to ask them if they wanted a balloon (¿Quieres un globo?). Even though I was unable to say much more than ¡de nada! or other small phrases, it was clear that I was more an ally than a stranger when I spoke these simple phrases as opposed to just smiling.

Our pamphlets were printed in one language as well, and I think we missed out on an opportunity to become one with the community since little research was conducted on the market to whom we were reaching. I learned a lot from the experience that conducting sufficient market research is the best way to ensure campaign success.

If you’ve ‘done your homework’, or research, you’re more likely to develop campaigns that most adequately resonate with your market.

As social media strategists, it’s our job to understand to whom you are trying to reach when you’re developing a marketing plan for digital communication. We’ve been passing along the ideas that ‘Content is King,’ meaning that you have to have pertinent information to respect your audience’s limited time. We also tell each other ‘Listen to your Market‘ so you monitor the conversation before and after your message is disseminated.

But these two things are based in Knowing your Market.

And as marketers, we can not forget the opportunities that are missed by not conducting that adequate research before starting a campaign.