ecommerce-guide.com Announces The 2011 Social Shopping Study
Posted by Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Social media has changed the way consumers shop. Now, approximately 40 percent of shoppers follow social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook for special offers. Here is a recent study regarding social media and shopping that may make an impact on your next strategic roll-out.
Here is the study by ecommerce-guide.com. Thank you for the outstanding review!
3 Consumer Shopping Trends Online Retailers Need to Know
By Vangie Beal
July 14, 2011
The world of online shopping is a never-ending barrage of fads, trends and change. Just when you think you have a handle on what’s new, along comes a new (or revived) trend to negotiate.
New research published earlier this month by PowerReviews in conjunction with the E-tailing Group gives online retailers unique insight as to how consumers research, select and purchase goods online and helps to identify the best strategies for connecting with consumers.
The 2011 Social Shopping Study
The study, The 2011 Social Shopping Study, is based on a survey of more than 1,000 consumers about their online shopping habits, as well as their level of engagement with brands and retailers across various online channels.
In the survey introduction, Lauren Freedman, president, the E-tailing Group said that 2011 has been a volatile year for ecommerce with a multitude of dynamics in play from social media and community to mobile.
“This year’s survey explored consumer utilization of social media across a range of merchants and channels to understand perception, interest, and propensity to buy based on that engagement,” she wrote. “We wanted to know the implications for researching and shopping behavior, particularly as it relates to Facebook, which is the beneficiary of much of the community attention.”
Trend #1: Product Research Remains Top Purchasing Decision Tool
One consumer shopping trend the survey set out to determine was if user-generated content (UGC) continued to play a role in consumer shopping choices.
Findings suggest that consumers do invest greater time in online research before making a purchase, as 15 percent of respondents said that 90 percent or more of all online shopping time was spent researching products (compared to just 21 percent in 2010).
Respondents confirmed that search engines, like Google, are still the main starting point for research by 44 percent, followed by gathering information from retailer and manufacturer websites. To that end it is apparent that search engine optimization (SEO) is still a crucial task for online retailers.
The important take away for merchants is knowledge of where consumers start their product research. Nadim Hossain, VP of marketing at PowerReviews, said that the first step in the research process for consumers is Google.
“Google is where people start, so SEO is really important to online retailers. Our research found that product reviews are the number one factor impacting the buying decision,” explained Hossain. ”
Trend #2: Social Shopping and Customer Reviews as an Influencer
Another big question playing on the minds of many retailers is just how much influence social media has on the customer’s purchase decision.
Social shopping and social media has been a huge topic for online retailers this year, but only 2 percent of respondents used Facebook or other social recommendations as their main research starting point. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said they have never researched products on social sites.
Where social media does shine is in Facebook Business Pages and Facebook newsfeeds, with 13 percent of respondents saying those social tools impacted their buying behavior.
“Merchants are testing social media by trying to integrate it and understand how to monetize it,” said Lauren Freedman. “Retailers typically evaluate then go first for the promotions to increase their fan base, in a way that is similar to email list building.”
When it comes to user-generated content, a number of community and social tools impact buying behavior, customer reviews (user-generated product reviews) influence purchasing the most with 59 percent of survey respondents, followed by customer Q&As (42 percent) and community forums (26 percent).
Consumers still favor writing product reviews as an activity. The survey indicated that 70 percent of respondents participated in “rate a product purchased” compared to 49 percent who engage in using the “Like” button for a retailer or manufacturer.
Trend #3: Mobile Phones Empower Consumers In-Store
Mobile phones are also a popular influence in customer purchase decisions. Usage in the retail store is also increasing as mobile phones give consumers immediate access to research, price shopping and promotional coupons for immediate redemption.
Merchants are interested in the mobile phone and the tablet audience because these are the consumers who are going to shop and consume. Lauren Freedman said that retailers see the traffic penetration coming from this demographic and online retailers view mobile shoppers as an audience ripe for business.
What’s most interesting about the mobile portion of the study is seeing the break-down of how consumers use mobile phones. In response to the question “How likely are you to do each of the following using your mobile phone when researching a product while in a physical store?” the top three answers were:
Access promotional coupons for redemption at the store (38 percent)
Look for competitive pricing at Amazon (36 percent)
Look for competitive prices on products at retailers online other than Amazon (36 percent)
Other activities shoppers use their mobile phone for include scanning bar codes, scanning QR Codes (quick response codes) or use mobile apps to receive points, rewards or badges.
“Mobile phones are the merging of the offline experience in-store, and it all goes back to pricing,” said Freedman. “Consumers use a mobile phone to check sales and specials, to look up store information pre-visit and to scan reviews for product information while in-store.”
Predictions for Mobile and Social
In the coming year both Hossain and Freedman predict that mobile phones and social tools will grow in importance as more consumers use these mediums for product research and shopping.
“The mobile piece will continue to accelerate fast but the social will be more challenging for the retailers to understand, explore and monetize,” said Freedman. “Retailers will continue investment in both areas and see continued sales growth in mobile versus exploration in social.” See Article
B2B Social Media Budgets to Increase to $54 Million by 2014
Posted by: Micah Pratt
Until recently, business to business companies have only minimally utilized social media marketing, but that is expected to change. Here is an article from emarketer.com that explains why business to business companies will likely increase their social media spending.
B2B Spending on Social Media to Explode
Despite social media marketing’s sizable popularity, business-to-business (B2B) companies are still fairly new to the discipline. According to a November 2009 survey from Business.com, 73% of B2B respondents who were using social media had less than two years of social media marketing experience.
But now that social media has caught on in the sector, spending forecasts suggest that big increases are coming.
“B2B participation in social media marketing is steadily increasing, and marketers are beginning to see opportunities to generate quality leads and position themselves as thought leaders in their industries,” said eMarketer’s Evelyn Jung, author of the new report “B2B Social Media Marketing Heats Up.”
How Green Businesses can Utilize Social Media Marketing to Reach Green Bloggers, Reporters and Consumers
By: Leslie Fischer
Green initiatives and social media go together like two (organic) peas in a pod. Green companies looking to grow their business, clientele and networking base with other environmentally friendly prospects need to utilize social media to decrease their carbon footprint, while increasing business. Social media reaches green audiences like no other communication medium available today. Green bloggers are blogging about environmental issues and major media sources are listening. Sustainability is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and now, with social media, green companies are able to be heard in unprecedented ways. One tweet about a tip on greening up your home or a blog about a new green product is now visible for major media forums, not to mention, can be targeted toward the exact green audience companies have been trying to reach for years. Greening our global community is imperative. Mobilizing the forces that can make that dream a reality are most easily reached through social media.
Tweeters like Ecogiant @algore and Eco-friendly Vegan Filmmaker @ecovegangal, know what’s up. In a mashable.com article written by Cameron Chapman about environmentalists to follow on twitter, these two ecologically sound trendsetters, along with 73 others are the focus of top green voices to listen to.
Green Tweets: 75+ Environmentalists to Follow on Twitter
Twitter has a huge green community. There are green media, green companies and green charities all active on the microblogging service, as well as a whole bunch of individual environmentalists and green bloggers. The #EcoMonday hashtag — the environmental equivalent of #FollowFriday, in which Twitter users suggest “green” tweeters to follow and share green news and info — has grown into a regular trending topic every Monday, along with a variety of other green initiatives.
Read more
If your company is not already sustainable or you are still trying to figure out your green strategy for employees, vendors and clients, check out this video from Brad Roderick on greening-up your office!
Jennings Social Media Marketing Releases Case Study Video with 180° Urban Design & Architecture
By Jared Cook
Jennings Social Media Marketing in Kansas City, Mo. recently released its second case study video within a series of social media videos focused on measurable results. The second video, with 180° Urban Design & Architecture in Kansas City, features the evolution of 180°’s blog into an online news community.
Click image to view video.
10 WordPress Plugins to Help Build Community
By: Valerie Jennings
The following article by Jessica Faye Carter highlights 10 WordPress Plugins that can help you build a stronger “community” for your own blog.
10 WordPress Plugins to Help Build Community
By: Jessica Faye Carter
The expression of community has changed considerably since the emergence of social media technologies, but its basic foundation — the notion of individuals exchanging information, ideas, and opinions — remains firmly intact. Today, one of the most widely-used tools in developing these types of exchanges online is WordPress, the popular blogging and publishing platform. Part of its appeal is the ease with which users can build advanced functionality into their sites with plugins. If you’re interested in building a community around your site, there are plenty of third-party add-ons that can help create one.
These 10 WordPress plugins add features that will help you to engage your user base. (Read more)
Manage Your Advertising is one of 10 WordPress plug-ins available.
Social Media Can Change The World Through Common Ground
By: Valerie Jennings
I would like to share the words of JR Johnson with you all from his blog post on Mashable. I’m compassionate about the views he’s expressed, and I hope you find them beneficial as well.
Social Media Can Change The World Through Common Ground
November 15th, 2009 | by JR Johnson
J.R. Johnson is founder and CEO of Lunch.com, a user generated content platform focused on finding common ground, and host of the Lunch for Good event series.
There’s been a rising interest in the concept of “social media for social good.” In large part, that discussion has been focused on cause-related social good. I have a different take, related more to the greater good of humanity as a whole. To my view, the Internet, specifically social media, has the potential – and responsibility – to make the world more thoughtful and tolerant by showing people their shared common ground.
