February 10, 2014 · 11:21 am

Is Social Commerce For Real?

It’s Monday and it’s time to get our brains revved up for the week.  Let’s start with some thinking about Social Commerce.  This is a term used to describe marketing strategies that incorporate social media to make online buying and selling of products and services happen.  It’s actually what I write about a fair amount here on the screed since it’s separate and apart from the click to buy marketing (Free shipping this hour only!  50% off mukluks!) we see so often.  It’s really the more “conversational” part of marketing.   If you check in here from time to time you know that I’m a big advocate of that sort of stuff.  Then again, I could be terribly wrong and it might all be a waste of time.

Turns out that the good folks at UMass Dartmouth looked into it.  As they said:

This study, conducted by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, is an in-depth look at current purchasing habits and trends of Millennials using three of the most widely used social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest).  In an effort to discern what turns a like, follow or pin into a sale, this study explores and analyzes lead conversion tactics as identified by Millennials themselves.  Also included is a look at mobile technology and its role in online purchasing by measuring percentage of sales conducted through smart phones versus tablets.

So what did they find?  They focused on Millennials.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are defined as the folks born between 1980 and 2000.  Not surprisingly, they found that social media did drive purchase.  62% of respondents currently like at least one brand on Facebook.  Twitter has 23% of respondents following a brand and Pinterest has 11% of Millennials pinning a brand (Nike is the most liked/followed brand).  But those actions can lead to revenue and not just online.

  • Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest contribute to both online and in-store purchasing.  Seventy-seven percent of Facebook users, 66% of Twitter users and 63% of Pinterest users are multi-channel shoppers.
  • Of those who reported they had never purchased something after liking, following or pinning it online, offering a coupon or discount was the most frequently cited lead conversion tactic for Millennials.  Respondents indicated this is the top motivator leading to a sale.  Similarly, Millennials indicated that companies giving exclusive offers or appealing to their interests were more likely to see an increase in sales as a result of online interaction.

You can read more about this study here but the “news” is this:

Millennials are leading the social commerce movement.  They are more likely than any other group to like/follow/pin companies and brands.  They are enticed by coupons and discounts, purchase hair/beauty products and apparel, often using mobile phones and tablets.  They are multi-channel shoppers, buying both online and in-store.  This cohort is active online in ways that allow them to connect, organize, stay informed and shop.  They spend more money on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest than other groups making them the ones to watch as social commerce surges forward.

In other words, engaging your audience, particularly your younger audience, is a valuable antecedent to making a sale.  So yes, Social Commerce does exist.  Aren’t you relieved?

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February 7, 2014 · 11:55 am

Full Of Beans

Our Foodie Friday Fun revolves around stupid food labeling tricks.  It’s hard to believe some of the things food marketers do.  Some are just silly; others are downright deceptive by design.

From Alphaila.com

The latter is what I want to talk about today.  You really wouldn’t think that any smart brand manager would try this stuff in a time of massive social interaction among consumers.  You’d be wrong.  In fact, a bill was introduced last year (the Food Labeling Modernization Act of 2013) which seeks to change food labeling requirements as well as dealing with package labeling and allegedly misleading claims about what foods are “healthy,” “natural” or “made with whole grain.”   Now given the state of affairs in Washington, it’s not unlikely this bill will become law (oops, no politics here!).  However, the fact that the issue of deceptive packaging and marketing  is on the minds of both state and federal legislators doesn’t speak well of the industry.

Just because a package can say “No Trans Fat” if there is less than half a gram in the product doesn’t mean “no trans fat.”  If there is a half gram per serving and you eat two or three servings (as if you only eat the amount of snack foods that’s a single serving…), you’ve ingested an amount that should be identified.  “Natural” is sold as healthy when it’s can be anything but (see “high fructose corn syrup“).  Telling consumers that high-sugar products are good for them (Nutella) or how they’ll protect a kid’s immune system (Rice Krispies) is more dumb than dishonest.  But food brands aren’t the only ones.

Since it’s that diet time of year, false weight-loss claims are in vogue.  So much so that the FTC has issued Gut Check: A Reference Guide for Media on Spotting False Weight-Loss Claims, which is an update of a 2003 booklet on how media should treat weight-loss advertising.  We still saw ads for wearing sneakers that can make you skinny.  Let’s not even get started on airbrushing models.  It’s nice that someone is charged with verifying advertising claims but it does raise a very basic question.

Why would you lie?  Labeling lawsuits are skyrocketing.  Maybe in part because we live in a litigious world but maybe because it’s much easier for consumers to get information and to communicate.  Why would you feel the need to lie given those things?  Why does it take a lawsuit or governmental intervention or a social media blow-up when all that should be required to fix this is a brand manager’s common sense? Your ad may be for cereal but it often turns out the box is full of beans (as my Dad likes to say about people who are full of something else…).

Consumers are smart and getting smarter every day.  Treating them any differently is dumb, which you’re not, right?

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February 6, 2014 · 11:26 am

Ads Are Easy – Content Is Hard

For some reason many of the people with whom I spoke  yesterday had content creation on their minds.

Old AD (L1010566)

(Photo credit: Foread)

All three were former clients who wanted to understand the latest buzzword, content marketing.  As with the use of any term, I first wanted to understand what they thought the term meant.  As it turned out, they had widely differing definitions.  These ranged from what I’d call advertorial to what the industry does term “content marketing.”

My point of view is that brands have always been content creators.  Ads are content – their channel of distribution is paid media.  PR is content – it gets picked up in earned media.  Today, websites, social presences, and who knows what else by the time I’m done writing this (things DO change kind of quickly) are also content and are put out through channels brands own themselves.  I think, however, this is missing the point.

Customers want to be educated.  Sure, it’s nice to give them a laugh or a tear as many brands did during the Super Bowl, but the nature of marketing today is that ongoing conversation I’ve written about before.  Customers want smart brand representatives who can educated them and help to solve their problems when they arise.  However brands touch and audience, I think it needs to be less about the sale and a lot more about engagement.  That comes from an honest and open dialogue with the consumer, not by tricking them into reading a sales piece in the guise of a magazine article.  Posting fake reviews to enhance your brand does nothing except risk massive embarrassment when they’re discovered and sound a discordant note when real reviewers point out how the fake reviews bear no resemblance to reality.

Creating ads is relatively easy.  Everyone sees them as a brand message, a certain amount (and it’s tiny) of hyperbole is expected, and it’s clear something is being sold.  Creating content that educates and informs is much harder.  Maintaining a transparent and open social presence is as well.  That, however, is what marketing has become, at least for those brands that are in touch with their consumers.  Are you?

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