Some fantastic stats and pretty powerful stuff I think you’ll agree!

We’ll I’ll stick my neck out and say that one of the areas I’m tipping to see exponential growth next is Social Commerce.

We’ll no longer have to search for products and services, they’ll soon start to find us! We know ‘word of mouth’ is one of the most powerful tools in a marketers armoury, and the technology is now in place for customers to see what their friends, colleagues and wider networks have purchased, found relevant, liked or commented on.

Imaging looking to book that summer holiday but noticing in your social network, news feed or status update, that one of your friends have booked a holiday to destination ‘A’ and another five of your friends and colleagues with similar imterests have liked or left positive comments about their choice. Imagine then being able to book the same holiday or similar through the same companywithout having to leave the site you are on! This could apply to any type of product or service. It would be fully trasactional, secure, searchable, marketable and be conveniently integrated in to the sites you visit most – your social network.

The trust you have in your network would be so much more powerful, than anything we have seen before such as blind reviews or testimonials, and the benefits this would bring for customers would include peace of mind, saved time, energy, fustration and money.

Now granted we have seen some steps in to this area with success stories such as Dells ‘Outlet’ store on Twitter, but I’m envisaging a much wider adoption which will be fully transactional with increased viral awareness across social networks – think referral programmes on steriods!

So what form do I think this will take? Well, the most ovious place and the social network most geared up to this currently, would be Facebook. Perhaps this will be in the form of custom tabs or canvases on a companies page and feature a secure shopping cart and checkout process.

Does this mean I’m predicting the end of the standalone e-commerce site? Of course not. Well, not in the short term anyway, there are numerous benefits for having multiple online precence across the web but this is another example of how companies should now be thinking, engaging with and leveraging the power of the customer, providing them with a choice of how to interact with your brand.

For those wanting to know more about how the best to implement social-commerce in to your social media presences, feel free to get in touch.

The brand in question is of course Nike who managed to leverage the relationships they have built with many of the worlds top footballers such as Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba and Robinho, effectively showcasing a number of their products without a single reference to the World Cup in their communications and more importantly any Official Sponsor fees to FIFA.

Who could have failed to notice that the majority of the worlds top players were wearing Nike’s distinctive CTR360 Maestri Elite FG boots! Now whilst I’m sure Nike’s endorsement fees are considerable, these will have been dwarfed by the figure required for the equivalent airtime, ad space or the figures paid to become an official sponsor. And despite rival Adidas being an official sponsor, kitting out more teams (12 to Nikes 9) and providing the infamous Jubulani ball their brand awareness throughout the whole tournament ranks at only 14.4% of the ‘official and competitor buzz’ provided by Nielsen, compared to Nike’s 30.2%!

I make that Nike 1 Adidas 0 in the battle of the sports brands and there’s now certain pair of new boots on my birthday list for next month!

Whilst it doesn’t claim to be a definitive list, it is a great resource to help focus your efforts, aligning them with your goals and highlighting some areas and opportunities to reach your customers that you may have otherwise overlooked.

Much better than the drab and uninspiring alternatives I have previously seen. Good work guys at B2B!

The Marketers job has changed from creating and pushing hard-sell messages to one that is now fundamentally about listening, engaging and reacting to existing and potentially new customer needs.

The Old Mantra

- Push messaging , good marketer’s can sell anything
- We know what’s right for the customers
- Products and messaging developed in house & pushed to customers
- Brand guidelines and key message critical

The New Mantra

- It’s critical to listen and respond to customer needs
- The product/service is paramount
- We may not know what is exactly right for the customer, but we will engage in dialogue with them and fine tune our offering
- Customers can often market the products better than we can, utilising one of their ideas or influence is beneficial to everyone

The marketers job has changed, it is important to realise that a fundamental shift is now required throughout all departments if organisations are to succeed. And whilst this may concern some, there are many benefits to this new approach such as being able to identify and adapt to changes in your market place quicker and building stronger customer relationships.

Ultimately, the customer is now more powerful than ever before! They won’t let you force them in to your database and communicate through traditional channels such as phone, direct mail and email.