Twitter, Brands, E-Commerce

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Stuart Watson

Paul Dunay’s list of brands that tweet is long but not misses some critical Tweeters.

My social Network on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter...

Image by luc legay via Flickr

The Best Buy account (http://www.twitter.com/bestbuy) should actual point to http://twitter.com/BestBuyRemix.  And they aren’t just posting about new locations, responding to customer feedback (positive or negative), or even promoting a sale.  They have provided a mashup with their product lookup API.  Initially the Twitter community can utilize but why not send the same query to an SMS short code?  The response can have a link to open a mobile web browser, a Best Buy phone application, or respond with a limited time discount code.  They offer CPA payouts through their affiliate program on purchases but someone has to click.  Wonder how many folks are purchasing.

Another retailer using Twitter is Dell.  They have more then one.  They have been quoted saying:

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) says Twitter has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts.

I’m sure there will be more retailers doing the same.  Question becomes if Twitter starts charging for corporate accounts or maybe does an affiliate model with retailers.  Think about that:  1% of $1 million is $10,000 coming from 3,381 followers (as of 1/5/09).  No it does not pay for much but that is one retailer with less then 1% of their email subscriber base.  SMS deliver of the sales alerts could carry a different price structure.  And what if you could track off-line transactions (click-to-call or Revtrax type of solution)?  Could off-line transaction tracking be beneficial for BestBuyRemix?  I’m waiting for the Social Media Service Providers (SMSP) to emerge just like Email Service Providers (ESP’s are Datran Media, Exact Target, Responsys, etc.).  Datran already offers a Facebook communications solution.  If a SMSP can also support off-line metrics, they would be in an excellent position.  One is getting started down in Austin with some heavy weight behind it.

What are the Twitter business models for commercial entities?  Let’s ask Kevin Thau the new partnership manager but they are still looking for a product manager to help develop commercial (aka making money) products.

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Networking Outside the Normal Communities

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Stuart Watson
Innovation

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First, I’m blessed to have a job during the current state of the economy.  That being said, some believe this is the time for innovation.  I believe it can be if two different communities can learn to network.  What communities might those be?  Well it’s the non-techy community and the techy community.  It’s important to network and utilize social media.  It seems like this would not necessarily help stimulate growth or innovation which our country needs very badly.  There are very talented non-techy and techy job seekers who together can create new businesses.

What and how do we bring these people together?

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A Mashup with no API? Way cool!

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Stuart Watson

Who needs an API?  Not DJ Earworm.  For me, this is the best non-API mashup out there:

Re-Tweet: A Mashup with no API?  Way cool!  http://tinyurl.com/7slno9

Copy and paste this into your Twitter account (or similar).  Following Jeremiah’s example.

This is amazing and hats off to DJ Earworm.  Keep up the great work.  I can’t stop listening.

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Social Media Gurus 2009 Predictions

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Stuart Watson

A gathering of social media folks put together their predictions for 2009. From Charlene Li, Pete Blackshaw, Jason Falls, Jeremiah Owyang, and Andy Sernovitz, Peter Kim put together the predictions using a Scribd document (very cool).  I’ve embedded here:Social Media 2009

Attention on what's ahead.Community Guy, Jack McKee, has two simple ones to consider as well.  I think social media for 2009 boils down to one thing:  Attention. Why attention?  That is what my 6, 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old sons constantly want from me and their mother.  Each son represents a different type of Customer wanting attention.  They don’t want not another ad selling a product/service/brand.  Maybe if I had more sons (not likely) I would have more Customers to describe but these three will cover it for now.  Besides it’s something I see everyday (at home and work) and try to learn from everyday.  Here are three types of Customers who need your social media attention:

Connor – 6 year old

  • Directly ask for attention (voice and visual) and what type of attention he needs (help with a word, wrestling, juice, etc.).
  • Capable of communicating to two levels as necessary:  Customer Service (Dad) and Executive Level (Mom).
  • Can influence others (his brothers) to help his cause (actually starting to figure that out).

Who is this Customer:  A brand advocate who could help and/or hurt the brand if not treated correctly.  Don’t ask me how to treat him because I’m still working on it.

Ethan – 4 1/2 year old

  • Gets attention by picking on his brothers so they get frustrated with him.
  • Communication method:  screaming and yelling at the brother (bring Mom and Dad into the picture).
  • He does not want to play nice in our community.  Constantly looking to stir the pot.

Who is this Customer:  Advocate for their personal brand which requires the community to police either in taking action or watching (and right now I can’t get Connor to help with Ethan but working on it).

Parker – 2 1/2 year old

  • Does not listen and has his own agenda.
  • Participates in the community when he feels it appropriate (either to play nice or to stir the pot like Ethan).
  • Difficulty integrating with the community and it’s activities (6 and 4 activities are very different from the 2 year old).

Who is this Customer:  Your future Customer so you should continually test new methods, content, and tools to have them participate.

Yes my sons are very different not just by age but their individual traits, tendencies, and values.  How we (Mom and Dad) communicate with each as well as then physically interact is critical for maintaining a balanced family system.  Too much attention to any one type of Customer impacts the other Customers.  This impact can slow down or stop the system from operating properly.

What are the critical components for keeping the social media system operating properly?

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A Good List of 2009 SEM Predictions

Posted on December 23, 2008 by Stuart Watson

Find Resolution has a good list of 2009 search engine marketing predictions.  Having worked at Performics before Doubleclick bought us, some of these predictions would have seemed far fetch and unlikely. I do believe bid management is becoming commoditized and became apparent when Yahoo changed their model.  Trying to out-math the Google engine is just not going to happen.

#8 – Focus on post-click activity.  You mean it has not already been an emphasis?  There are so many variables involved in getting the person to click on a PPC ad why put up a generic landing page.  OnDialog provides platform for marketers’ to create their own landing pages without technology help.  Google has their Google Website Optimizer but does not provide a tool to build the HTML pages themselves.  On the high end is Omniture’s Test&Target which I’ve used for numerous clients in different industries.  Post-click activity will be an emphasis for any acquisition marketing media but take it a step further.

If you do re-marketing, why are you putting everyone into the same re-marketing bucket?  Think about it.  A customer visits the site coming in on the search term relative to the highest margin product you sell.  Don’t you want to prioritize that customer for re-marketing if they don’t convert?  There are many things to consider and are there tools to help make this possible.  Nothing cut and dry but doable none the less.

In 2009, yes focus on the post-click activity and make sure to consider how to prioritize clickers for re-marketing.  For both acquisition and retention programs.

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Getting Started

Posted on December 3, 2008 by Stuart Watson

Going to take some time to build out this blog to were I want it to be.  Starts by trying to post consistently.  Goal is once a week.  Hopefully it won’t be “sorry, nothing new” type of post.  It might be comments on a company’s accounement or an article until a longer, insightful (maybe not to everyone) post can be finished.

Excited about trying this publishing thing.  Thanks.

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