Month: January 2011

Social Sign-On
I don’t know about you, but I find registering for an account online very trouble-some. There are so many fields to fill in and it just takes so much time. Now, there is a solution to that, Social Sign-on. Social sign-on allows users to register on E-commerce sites using their existing account, primarily Facebook. Social sign-on/sign-in creates convenience for users so they only have to remember their Facebook username and password, rather than one set per site. It will also be easier for users to share their activity or thoughts for the site on Facebook.

Privacy Invasion?

From retailers’ perspective, they now have access to users’ information such as their profile, interests, likes, comments, etc. Retailers can use the information to tailor promotion and gain brand loyalty. This is information retailers would not be able to retrieve from normal registration.

This raises the privacy flag once again. It is not the first time that social media, primarily Facebook, has privacy issues. With the new Social sign-on phenomenon, users’ information on Facebook will not only be seen by friends, Facebook and Facebook application developers, but also many retailers out there. Retailers can track down your likes and your comments to see what you are into lately and customize their promotional strategy accordingly. The negative effect of this feature is that retailers can now promote to you through different methods. Many people put their email, phone number and other personal information on Facebook. Retails can utilize these information to market their products to users.

Users who use social sign-on may not know their personal information is being releaed to retailers. There may be conditions and terms relating to using social sign-on, but not many people read it.

In a survey done by eMarketer.com, 69% of the interviewed E-commerce retailers said they have implemented or in the planning process to implement Social Sign on.  This trend is here to stay, but whether it can balance convenience and privacy is still a question that needs to be answered.

Source: Socialtimes.com, eMarketer.com

As we are stepping into the New 2011, many are optimistic about what 2011 will bring to us.  This is the same for Search. In our generation, we grew up with search engine. Searches have grown from researching for an academic paper to searching for the cheapest bottle of shampoo nearby. If we don’t know something, “Google it”, a term that is commonly heard which means to look up what we dont’ know in the Google search engine. It’s phenomenal to see how a company noun is now commonly used as a verb, synonymous to search.

An article predicts 10 trends for search in the year 2011. Below are a few interesting ones. See if you agree.

1. App search – As more people are using smartphones, a marketer predicts that the next thing in search will be for the search engines to show apps instead of websites that will answer your question. It will allow the users to install the app that will get them what they are looking for.

This may sound like a pretty cool idea, but wouldn’t everyone be downloading a lot of apps in order to find what they want? Even with website, you might not be able to find your answers in the first web page you go to. If the search returns with different apps, then how do we know which app will exactly answer what we want?

2. Search filters get tougher – In 2010, Google implement the “May Day” algorithm that punishes websites that are almost exactly the same. In the upcoming year, marketers expect that search filters will get even tougher to limit less valuable content and maximize the most unique and valuable content.

This would be exciting news for users as search will return websites that often have very similar content. The problem with web is that it is too easy to start up a website and take the content of someone else’s by changing a few words. With tougher search filter, hopefully it will be more efficient when we use search to find what we want.

3. Instant Preview is here to stay – I am not sure how many of you know of this feature, but when you search something in Google, beside each result, there is a magnifying glass. By clicking the magnifying glass, you will be able to get a preview of the website to help you decide if you want to go into the web page to see more.

This sounds like a pretty cool feature, but I actually didn’t know of it until now. The previews are actually not that clear so you can’t really read the text in the preview. I don’t know how useful this feature is because with the speed of internet now, opening and closing a web page is within seconds.

Read the rest of the 7 trends here.

What is SEO?
The term SEO may be unfamiliar to many of you but this is a hot topic. Marketers or advertisers are actually linking SEO and social media together. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which means to obtain the highest ranking in search results when people are searching for keywords. When I say highest ranking I do not mean the sponsored links you see at the top and on the sides because these are paid, but I mean the organic results you get after you enter the search. The purpose of SEO is to increase the company’s visibility.

SEO & Social Media
Social Media is a huge trend right now and has opened up more marketing opportunities. It’s not uncommon to see a company’s website with links to their Twitter account or Facebook Fan page.  Around 71% of marketers say that they use social media as part of their SEO strategy. By using social media, companies are able to improve their website’s visibility because there is more content to update and the content is fresh. Although social media seems like a necessary component in marketing strategy, marketers have to be careful how they utilize these mediums. Some companies are very successful in doing so and are able to generate great reviews and feedback from consumers.

Utilizing Social Media
One personal example I have is Sigma Beauty which sells make-up brushes online. They do not have any retail stores and so they rely heavily on online marketing. They have Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs and they utilize each medium very well.  For example, they use Facebook and Twitter to connect with consumers and to reply to consumers’ concerns. They use YouTube to post videos when they launch new products as well as invite other YouTube make-up gurus to do make-up tutorials using their products. They use their blogs to inform consumers about their products as well as provide tips to those who are in their Affliate program or are their wholesalers.  Of course, there are also many companies who are a disaster with social media. The most common ones are phone companies. It’s not hard to find websites and Facebook groups dedicated to how much consumers hate these companies and these companies have not been very responsive to the criticism. In the end, social media does help companies with their SEO strategy but companies have to make sure they listen and research which social netword work best for their strategy.

source: eMarketer.com