Interesting post by Kevin Patrick Allen on how to use Facebook and Twitter to sell over at Practical Ecommerce. Gist of the post is that whilst Facebook and Twitter may be (or may not be) transient fads, and may (or may not) be effective in “brand building”, they are – at the moment – effective promotional [...]

eMarketer has just put together a useful 2009 state-of-the-nation report on Social Commerce, authored by senior analyst Jeffrey Grau. The full report is available here ($695) – but here is a summary of some key points – and SocComToday’s key takeouts: (NB the report reads more as a social media marketing guide for online retailers (rather [...]

The mainstream press has caught the social shopping bug.  Forbes is the latest to have run an article on this area of social commerce – shopping tools powered by social media.  Summary and article archived below. Top Takeouts “The easier things are to buy, the more we consume. Just as we no longer have to search [...]

Just a thought – inspired by the Optaros ecommerce playbook. Content: Social media tools to help shoppers choose Commerce: Social media tools to help shopper buy Community: Social media tools to help shoppers learn

Friday afternoon fun post – a hilarious 3 minute YouTube video below called the Social Media Guru – forwarded to me by Birger Bardowicks from blog sponsor Unique Digital, and made by freelance journalist Markham Nolan.  Everything that’s wrong with social media marketing. Expletive alert, but it’s worth it; the irony is that I bet many social [...]

You know something has gone mainstream when USA Today covers it… How brands are using social networking to reach customers. Focus is more inclusive than social commerce (fusing e-commerce with social media), covering other areas of social media marketing too.  Summarised and archived below for your delight and delectation. Top Takeouts Brands such as Ford, [...]

You’ll find useful social commerce planning guide from Optaros below, the software firm powering the social commerce site Rue La La.  The social commerce planning guide answers the following key question that is increasingly being asked by brands and retailers: “We’ve done product ratings and reviews, what social shopping features should we implement now?” The [...]

A well thought through post by Darpan Munjal on social shopping opportunities for retailers, over at the Commercewiki.com blog. The short version: Darpan sees 3 distinct social shopping opportunities – for both pure-play and clicks and mortar retailers – to help shoppers shop smarter by ‘friendsourcing‘ trusted advice from personal contacts in social or shopping networks. Opportunity [...]

In an Omniture sponsored post, Heidi Cohen over at ClickZ has posted seven recommendations for online retailers to boost sales with social shopping.  Taken together, Heidi’s recommendations provide the basis for an intelligent social shopping strategy: 1) Build relationships with prospects and customers (allow them to connect with you on their terms with their preferred tools, [...]

So will 2010 be the year of “social commerce”, the year when social media marketing moves beyond echo-chamber hype and settles down to become a suite of productivity tools to help online buyers buy and online sellers sell? Well, social commerce has had some false dawns; Steve Rubel tipped 2006 to be the year of social [...]