Last post I covered some ways you can use Twitter for ecommerce marketing. (Remember that Twitter can be an inexpensive form of mcommerce as users can subscribe to mobile text alerts). As promised, here are some Twitter Do’s and Do Not Do’s based on Ma.gnolia’s experience using microblogging for customer support.

(If you’re not in the know, Ma.gnolia’s about the best lookin’ social bookmarking site on the web) Here’s a summary of Ma.gnolia’s Product Manager Todd Sieling’s presentation at BarCamp Vancouver:

• Make each tweet worth reading - no poly filler
• Speak softly unless the house is on fire (remember Ma.gnolia’s subscribers are receiving tech support and system updates)
• Tweet responsibly, too many tweets will make your subscribers tune out
• Be creative, but not at the expense of clarity
• Follow everyone who follows you - except spammers
• Read your community’s tweets and glean whatever you can from what they’re saying

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Twitter is a social networking site that has been described as “microblogging” as it’s essentially a way to post really brief content. I believe the original concept was to create a way for people to let others know what they were doing at any given moment (like Facebook status updates) “I’m watching football,” “I’m going out for sushi,” “the cat is driving me crazy” sort of thing. But users have found bigger and better applications for Twitter. Not long ago I reported on Amazon and Woot’s use of Twitter as a way to broadcast short news bytes and deals of the day to customers. Today I’m going to expand on Twitter’s ecommerce marketing potential for one-to-one customer service, reputation management, affiliate management and a free alternative to mcommerce marketing.

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Well it’s Friday, so we’re gonna talk about the lighthearted side of social media for ecommerce and Jockey’s latest viral campaign “StopSquirming.com”

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Internet Retailing reports that consumers are catching wind that comparison engines’ CPC model can be biased towards higher paying merchants. A study by Quidco in the UK found that one in three consumers have stopped using shopping engines, and almost 50% would not use comparison engines again after being told that results may be skewed in favor of the highest bidder. Although the findings are interesting, we shouldn’t conclude that this is the beginning of the end for comparison engines.

The problem is perception. Consumers may be less likely to use comparison engines if they feel that they are somehow being manipulated. Since people want to feel in control and that they have made the best decision - they want to believe they are choosing from all the information available. But the consumers in the study don’t fully understand comparison shopping, nor do they realize that so much of their buying behavior is influenced by paid advertising already.

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I really enjoyed this morning’s webinar with Andy Chen of PowerReviews and Jay Gordman of NetShops. (If you missed it, you can catch the recap here). Today I want to expand a bit on fake reviews and bad reviews.

Liar, Liar?

We all know how easy it would be for a marketer, manufacturer or etailer to post fake reviews of a product - whether positive for their own products or negative for competing products. This is one of the challenges of not only building trust online, but cultivating authentic communities online. A reviewer could fall into any of the following categories:

• Manufacturers, etailers and others submitting fake positive reviews
• Competitors submitting fake negative reviews
• Customers with an axe to grind, even exaggerating
• Anyone paid to write reviews for the product on popular sites
• Customers writing a review in order just to get that 25% off their next order
• Authentic brand/product evangelists

Haven’t we all read a review that goes something like this…

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63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (CompUSA & iPerceptions study)

Are you missing out on the trend towards social commerce? Find out how to capitalize on consumer generated content in this informative session including a case study on NetShops’ success with product reviews and ratings.

View On-demand Webinar
User Reviews: The Power of Social Commerce
(Windows Media Player is required)

Note:
We apologize for the audio quality and will do our best to improve it in next month’s webinar: 7 Simple Ways to Boost Your Holiday Conversion Rate

Questions and Answers

What about moderating “dirty words” from reviews? How much of an effort is that?
Jason Billingsley: PowerReviews offers a profanity filter and it is basically automatic. Other review solutions like Bazaarvoice likely have the same capabilities. If you are using an out-of-the-box system included with your ecommerce software, it will vary - there will be no 1st level moderation by a service provider so you will be on the hook for ALL moderation. I have seen numbers in the 10% range for the amount of reviews that need some level of scrubbing.

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Continuing on with the Ecommerce Webinar series, … this Thursday (Aug. 16th) Andy Chen and Jay Gordman will join Jason Billingsley for a hour long candid conversation on the pros and cons of adding user generated product reviews to your ecommerce site. There is power in social commerce but there must be a catch, right? Well maybe not. Attend this complimentary webinar to find out.

That’s right - put that checkbook away because there is no charge for you! Simply sign up for User Reviews: The Power of Social Commerce and attend on Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PDT (GMT -8).

In the presentation, the panelists will address a comprehensive list of topics including…

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Many retailers are starting to use blogs to interact with and market to shoppers. In fact, 15% of the Top 500 Online Retailers have ecommerce blogs. Some are fresh out of the gate, while others have thousands of posts and comments. We rounded them all up and have listed 75+ ecommerce blogs for your retail inspiration. Alright, let’s check out who’s blogging now…

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Jason forwarded me this funny ecommerce site and I didn’t know what to expect when I clicked on the link…but have a look for yourself.

The Norwegian estore Arngren.net inspired me to write a tongue-in-cheek usability evaluation. Because it’s Friday, I thought it would be appropriate to point out 13 usability problems on this ecommerce site…

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I’m heading to Gnomedex shortly … here’s how you can play along at home with this special board game edition which wou’ll receive along with your year supply of Rice a Roni!

I won’t be doing on-site blogging this time (no laptop) but am taking recorder and camera and plan to document a bit but mostly soak all the fuzzy knowledge in to hone my ability to see into the future of media, communication, activism and efficiency. Excited to hang out with more amazing folks brewing up crazy goodness and catch up with the “alumni club” at this geekfest summer camp. Fortunately non-A listers like me are able to attend to keep it real ;-).

Maslow take note of all these fulfilled and almost actualized people!

photo by KK (of course)

Gnomedex video and audio live: http://live.pirillo.com/

Gnomedex 2007: http://www.gnomedex.com/2007/

Always fun to hear what Marc Canter yells aloud (careful sitting next to him!)

Gnomedex attendees aggregator: http://www.gnomedex.com/2007/attendees/

Gnomedex “it’s geeky fun” song by DKM Penmachine: http://www.penmachine.com/2006/06/free-mp3-theme-song-for-gnomedex-for.html

Gnomedex Flickr tag: http://flickr.com/photos/tags/gnomedex/

Thrasher fan Mark, Cosmo and Cap’n Ajax

Gnomedex Technorati tags: http://technorati.com/posts/tag/gnomedex/

Gnomedex 06 posts on Get Elastic:
http://www.getelastic.com/gnomedex-rolls-on-with-day-25/
http://www.getelastic.com/conversations-from-the-gnomedex-stage/
http://www.getelastic.com/gnomedex-is-underway/

Gnomedex Entomology: http://www.thenameinspector.com/gnomedex/

Gnomedex is a funny name. There’s something absurd about the word gnome, and using it to replace the first syllable of a stuffy, corporate-sounding acronym really makes Gnomedex work. Gnome makes you think of garden gnomes. And the Underpants Gnomes of South Park.They have a three-point business plan that may seem eerily familiar toyou VCs and angels out there, and cut a little close to the bone foryou web entrepreneurs:

1. Collect Underpants.
2. ?
3. Profit!

by niallkennedy

technorati tags:gnomedex, geekyfun, seattle