According to Qualman's "Socialnomics, 2nd Edition, Chapter 5, social commerce is:
“a
term that encompasses the transactional, search, and marketing components of
social media. Social commerce harnesses the simple idea that people value the
opinions of other people.” (Qualman, 2013, page 72)
“The most popular feature of Facebook and
LinkedIn is status updates. Status updates enable users to continuously brag,
boast, inform, and vent to everyone in their network.” (Qualman, 2013, page 73)
This is true
of all generations. In fact, Facebook began with generations Y and Z being the
predominant users, but that slowly shifted to generations X and Baby Boomers
following the lead. In addition, Twitter began its popularity with generations X
and Baby Boomers using it, with generations Y and Z soon following suit. (Qualman, 2013, page 73)
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| My great-nephew at age 2. |
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| My nephew at 34, and his son. |
Today, social
media is used for much more than simply telling our friends, co-workers, and
associates what our latest career move is, or where we went on vacation.
Today, it is used to streamline data in ways that allow us to make analytical
decisions, based on what our peers have acted upon.
This information is invaluable, because:
This is quite a change from the 67% of consumers choosing word of mouth for product and brand information in 1977. (Qualman, 2013, page 80)
Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo have been widely used for people's everyday research. Now, with the introduction of 'social search engines', such as Facebook's Graph Search, or through Google+ Search, you are able to search posts, photos, and people. Of course these things can be searched through traditional search engines, but via the social searches, you are able to see if any of your friends or connections have posted about the item you are searching for, and non-relevant advertising is not pushed to you as part of the search results. Remember, YouTube is currently the 2nd largest search engine being used! (YouTube, Qualman, 2013)
today's
consumers would prefer to make purchases based
on their peer recommendations and reviews. Today, 92% of consumers would choose word
of
mouth for product and brand information, over traditional advertisements.
(Qualman, 2013, page 80)
This is quite a change from the 67% of consumers choosing word of mouth for product and brand information in 1977. (Qualman, 2013, page 80)
Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo have been widely used for people's everyday research. Now, with the introduction of 'social search engines', such as Facebook's Graph Search, or through Google+ Search, you are able to search posts, photos, and people. Of course these things can be searched through traditional search engines, but via the social searches, you are able to see if any of your friends or connections have posted about the item you are searching for, and non-relevant advertising is not pushed to you as part of the search results. Remember, YouTube is currently the 2nd largest search engine being used! (YouTube, Qualman, 2013)
These time saving features eliminate stressful
product comparisons and 'multiple individual redundancies' (MIR's), which make the users more efficient.
(Qualman, 2013, page 78)
Furthermore, with today's technological advances, such as cookie-based tracking, and data measurement analysis,
companies can streamline the information they gather from these search engines, in order to tailor offers to their consumers based on what the consumer likes or dislikes, their activities, where they have vacationed, etc., in lieu of the consumer searching for their products or services. (Qualman, 2013, pages 78 & 89)
This allows for a better experience for the consumer, while also providing a straight line towards purchase, which benefits the company. (Qualman, 2013, page 78)
According to Garrick Schmitt of Razorfish:
"Those who will succeed need to act more like publishers, entertainment companies, or even party planners, than advertisers." (Qualman, 2013, Page 89)
One company that has capitalized on social media and these technological advances is TripAdvisor. They have utilized Google Maps as part of their "Cities I've Visited" page on Facebook. They have also incorporated Facebook Connect in their website applications. These applications allow the users of TripAdvisor to mark on maps where they have been and would like to go, while also being able to search about destinations, and receiving reviews, comments, and suggestions from their own peer network. (Qualman, 2013, pages 77 & 86)
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| From Facebook Developer Spotlight |
TripAdvisor's use of other business' applications, alongside their own has proven that the old saying of:
"you can have only two out of three - cheap,
quick, or quality" is no longer true with the advent of social media. (Qualman, 2013, page 86)
While the digital revolution has completely changed the way we listen to, buy, and sell music, the book industry is slightly different. Books can have many updates or revisions which can keep a book's shelf life much longer, which is not a typical trait of recorded music. This makes the e-readers and tablets of today more of a 'compliment', rather than a 'replacement'. (Qualman, 2013, page 92)
Do you believe that digital books are a compliment or a replacement? Why?
Companies will have the opportunity to utilize hyperlinks in these digital books to emphasize search engine optimization, provide product details, or send the consumer directly to a purchase page, simply by clicking on the hyperlink connected to a product that was named in that book. These opportunities will also generate additional revenue. (Qualman, 2013, page3 91-93)
In addition, book publishers may be able to create a mechanism that limits the numbers of days that a book is digitally readable. (Qualman, 2013, page 93)
If the music industry had embraced technology, could they have utilized it to limit P2P downloading?
The most significant piece of these hyperlink abilities, is that they can be tracked and measured, which means determining where your marketing dollars are best used will be much more targeted! (Qualman, 2013, page 91)
References:
Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics, 2nd Edition, Chapter 5. Hoboken, NJ. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
