Last year, Reevoo delivered over nine billion word-of-mouth impressions across our customers around the world. Increasingly more and more of those impressions have been delivered to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.
As we hurtle towards the close of the year, I am super excited about what I believe we are going to see more and more of in 2013 in the world of social engagement. Namely, multi-channel; the integration of social content across the enterprise; and connected customers.
Multichannel
The travel industry is leading the way in technology innovation with travel publication TTG hosting a virtual conference this week.
It had all the benefits of a travel conference but instead it was offered to you from the comfort of your computer chair. It had all the elements of a typical event - presentations, debate, networking, exhibitors and attendees.
The TTG site imitated real life (complete with city scape and fancy cars) visually and fell into the hands of convenience and of course there was no cost involved in attending.
We are all aware of cross-channel commerce (or, as some call it, omnichannel shopping), and the implications this new customer journey has for brands. Consumers use several channels to shop and obtain information before purchasing, therefore, the whole experience needs to be seamless and the information provided relevant at the time and appropriate for the channel used.
Social content is becoming ever more important in the car purchase journey, with over 80% of buyers consulting driver reviews before some or all vehicle purchases.
That's why dealerships like Luscombe Suzuki and Simpsons Škoda are keen to add social commerce solutions like ours to their sites. Unlike quotes from one or two carefully-chosen testimonials, real owner reviews provide trustworthy information that boost engagements and increase the rate at which website visitors convert into test-drives – and into sales.
The M-Commerce Pecha Kucha held by Ecommerce UK last week was a fantastic event – but more than this, it was a sign of the times.
The event was packed with marketers and ecommerce professionals all keen to hear about the latest m-commerce developments and best practices hammered out by their peers.
No one was waiting to be convinced that they need to start planning to consider adding mobile to their marketing or selling strategy - next year, or the year after. The savvy crowd already knew that m-commerce is happening now.
The lines may be blurred when it comes to measuring the success of social commerce campaigns – but that doens't meant that measurement isn't possible, or social commerce isn't successful. In fact, out of the 50% of marketers who do measure the ROI of social commerce (according to their answers in a recent survey), 33% reported good or excellent ROI.
With 90% of purchases subject to some sort of social influence, it’s no surprise that social commerce is a top priority for businesses both now and heading into the new year. However, a new survey of marketers from Marketing Magazine reveals that the majority are missing out on the full potential of social commerce.
Our Manifesto was recently dicsussed on Radio 4's consumer affairs show, You and Yours, where the in-house consumer advocates seemed impressed by our commitment to publishing all reviews - good or bad, 5 or 500.
You can listen to the program again on BBC iPlayer (starting from 23.35 minutes in), or read the transcript:
Facebook’s announcements last week at F8 herald a new era of possibilities for extending social throughout the web – and the future is particularly exciting for social commerce.