By adaptive - March 7th, 2012

Hi all, Hope everyone is well? Plenty of activity across the social web this week… The high street is still relevant [C]orporations that are looking at how they can lever their online pre...

Hi all,

Hope everyone is well?

Plenty of activity across the social web this week…

The high street is still relevant

The shopper JourneyCorporations that are looking at how they can lever their online presence across the social networks they use, shouldn’t forget the high street. New statistics from Shoppercentric clearly show that the high street is still a vital component of the shopping experience.

“In this world of 24/7 shopping it’s very easy for retailers to focus on business needs and get caught up in the excitement of implementing the latest technologies,” said Danielle Pinnington, Managing Director at Shoppercentric. “We wanted to find out from shoppers what resources they actually use to browse, research, consider or purchase from, and to establish what their needs really are, and whether any age or gender distinctions might exist.

The overriding statistic from the survey is that over 80% of consumers still use the high street to assess items before they make a purchase. A recommendation may have come via social media, but it appears consumers still want to touch and feel the goods they want to buy.

Multi-channel shopping is now the norm. Businesses with an online and offline presence must ensure these spaces are completely integrated if they are to maintain market share over the long term.

Pinnington concluded: “New technology channels are changing the way we shop – the flexibility they provide gives shoppers almost universal choice and access. Despite this, our research says 45% of shoppers will ‘always love going to the shops, no matter what new technologies are available’. The key point is that shoppers are becoming very adept at picking and choosing the channel that suits them under particular circumstances. Yet retailers and brands have tended to compartmentalise – thinking of shoppers who shop versus shoppers who go online. They’ve even structured themselves so that the shops are managed by one team and the online by another – very few have successfully merged the two.”

Tesco launches virtual fitting room on Facebook

Tesco Virtual Fitting RoomDeveloped by Metail, Tesco are attempting to connect their physical stores with their presence on Facebook with not only a virtual store, but one where customers can upload a photo of themselves and virtually try on clothing. Users can also alternatively use one of the models provided.

Facebook users can virtually try on 50 outfits from Tesco’s current range, which will be updated with 10 new outfits each week. The company is also ensuring that the new initiative has a strong social networking element. Users can upload images of themselves wearing various outfits that other users can then vote on. The winners will receive a £50 voucher to spend on their clothes.

The virtual fitting room isn’t new of course as last year Fits.me launched claiming that retailers that use their platform see an increase in sales of close to 60% with a reduction in returns of nearly a third. And Diesel Spain showed in 2010 a changing room where customers could instantly share their new look with Facebook friends.

Facebook real time analytics now available

Facebook Real Time AnalyticsEvery company knows that they have a torrent of data about their social media networks, but making sense of this information, and acting on what it tells your company is the difficult part.

Clearly Facebook understand this plight and have rolled out their page analytics feature that will allow analysis of Facebook traffic without the current delay of a day or two.

Launched at the Facebook Marketing Talks event, this new feature is ideal for brands that want to use time sensitive or time limited marketing campaigns on their pages.

Corporations will now be able to use the real time data analysis to plan their next move and become more proactive instead of reactive to with their campaigns. And lastly, to complement the new real time analytics, brand pages owners can now see a new metric that tracks people that are talking about a specific topic, service etc. This will allow brands to instantly measure and track their reach.

In Brief…

Social media now a vital component of CSR

A company’s CSR has for several years been a yardstick that many consumers use to evaluate the brands they buy from. Today CSR can be responsible for 40% of a company’s reputation according to the latest report from the Reputation Institute.

With 23% of all time online now spent on social networks, it’s not surprising that these interactions have a profound impact on the CSR of a corporation. Engagement across social networks is now a central foundation onto which all businesses must build CSR in an age where reputation and positive sentiment have a massive commercial impact on a company.

Facebook timeline for branded pages

Long overdue but rolling out shortly, branded timelines will offer businesses a new platform to engage with their customers. The look and feel of the layout is similar to that already familiar on personal pages. However, brands will be able to pin their most important content to the timeline so it is always visible especially to new visitors. Making the recent messages area more prominent also allows brand to ensure their pages feel fresh with new content always visible.

Does social commerce work?

A new infographic from ArgyleSocial investigates whether social commerce is actually delivering any real world profits to corporations. The research carried out is revealing as it clearly shows that companies are still acting like businesses on the social networks they use instead of engaging with their customers on a more personal level. The infographic also shows that over half of those surveyed still find it uncomfortable using their credit cards on social networks to buy goods or services. Tristan Handy, Marketing Director at ArgyleSocial said: “The biggest change for marketers is this: you are no longer allowed to use Facebook as Yet Another Ad Network.”

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.

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