Shortly after my last post on Pinterest this insightful infographic circulated giving further evidence that the platform could really become a big player in 2012 – check out “is Pinterest the next social commerce game changer“

After making such a huge splash in the US last year (with over 31 million visits) it is only a matter of time before the platform starts to attract UK brands.  Whilst Pinterest rose to number 7 in the Hitwise top 10 social networks of 2011, this was for the US and there may be some way to go before the platform makes a full impact on the UK social media scene.

I was within one short click of buying a new watch from Amazon after following a board called “cool watches” on Pinterest and clicking through the shop site.  What put me off?  I was directed to the US site, all in dollars and whilst I pondered shipping details the moment was lost and I clicked away.  This got me thinking about the UK and when brands will start to adopt the platform and seek to reap the clear social commerce benefits.

This infographic delves into the Pinterest users and provides some interesting initial insight into the UK user base.  Critically though, as of December 2011 there were an estimated 200,000 UK users compared with over 12 million in the US.  Is there enough of a lure for brands quite yet?  My advice to brands would be to get curating, it is only a matter of time.

Find out more about Pinterest’s rapid growth in the USA

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As all eyes focus on the social commerce landscape for 2012, Dimensions Mall, has dropped a veritable bomb less than a month into the year.

While 67% of retailers are already planning to use Facebook to drive traffic through to e-commerce in 2012, not to mention Coca-Cola, Disney and Starbucks, the three largest brands on the social networking site, already selling products directly, Georgia-based Dimensions Mall has gone one step further.

As reported by Social Media Influence, the company is developing a virtual shopping mall, where consumers create their own custom avatars to take them around realistic-looking stores, try on outfits in virtual dressing rooms and share the experience in real-time with family and friends.

The mall is packed with social functionality, such as profile pages, where shoppers can share and review purchases, as well as regularly updated products, offering shoppers access to items that are ‘trending’ at that moment in time.

It’s certainly a radical step forward into social commerce – and one intended to revolutionise the communal shopping experience. Will it work?

- Yes, because it appeals to our cautiousness. Shoppers can watch each other’s actions and see what others have purchased, before making their own moves

- Yes because it appeals to our curiosity. Shoppers can explore one another’s social pages for reviews and recommendations, seeking out authoritative views before committing to purchases

- Yes, because, quite simply, we are influenced by the people we like. By making the social shopping experience truly communal and facilitating real-time shared shopping experiences, we are more likely to follow our peer’s actions into purchase decisions

All in all, it looks like a groundbreaking project and it will certainly be interesting to see which brands dip their toes into the water first.

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Ikea vs. Apple via Fixr

We like this visual representation of how the Swedish and US companies stack up (no flat pack puns intended.)

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Don’t fancy the hassle of overcrowded shopping malls this Christmas? Do your shopping via social media! Here are some top tips:

Image by Twaize via Flickr

Let someone else try before you buy

Worried you might be buying a turkey? Check out product reviews before you buy. Retailers like Amazon and ebay have a sophisticated consumer review systems. But, try independent sites such as CNET and Electric Pig where you can see reviews from professionals and consumers side-by-side.

Stuck for ideas

Not sure where to start? Well, see what other people are buying and talking about this Xmas on sites like Kaboodle – a social network for shoppers!

Bargain hunting

In these cash-strapped times, keep an ear to the ground for the latest deals via twitter. Follow discount voucher sites like @MyVoucherCodes and @savoo for £££££s off high street brands.

Safety in numbers

Image via Wikipedia

The ultimate social shopping experience: group buying. Club together with your mates (or complete strangers!) to buy the same Christmas gift and benefit from a discount. Check out sites like GroupOn and Crowdity.

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Did you know that…

1 in 3 men wait until Christmas Eve to finish their shopping.

56% of Americans sing holiday carols to their pets.

And 17% of people who Christmas shop via mobile, will be doing it on the bus.

This is the social shopping Christmas story …

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When Santa Claus comes to town, the rules are simple. You watch out, you don’t cry and you don’t pout.

I put to you that in 2009 the social media marketeers ignored every single one of these rules, pedalling Christmas campaigns that involved risks, made people cry and yes, made them pout. For this reason, I propose last year’s social media marketeers did not want Santa Claus to come to town.

The offending articles

Item One

In 2009 Essex couple Jon and Tracy Morter diced with fire when they attempted to topple Simon Cowell’s UK Christmas Number One monopoly.

The couple used Twitter and Facebook to build a groundswell around shunning X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s single, The Climb, for Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 release, Killing in the Name.

The result? More than one million fans joined the Facebook page and Killing in the Name reached the top of the download chart just in time for Christmas.

Item Two

US blogger Jill Kocher wasn’t worried about bringing tears to ours eyes when she launched a campaign to bring SEO to the charities that needed it most.

Kocher, SEO Manager at Groupon by day and blogger for WebPieRat by night, found local-level charities had little knowledge of SEO and optimisation.

Following her findings, she set out on a mission to provide back links to charities in featured posts in the first instance, followed by arming them with the skills to embed optimised terms into their sites in time for Christmas 2010.

Item Three

Fashionista definitely wanted you to pout. Last year the augmented reality tool was developed for fashion retail sites to help shoppers virtually try on their Christmas party outfits and share the pictures with friends via Facebook.

I think the evidence is clear, social media marketeers do not want Santa Claus to come to town.

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Recently, Econsultancy published a piece on ten great e-commerce product pages. Following our research into the social shopping explosion we wanted to find out exactly how ‘social’ some of these retailers are. All of which will be popular destinations for consumers this Christmas.

We’ve judged these ground-breaking online retailers on the following criteria:

• Do they provide on-site reviews (1 pt per method of review)
• Do they have links to off-site social media estates (1 pt per platform)
• Do they actively engage and interact with customers (1 pt per platform engaging on)
• Personalised site recommendations (4 pts)
• Innovative, quirky, value added social media offerings (1 pt per offering)
• Exclusive offers for members? (1 pt)
• Colourful and entertaining campaigns (1 pt per campaign)
• Blogs (1 pt)

We all know Amazon will be a big hit for consumers this Christmas and the customer review ratings and personalised recommendations on the site provide useful tools for purchasing decisions.  In terms of being truly ‘social’ though it’s the fashion retailer that takes  advantage of social media channels to gain fans, really involving and engaging with them.  Asos even allows fans to review items via its own YouTube videos and engage with each other via community pages.  We’ve seen a rise in popularity of collaborative online shopping through sites like Groupon, so is this the next big step for retailers in 2011?

It’s apparent from our research on social commerce, the articles and conversations we pick up on, that it’s an exciting time for retailers. Especially when it comes to social media.  Do you have any recommendations for great sites and product pages that are being smart with social media?  As ever, we’d like to hear your thoughts…

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Because we’re slightly geeky and we like to spot a trend, we’ve been keeping an eye on a few key Christmas search terms over on our Christmas dashboard page.

Amongst other things (like kids’ presents and favourite Christmas puddings), we’ve been monitoring Google searches for “Christmas presents.” For the past few days, “presents for men” has been forging ahead. This suggests that, as we predicted, shopping for men can prove to be a bit of a headache.

An interesting anomaly emerged today.

It appears that men might be struggling even more than women – it’s just that they don’t use the same words.

The table below shows Google searches relating to “Christmas gifts.” A slight turn in phrase and the picture is entirely different.

There’s a lesson there in semantics and making sure that the search terms are right….

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You may have heard that Google has changed its search algorithm and with that change, instilled the word Abuserank forever into the minds of SEO experts.

According to Google they were spurred into action by the story of Clarabelle Rodriguez and the shocking (and by shocking I mean truly abusive and in some cases illegal) treatment she received at the hands of one online retailer (Decormyeyes.) This retailer had discovered that even the most negative and vociferous online complaints from consumers actually improved his Google SEO ranking. The Google spiders were picking up the negative reviews on high profile consumer feedback sites and so the owner was deliberately abusing customers to farm bad reviews!

Now, according to the Google blog, the coders thought up numerous ways to combat this new and disturbing retailer scam and in the end opted for an “algorithmic solution which detects the merchant from the Times article along with hundreds of other merchants that, in our opinion, provide an extremely poor user experience.” Sounds a bit like a black list to me and not as technical as some in the industry would have you believe.

There are initial industry fears that unscrupulous brands might use this new algorithm to try and seed fake complaints on forums and message boards to try and drop their competitors down the SERPs. However, I think Google are wise to this type of system gaming. Also, hasn’t the risk of fake complaints been around since the beginning of retail.

So in truth, if you* refers to you as a brand then online customer reviews are more important than ever and dealing with customer service issues in a timely manner is vital. If you* refers to you as a consumer, with a lot of Christmas shopping to do in the next few weeks, then this is probably something you’ll welcome. But, if you’re a social media agency, then this is just a reinforcement of what we’ve been saying to clients and prospects for years. Online monitoring of and involvement in consumer conversations is vital for maintaining brand position and competitive edge. Plus, we like a challenge!

p.s Oh and in case you were wondering, all the negative publicity (400 high profile articles in the last two days alone) Decormyeyes has received in the last few days hasn’t done its PageRank much good, standing as it is at 1 out of 10. Looks like the algorithm is working for one retailer at least.

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Our social shopping research revealed a high propensity for influencers [and consumers] to want rewards for recommending a brand or reviewing a product/service. There is, unsurprisingly, a high demand for incentives that discount (75%). But the intriguing insight is how this is coupled with a need for recognition too. There is a long tail of demand for more experiential rewards in return for posting comments or giving feedback.

I came across the RSA’s rather compelling video animation that looks into employee motivations. It caught my attention. Why? Because there are parallels when compared to the  motivations of influencers on a given topic in social media.

The animation emphasises how money has a limited impact in motivating or positively reinforcing a message. Don’t get me wrong financial reward can be important, but as the video of the MIT study shows, it only really works for short, straightforward tasks.

When it comes to motivating the more cognitive skills, skills required by influencers and reviewers, then the relationship needs to go beyond the transactional. We are demanding more conceptional and creative thinking from our influencers and in return they want deeper recognition and collaboration.

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