"+1"! "Praise"! Social networking brings new impetus to E-commerce!

From Facebook's "praise", Google's "+1", Twitter's "push" to Digg's "vote", the signals from the social network seem to be positive, because there is nothing for us to publish when our team doesn't like something. This leads to doubts about the authenticity of social signals. Om Malik (Om Malik), founder of GigaOM.com, a well-known technology blogger, has published an article on the impact of social signals such as "+1" and "Praise" on E-commerce, which is roughly as follows:

Barbara Rachel, a best-selling author, said in her near-"bright-sided" that this positive way of thinking is "the carrier of the business world, like water, softens the excesses and masks all sorts of follies." "I'm a cynical optimist, so I often wonder what's good for" praise ". In a recent article, Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land, Danny Shaliven that Facebook's "praise" can drive up the flow of websites. He said, for example, that jeans maker Levi's traffic increased 40 times-fold after using Facebook's "Praise" feature.

But does this increase Levi's sales or market share? The San Francisco jeans maker is still fretting about sales growth. I was so confused that I began to look for answers; Some insights from Scott Wingo, chief executive of Channel Advisor, Scot Wingo, are very helpful.

Money and "Praise"

Is there a direct link between Facebook's "praise" and actual sales? Vingo bluntly: There is not much to do. But he, like Facebook itself, believes that Facebook's "praise" will become an increasingly important signal in e-commerce.

"Within 12 months, Facebook could be an effective way to gain revenue," Vingo predicts, and in the process it could turn into an E-commerce "jammer" (disruptor). From Google's standpoint, this is a very annoying thing, Google currently nearly 40% of the revenue from E-commerce-related activities. Vingo predicted that during the holiday this year we will see the impact of "praise" on E-commerce.

Vingo said that in the E-commerce strategy, the current size of businesses are most interested in Facebook, then "move", then "local." With nearly 700 million members, Facebook is becoming a big driver of sales, and the "Praise" button is at its core.

Not all "praise" is born equal.

On Facebook, some "praise" makes you a fan of a brand, and some "praise" lets you share photos or articles. Of course, when you "praise" a brand, you become the "sponsorship AD" that you send to your Facebook friends. There are a lot of retailers doing that right now. Another aspect: When you "Praise" a brand (i.e. you become a fan of it), you give the brand the right to send you information. You can think of it as a way for retailers to use Facebook to send coupons to you based on what you're praising. Although these offers are not personalized, they are not public but "personal" because you are a fan of the brand.

And about 2 million Facebook "awesome" buttons are distributed across the Web. There are two kinds of "praise" buttons outside of Facebook (though they look the same) one is used on websites like Gigaom, and the other is the "praise" button based on open graphics, whose users are brands, retail outlets, musicians, and anyone who wants to establish a direct relationship with a real person. A Facebook spokeswoman described the "Praise" button as "leaving Facebook".

So for example, if you "praise" a band, the news will appear in your news source. So far, only entertainment sites and a handful of news outlets use this special type of "praise" button. Yet they can bring new impetus to e-commerce. Facebook's Open Graphics API (Application programming Interface) has made some improvements, so in theory it allows retailers to get richer metadata (such as product types).

Theoretically, if you "praise" a pair of jeans, a retailer can send you a special discount on Facebook for you to buy it. "Profile" is on Facebook, not the retailer, and that's what happens on Facebook. Similarly, as long as you use the Facebook Connect login, the meta data attached to "praise" can also help to provide optimized search results based on your preferences.

Google does not like "praise"

"Praise" must make Google feel very uncomfortable. Google has launched a defensive "+1" feature, but it is unclear whether the feature will have any immediate impact. The latest "+1" version allows publishers to embed it on their web pages.

Google said in its blog: "We launched the ' +1 ' button across the web." So you may start to see this button on a variety of websites. ”

"+1" seems to bring more traffic to web publishers, but it's actually business, says Frank Watson of Search Engine watch. Google itself points out: "With just one click, you can recommend raincoats, news articles or sci-fi movies to friends and contacts." The next time your contacts search for the relevant content, they will see that your ' +1 ' is displayed directly in the search results, so this will help them find your recommendation, when the recommendations are most useful. ”

Vingo said, "The" awesome "button is like a search in E-commerce, a powerful indicator of intent:" I think, because it's more personal and social, it's a step forward on the way to the end customer, which is very attractive to retailers. " "No wonder Google's chairman Eric Schmidt will rue his" socialization "mess!