I recently had the pleasure of speaking at there First Data ‘Engaging Today’s Empowered Customer’ Summit in New Orleans where we discussed in detail the shifts that financial institutions, credit card associations, and merchants across all industries must make in order to command the attention of the social customer and earn the loyalty, trust, and goodwill that translates to profit. We discussed the new co-creative relationships between brands and customers, the importance of authentic purpose, and the ability of brands to architect communities that build their business with them. Here’s my answers to a few questions including the pitfalls, trends, and rewards of social commerce.

Over the past 12 months, the proportion of Facebook ad budgets allocated to “social ads” has increased fourfold, from 5% in March 2011, to 23% in March 2012, according to a report from Marin Software. What’s more social ads are expected to account for 50% of Facebook ad budgets, on average, by the end of 2012, the study reports.

This implies a rising recognition by advertisers of the growing influence of peers in decision making over generic Search or traditional display ad units, since social ads (such as Facebook Sponsored Stories) have word of mouth advertising built into. This trend is reinforced by data outlined in detail in the new book Grouped, by Paul Adams, the Global Brand Experience Manager for Facebook, in which he outlines the rising importance of peers in decision making as a response to the marketing noise.

Unlike Marketplace Ads (which operate similarly to traditional display ad units using targeting), Facebook’s new social ads like Sponsored Stories have word-of-mouth recommendations built into them bringing a social context to traditional ads.

Image: Marin Software

It’s no surprise, then, that the report finds that on the advertiser’s side, the cost-per-click (CPC) rates of social ads are rising (over the previous 12 months, the CPC of social ads increased 86%, whereas CPC for Marketplace ads fell 15% over the same period). While on the consumer side, engagement with social ads is up: Click-through rates (CTR) rose 78% over the previous 12 months.

It was an issue of much debate as to whether advertisers and consumers would embrace Sponsored ads putting their confidence in a social context for advertising, but as Matt Lawson, VP at Marin Software, states:

“Based on our data, the answer to both of these questions is an emphatic ‘Yes.’ In the last year advertisers have directed more budgets to social ads and Facebook users have responded by clicking more often. This trend is not only positive for Facebook from a revenue standpoint, but also provides important validation of the opportunity advertisers have to drive revenues from word of mouth marketing efforts.”

So while some commentators bemoan the appearance of Facebook social ads, such BTIG analyst, Rich Greenfield, who describes them as “unexciting,” what they fail to realize is that they are not being designed around what the advertisers want but rather what Facebook users want. It’s this non-traditional focus that will in part help Facebook avoid the pitfalls of traditional display advertising that could rapidly drive users away in droves. That said, there is little doubt that Facebook had much to prove on the mobile front and their question remains whether their growing success with desktop social ads can translate to mobile success as well.

Do you think Facebook’s social ads are “unexciting”? Would you rather see them function more like traditional display advertising?

Image: Hetemeel.com

One of the most encouraging trends in today’s social business marketplace is the demonstration of greater social responsibility by brands. At one extreme you see large brands showing a greater commitment to their purpose, and at the other a growing number of  in social enterprises and entrepreneurs are emerging with responsibility baked into their business models. That said, no amount of good intentions will suffice if you overlook three key drivers of business success:

1. Brand Singularity: Too often brands (and many non-profits) mistake the cause for their brand. As a result, they get lost in a crowded marketplace because their brand distinction or competitive advantage is not sufficiently defined. Instead, brands of all sizes must define their purpose in a way that is authentic and unique to them and then communicate that consistently. One need only look at the number of companies that claim they are “green” to see how easy is can be to get lost in the noise of good intentions.

2. Services/Products:  Too often many young companies throw well-intended energy and resources at a cause and overlook a clear articulation of their service and product offerings. It’s almost as if their service to the cause is their selling proposition, yet that is perilous from a business model point of view. Instead, the company must define it’s business model, articulate its products and services, identify it’s target audience, and plan its sales strategies, and build social contribution into its marketing.

3. Long-term Vision: The solution to a cause issue is often so large and complicated, it’s easy to think your company vision is simply the elimination of that problem. Yet thinking this way avoids making the necessary long-term strategic decisions for your business that will ensure your survival and growth. Instead, every company must identify specific goals within the content of that cause, and articulate a long-term vision that is shared with employees and customers.

In short, while good intentions are critical, a commitment to a cause can hurt your business if it distracts you from the core requirements for business success:

Who is your brand? What does it stand for? What is your business model? What services and products do you offer? What makes you different? What is your long-term vision?

Only by answering these questions can your business succeed and provide the financial success that will allow your to transform our world for the better.

Image: Nerd Reactor

As the Facebook IPO Roadshow shifts into high gear, it seems relevant to consider exactly what value Facebook can offer your brand and business. While the addition of Instagram and Glancee has done much to sure up their mobile capacities (as yet only in perception), the core business opportunities cannot be underestimated.

The roster of sales and marketing services can be broken out into the following categories:

- F-Stores (E-commerce stores where customers buy real goods with real currency inside Facebook)

- Facebook Credits (Currency for games and in-app virtual goods)

- Facebook Social Plug Ins (‘Like,’ ‘Share,’ ‘Recommend’ services/products)

- Facebook Places & Location Tab (integrating online and in-store experience through rewards)

- Facebook Open Graph (shopping ‘verbs’ and ‘nouns’ being shared through Timeline, Ticker, and News Feeds)

- Facebook Mobile Platform (Social shopping through Notifications, Requests, Timeline and News Feed on app)

- Facebook Ads & Sponsored/Featured Stories (Drive awareness, engagement and purchases)

Seen together, it’s clear that Facebook is creating a self-contained F, E, and M-commerce ecosystem that will become increasingly important to brands because that’s where their customers are. More than that, the social network is demonstrating a wide return on investments specific to very different business goals. Here are some examples:

- Facebook is already a viable retail platform: The top 3 brands on Facebook (by fans) all sell directly on Facebook - Coca-Cola (41m), Starbucks (29m) and Disney (35m).

- Facebook customers spend money: 1.5x: Facebook users spend 1.5x more online that other Internet users.

- Facebook drives e-commerce: 6.5%: click-through rates on Facebook walls are 6.5%.

-Facebook is where you customers are: Nine in Ten: Proportion of US social network users who use Facebook.

- Facebook drives word of mouth sales: Media value generated by the average Facebook fan is $3.60/year.

- Facebook drives loyalty: 117%: the additional amount a fan will spend on a brand compared to a non-fan.

- F Commerce is accelerating: 76% of retailers plan to use Facebook for ‘social commerce’ initiatives.

- F-comerce is future-proof: 200+ million: Facebook users accessing the utility through their mobile devices.

The net result is that the platform commands an enviable leadership position over social commerce (and for even more ROI case studies, click here). So much so, that Mike Fauscette, an analyst at IDC Consulting stated, ‘In three to five years, 10 percent to 15 percent of total consumer spending in developed countries may go through sites such as Facebook”, while  Sumeet Jain, Principal at CMEA Capital states, “It’s a matter of time—within the next five or so years—before more business will be done on Facebook than Amazon.”

So whether or not Facebook cracks the $100 billion valuation on May 18^th, its value to your customers, brand, and business success is undeniable.

Source: CXO

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking in New Orleans at the First Data conference. It was a fantastic event and the other speaker was Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, who said something that struck me deeply. He put a sentence up on screen, which said, “Change is not the triumph of technology, but the triumph of humanity.” I completely agree, and while I have talked and written a lot about this through the We First lens, when it comes from someone like Biz who has shaped the social media world, it is that much more persuasive.

Too often, companies make the mistake of seeing social media as an end in itself, when in fact it is really just another channel through which to emotionally connect with your customer. As Biz explained, the Arab Spring revolutions and the Occupy Wall Street movement are driven by human nature and emotion, and the technology simply provides the connective tissue to give people with shared values a voice. The same is true of your company and brand, and the benefits can be enormous.

When you frame the role of social media in terms of humanity and the emotional connections that unite us, you can have a profound impact on your customers, employees and the world at large. With your customers, you can bring your corporate purpose to life in a way that makes your brand more meaningful to them, inspiring loyalty, goodwill and ultimately profits. You’ll also motivate them to become partners in telling the brand story, co-creating the products and services that will drive your bottom line success.

With employees there are just as many benefits when the role of social media is framed in terms of humanity rather than technology. When you bring your purpose to life inside a company, you’ll connect with your employees on an emotional level. This will give you the ability to attract top talent, to maximize employee retention and productivity, and to inspire your employees to use their own social media channels to be ambassadors for the brand.

Finally, by framing the role of social media in terms of humanity, you can impact the world at large. By taking actions to bring your company’s purpose to life and demonstrating your commitment to your core values by supporting causes such as the environment, education or healthcare, you can not only shape the future of your company, but the future of the world at large.

So this perspective on social media offers both professional and personal benefits. On a professional level, you will be able to build a community of brand ambassadors with your customers and employees and have a positive impact on the society and economy on which your company’s success depends. On a personal level, you will find deep satisfaction that will inform your relationships at home and at work, allowing you to enjoy a better quality of life.

Do you believe most brands do a good job of using social media to celebrate humanity, or do you think they still apply an old mindset that is only concerned with the bottom line?

It’s beta form was just showcased at DEMO Spring 2012 in California and it provides brands and customers with new challenges and opportunities including:

- Creating customizable avatars that can try on clothes, chat with others, and buy both virtual and real goods using real and virtual currencies such as Facebook credits.

- New coupons, incentives and rewards specific to engagement within the virtual worlds.

- The ability for brands to build customized stores within the virtual world itself.

This is a far cry from simply having a presence within a social game like Farmville using virtual goods that represent your brand. This requires companies to have a deep understanding of virtual life engagement and the ability to layer e-commerce on top of it.

Yogurtistan’s CEO Cemil Turun put it this way:

We are creating a new experience by mimicking real-life engagement by going from store to store without changing a tab, or entering the web site address of the store. This is one centralized system. I can run into a promotion, a friend, or simply begin to chat with a stranger in the street, all of which is accessible on any browser or even an iPad.

It is yet to be seen whether we see the emergence of a virtual shopping world as comprehensive and compelling as the tactile real world, but its plans are being drawn and built. As such brands would be wise to add virtual worlds to their ‘To Do’ skills sets so they can capitalize on all the worlds that their customers choose to inhabit

Do you think 3D shopping will take off? What advantages does it offer brands?

Having had the privilege of working at Wieden & Kennedy in Portland for several years on Nike, there’s little else that I could offer that has more value than the insights of Dan Wieden himself. We celebrated the 30th anniversary of Founder’s Day last weekend, and over 1500 employees gathered for a fantastic love fest that is, again, a function of Dan and Dave’s inspiring leadership.

To achieve such unparalleled worldwide creative success is extraordinary. To create a corporate culture that inspires such zealous devotion is doubly so. With enormous respect to Dan and Dave, and all those who have shaped their brand, here is a new video of incredible insights from the man himself as part of the 2020 ‘Future of TV’ series. You won’t find a better creative mind, pop culture channeler, and straight talking, all out, great guy. Enjoy.

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed on Behind the Brand with Bryan Elliott. The show is designed to help brands and entrepreneurs build their businesses. Here we discuss the future of social branding, and below are two great interviews with prolific author and marketer, Seth Godin, and Jeff Hayzlett, former Kodak CMO and co-author of, ‘Running the Gauntlet.’ Hope you enjoy them and click here to see all the ‘Behind the Brand’ episodes. (Next time I promise to wear a tie!)

To read Seth’s blog, click here.

To follow Jeff Hayzlett on Twitter, click here. To follow Bryan Elliott, click here.

Gagen MacDonald/APCO Research/Infographic by Intersection Consulting

There’s a powerful transition underway in which companies are now seeking to leverage the same dynamics they’re using to reach customers to engage their employees. Gagen MacDonald and APCO Worldwide have done some great new research in this area and the info graphic above explains how to create an internal social media strategy that will connect and inspire your employees.

The key factor I would add to this great illustration is the ever-present need to ensure the emotional connection that will drive employee social media engagement is in place. No amount of technology, structure or systems will serve a company and its employees if they’re not emotionally motivated to do so. And, more than ever, that emotional connection stems from the companies purpose.

Often the mission statement of a company is an idle relic of corporate reporting that has no significance in the life of its leadership or employees. But those companies that generate true passion and loyalty among employees and customers, all know why they are working there or what the company stands for.

Brands such as Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola and Patagonia have consistently demonstrated this ability and anyone who has had the good fortune to walk their office corridors can feel the company purpose in the air, the furniture and the very “being” of the organization. It’s that qualitative difference that make the quantitative success possible.

So as we benefit from the tools, tactics and structures outlined above, let’s always factor in the human or emotional component that drives the connective tissue of social media between employees and with customers. It’s this sense of purpose that not only distinguishes a brand from its competitors, but also makes that company more meaningful to their employees and customers lives inspiring them to talk about the brand using their own social media channels.

Do you think the purpose of a company is important to its employees? Do you believe it’s equally important to how they use social media internally?

For more research and a downloadable pdf of the Gagen MacDonald/APCO findings, click here.

Source: V3

Last week I wrote about how important timing is to the success of your brand from a macro and micro point of view. Well, this is thrown into even starker relief when you consider what happens on the web in 60 seconds. Here are a few staggering facts:

- 30 hours of video uploaded and 1.3 million video clips watched on YouTube

- 639,800 GB of global IP data transferred

- 204 million emails sent

- Amazon rings up 83,000 in sales (yes, in one minute)

- 320 new Twitter accounts are created and 100,000 new tweets are generated

- 3,000 photos are uploaded and there are some 20 million photo views

- 100+ new LinkedIn accounts are created

- 1,300 new mobile device users

- 277,000 Facebook logins and 6 million Facebook

- 2 million search queries

Taken together this post and the last paint a telling portrait of how much information overlaid your customer faces. From a branding perspective this making the requirement to be singular and consistent even more pressing, while from a user interface perspective it requires us to make the customer experience effortless and simple. Not small feats, but necessary when you consider everything else that is going on competing for their attention.

What fact shocks you most? How do you think brands should change to serve customers better in this environment?