How to lose friends and alienate people: Why brands can’t get lazy with social media

Facebook doesn’t have a lot of friends right now. Fresh revelations are coming to light over the Cambridge Analytica scandal and it was reported that the data of 87 million users were improperly shared with the political consultancy firm.

I’ve argued elsewhere that we shouldn’t give up on social media in the wake of this debacle but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned from recent events. As a brand, removing yourself from Facebook and...

26 April 2018 | Branding

How are chatbots evolving the retail industry?

The rise of AI has been well documented over the past few years, and there are countless predictions about how quickly robots will take over the workplace.

Chatbots have become a ubiquitous theme across almost every customer-facing industry, as businesses explore how they can incorporate the technology into their services and platforms, shaking up their customer service function and cutting costs.

As consumers have embraced the convenience of ecommerce, more conversations are...

24 July 2017 | Commerce

Understanding the mind of the modern consumer

With the explosion of channels, data and technology in the retail industry, it is easy for businesses to be overwhelmed and under-informed.

Modern consumers can be an enigma. A typical purchasing decision may include a trip to a bricks and mortar store, a call with a customer service advisor, plus hours of online research.

Shoppers may use a combination of methods on some days and on other days, only use one channel.

Customers also behave differently at different times...

18 April 2017 | Big Data

Four ways to improve calls to action

No marketing activity is complete without asking the customer to do something.

‘Buy now’

‘Sign up here’

‘Pre-order now’

Brands usually place these calls to action (CTAs) at the end of a piece of content in the hope that customers who relate to that content will go on to perform a specific act. 

CTAs may have changed over the years, but the end goal hasn’t: put the right message in front of the right people at...

3 April 2017 | Content Marketing

DueDil takes aim at LinkedIn with latest social selling release

(c)iStock.com/gmutlu

B2B lead generation software provider DueDil is launching DueDil Connect to further integrate company’s networks and ease the selling process – and it has LinkedIn in its sights.

With Connect, users can map their contact network across a pool of public profiles, giving teams visibility on who to contact in an organisation, by whom, and whether it will be a warm introduction or a cold call. “It’s been my dream,” DueDil CEO...

16 March 2016 | Data-driven marketing

The evolution of social commerce

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Rawpixel)

 ‘Commerce’ before it was ‘social’?

If you can remember the first retail websites in the mid ‘90s they were pretty boring, nothing more than online versions of printed brochures that took ages to download on your dial-up modem. It wasn’t until companies like Pegasus, eBay and Amazon identified the potential of ecommerce to disintermediate traditional retail, that shopping was forever changed. But that was...

20 March 2015 | Commerce

Facebook’s new patent allows marketing to the most influential

©iStock.com/Jirsak

Trying to distinguish the influencers and experts among a sea of social media content consumers has always been tough, but the fact that Facebook has now patented a new way of doing it is likely to mean big change for the digital marketing industry.

The patent – entitled ‘Identify experts and influencers in a social network’ was granted this week, four years after first being submitted by Facebook ads boss Andrew Bosworth in...

18 February 2015 | Commerce

Retailers struggling to come to terms with unified commerce

©iStock.com/Ridofranz 

Retailers have long struggled with disparate, legacy systems that have hampered their ability to integrate true omni-channel strategies.

Yet despite the recognition that a unified commerce platform can pay dividends, little more than half of retailers (53%) expect to implement a unified commerce platform in the next few years. However over the next ten years 86% of retailers plan to implement a unified commerce platform.

The...

3 February 2015 | Commerce

Flipboard launches new Promoted Items function for advertisers

Marketers can finally look to distribute their content more widely on Flipboard after it announced the introduction of a new tool called Promoted Items this week.

From the beginning of February Levi’s and NARS Cosmetics will become two of the first brands to distribute content on Flipboard via the new Promoted Items feed. Such content – which can range from articles, videos, products or photos – will be incorporated into the Flipboard experience but will clearly be...

22 January 2015 | Commerce

Social business predictions show big change for marketing tech

©iStock.com/hjalmeida 

Companies face a number of challenges in their social transformation over the next few years. However, a new report from IDC reveals the ten factors it feels will influence decision making around social business. Many of which involve the evolution of marketing technology.

In IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Social Business Transformation 2015 predictions, the report’s authors say that business leaders should be making such decisions within...

6 January 2015 | Advertising