Six Social Media Trends for 2012

From the guy who gets his trends right - most of the times, here are 6 Social Media Trends for the year ahead:

1. Convergence Emergence. 
2. The Cult of Influence.  
3. Gamification Nation. 
4. Social Sharing.  
5. Social Television. 
6. The Micro Economy.

To understand the trends in detail read this post by David Armano on HBR

Related articles

• In Social Business, How to Prioritise a Successful Outcome - Forbes
• Six important shifts for social media in 2012
• 2012 Predictions - A Year to Digitally Disengage and Plant Vegetables?
• Social Media & CPG / FMCG brands.
• Online Moms Less Social but More Purposeful

A Framework for Keeping CPG's Relevant Online

Came across this comprehensive and insightful essay by Jordan Julien. He has arrived at the insights based on examining internal documentation, and conducting ethnographic studies, from four different global CPG's and finding correlations. 

 

The synthesis of this work has culminated into "The Ecosystem of Understanding", a framework for keeping CPG's (and everyone else) relevant online.

Jordan been able to extract 5 insights common (as under) to every CPG he has worked with; even the most innovative.

1. We don't know who we're talking to, but we like to pretend like we do.
2. We don't know why we're talking to them, but we know we should be.
3. We suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome.
4. We're inconsistent, but we're learning.
5. We're old, scared, and angry; but its only a matter of time before we're phased out.

Read more here

Related articles

• CPG / FMCG buying behavior is different.
• Mobile shoppers and the new face of mobile couponing
• 2 + 1 things every CPG marketer can do to win on mobile.
• Do CPGs need to up the ante and invest more in mobile?
• Social Media & CPG / FMCG brands.
• CPG brands dive headfirst into digital sphere

Red Herring Global 100 Award for AaramShop

AaramShop has won the coveted Red Herring Global 100 Award for the year 2011, at the Red Herring Forum in LA. 

This was a significant step further to the earlier Red Herring announcement of its Top 100 Asia award in recognition of the leading private companies from Asia, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

AaramShop had made it to the coveted list of Top 100 in Asia earlier.

We are thrilled to have received the award this early in our journey. AaramShop is the youngest company to have received the award this year. 

Related articles

• AaramShop Selected as a Red Herring Top 100 Asia Tech Start-up

FDI & the independent retailers.

Every news paper and show is saturated with the recently approved FDI in retail and its impact on the livelihood of millions of small businesses in India. I am sure everyone has an opinion on it. However, what caught my eye was the recent tweet by US President on his support for the small businesses in the US via the fantastic initiative #smallbusinesssaturday. I am sure this will add more fuel to the fire.

Our views & work at AaramShop is clearly focused at making the small business owner / independent neighborhood retailer competitive and relevant to the changing shopper behavior of the residents of the neighborhood. 

We firmly believe that the independent retailers have a number of unmatchable strengths which emerge from his proximity to the customers, willingness to provide delivery at the consumer's doorstep and years of relationship that have developed into a strong bond of trust. These, combined with increased accessibility of the storefront on the web, and the huge change in the way consumers use technology will make the local retailer more relevant to the consumer. 

AaramShop is already being used by over 600 retailers across 18 cities in India in the short 4 months of AaramShop's presence. 

Related articles

• An accelerator, not a challenger.
• Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop
• Red Herring Top 100 Asia award for AaramShop.
• Integrating the moments of truth for FMCG brands.

The Impact Of Technology On Brand Marketing.

Technology doesn't just give people a new way of doing things; it gives people a new way of thinking. The biggest impact of technology is the change it creates in people's perceptions.

In the absence of digital technologies, it would never occur to someone that marketers could be engaged in dialogue, much less dialogue at the point of contact. But the presumption of dialogue created by digital technologies goes beyond the technologies themselves.

People have learned a new capacity from digital technologies and they want to exercise it everywhere, even in low-tech points of contact.

Digital technologies operate instantaneously, so people are losing patience with anything that operates more slowly. The more liquid an activity becomes, the more people take it for granted, and once a capacity becomes commonplace in one domain, the more people come to expect it in other domains.

Technology doesn't just expand the power people have; it changes their ways of thinking as well.

Read more on this subject here:

Related articles

• The increasing importance of video in digital.
• A new look at digital grocery shopping tools.
• Convenience gives digital the upper hand
• How Technology Can Help You Avoid Long Lines in Stores
• FSIs Dominate CPG Coupons

The increasing importance of video in digital.

YouTube responsible for 22% of all mobile bandwidth. 

Almost a quarter of all global mobile bandwidth is consumed by people watching YouTube videos, according to a new report from network management vendor Allot Communications. 

The global bandwidth share of the Google-owned video site was 22 percent in the first half of 2011, compared with just 17 percent in the first half of 2010. YouTube now accounts for 52 percent of all global mobile video streaming. 

Overall, video streaming now accounts for 39 percent of all mobile traffic and it grew 93 percent in the first six months of 2011. VoIP and IM traffic grew even faster at 101 percent, but they still only represent a total of 4 percent of all mobile traffic. 

This growth and change in media consumption patterns on mobile devices makes it apparent that digital communication should (and can) now have a large component of video content which is tailor made for the smaller screens. 

Related articles

• Why Interaction Is Not The Same As Engagement
• Beyond Mobile Ads: 3 Tips for Your Mobile Marketing Strategy
• Mobile Insights: CPG companies are learning: consumers love mobile for immediacy, fun and finding great deals

Social Media & CPG / FMCG brands.

Came across this wonderful post by Martin Bishop, Director, Brand Strategy of Landor and thought it was one of the articles that needs to shared and read widely by all CPG / FMCG brand marketers. 

Martin captures the aspirations well when he writes that, though every CPG brand might wish to be loved so intensely, few reach the top of the relationship ladder. When you come right down to it, who wants a relationship with a bar of soap? Or as one commenter put it, responding to a blog post on the death of branding: “They buy something to drink because they’re thirsty. Not because they f****ng LOVE Coke!” 

Simply mimicking the behavior of brands that have highly engaged audiences doesn’t work; social media applications have to be aligned with the strength of a brand’s consumer relationships. There are too many examples right now of brands assuming that their customers care about them when the reality is that most customers couldn’t care less. 

It’s sad to see brands trying too hard. Of all the social media options, Twitter is perhaps the most difficult to use effectively without a resonant relationship. 

There’s got to be an angle.

If you think of social media as being primarily about communication, it’s difficult to see how most CPG brands can use it effectively. But if you view social media as an infrastructure supporting a wide range of activities based on connection, then more opportunities present themselves. 

Read the full article here and try share it around (you can also download it for keeps)

Related articles

• Integrating the moments of truth for FMCG brands.
• Deep discounting & FMCG / CPG brands.
• CPG's Love/Hate Relationship With Social Media
• Fans and their friends.
• The Digital Wake-up Call for FMCG Marketers
• FMCG majors log onto social sites to woo customers.
• FMCG brands engaged in mobile apps race
• Unlearn e-commerce to win.

Coca Cola face recognition machine integrates with Facebook.

This is another great social/ offline integration by Coca Cola Israel. 

This machine allows users to login to the Coca Cola app in real life using the face recognition feature, a very clever way to extend the offline experience to users’ friends and family through Facebook. 

Also look at the previous campaign Coca Cola village.

Related articles

• Coca-Cola's Arctic Home
• Innovation Update: Coca Cola Freestyle
• Blog 8: Coca-Cola
• White is new Red this Holiday Season - Coca-Cola Polar Bear Arctic Home
• Iconic Coca-Cola Red Cans Turn Arctic White

Kraft Foods. Kay Slaven, Sr. Manager Digital Marketing. QR Seminar.

AaramShop Selected as a Red Herring Top 100 Asia Tech Startup

Red Herring announced its Top 100 Asia award in recognition of the leading private companies from Asia, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

AaramShop made it to the coveted list.  

Red Herring’s Top 100 list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising new companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work. 

Read more on this here and we look forward to taking this further by engaging with all members of the eco-system especially ISVs

Related articles

• If you are not searchable, (on Google). You won't be found. (by your customers)
• Integrating the moments of truth for FMCG brands.
• History of f-commerce and the AaramShop approach.
• AaramShop's Facebook App

Tesco QR Code Subway Store

AaramShop is a Finalist for the 2011 Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award

AaramShop has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 Asia award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the Asian business region.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across Asia. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

"This year was very rewarding," said Alex Vieux, publisher and Chairman of Red Herring. "The global economic situation has abated and there are many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products. We had a very difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists. AaramShop shows great promise therefore deserves to be among the Finalists. Now we’re faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners of Red Herring Asia. We know that the 2011 crop will grow into some amazing companies that are sure to make an impact."

Here is a list of all the finalists and great to see that Indian companies stand tall.

Analysis of online grocery shopping in India.

As a FMCG / CPG brand marketer, you will love this comprehensive report on the Indian consumers’ online purchase behavior across FMCG categories and its related impact on brand preferences. 

In the SOGS Report: India, findings have been presented in terms of four broad parameters:

1. Who is buying groceries online? – SOGS report dives into demographic details of the shoppers including gender & age and it's impact on purchase. 

2. Where are the buyers coming from? - the current report restricted to the National Capital Region.

3. When they are shoppers buying the groceries? - time frames and order patterns.

4. What categories and brands are they buying? – Comprehensively explores categories and sub-categories and the top selling brands within them.

Data used on the SOGS report is based on actual purchase data on AaramShop covering 542 shopping bags between 1st of July 2011 to 15th of August 2011.

You can download the free SOGS report from here. 
The report is 6.25MB and in a PDF format.

State of Online Grocery Shopping Report: India

AaramShop PRO: State of Online Grocery Shopping Report: India:

Here is a comprehensive view on the Indian consumers’ behavior and brand preferences when it comes to online grocery buying.

Related articles

• Online FMCG / CPG Retailing - it's challenges and opportunities
• 1st taste of Web for the local kirana wala (Mom & Pop Stores)

Unlearn e-commerce to win.

Jon Stine at the CISCO Retail Blog, in his recent post - seems to have hit the nail on the head. He writes:

"When e-commerce entered retail life in the mid-1990s, it was understandably regarded as just another channel of distribution – indeed, as just one more store. With this perspective, the key performance metric was (and generally remains to this day) site revenue. Conversion, another key metric, was defined as site transactions as a percent of site visits.


This still makes sense – but at a narrow, misleading level, because e-commerce no longer defines the connected world for retail.


In this age of Google and Facebook, the primary value today of the Internet to the shopper – and to your brand – is less about transactions, and more about search. On the PC, on the tablet, on the mobile devices, amidst the aisles.


The Internet – and the search function of the ever-mobile Internet – is now the front door of the entire brand."

Read more of this post here;

What Jon points to is what we AaramShop are experimenting with - the hybrid retail model of integrating the "zero moment of truth" of the shopper with respect to any brand (ZMOT / online research, social media engagement), with the "first moment of truth" when the product is actually bought. (FMOT)

The brands should appreciate the fact that the FMOT for the brand need not happen in the traditional e-commerce manner for them to have a overall e-commerce strategy for their CPG / FMCG brand. The huge volume to pre-purchase online research is being overlooked due to the limitations of the old e-commerce thinking.

Related articles

• Integrating the moments of truth for FMCG brands.
• If you are not searchable, (on google). You won't be found. (by your customers)
• CPG / FMCG buying behavior is different.
• History of f-commerce and the AaramShop approach.
• Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop
• An accelerator, not a challenger.

Review: Google Wallet

I have seen the future, and it is called Google Wallet.

Note, however, that this future is just that: the future. As in, something not now. I’ve lived with Google Wallet in my life for the past week or so, and have walked away thoroughly impressed — but while Google Wallet may be launching today, don’t expect it to kick your actual wallet out of your pocket any time soon.

→ Read More

Online FMCG / CPG Retailing – it’s challenges and opportunities

Online retailing of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) / Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) has not been caught up so far, not just in India, but also across the world. It is probably the last big segment / sector that is still largely out of the online commerce ambit and represents the next big challenge.

FMCG’s (grocery / household essentials) share of wallet is not only very high, but it is also very consistent and is rapidly growing over time, and therefore there is a lot of interest in wanting to address this market.

However, there are a number of challenges that traditional e-commerce models face when it comes to FMCG / CPG online retailing. The challenges are not just logistical, but also around the consumers’ buying behavior and service level expectations.

I recently wrote an article on some of the reasons that I believe make the business of FMCG online retailing tough & a few big opportunities that make it exciting.

Read the article here @ iamwire.

Related articles

• CPG / FMCG E-Commerce is bigger than you think.
  
• CPG / FMCG buying behavior is different.
  
• Integrating the moments of truth for FMCG brands.
• QR code opportunity for CPG / FMCG products.
• FMCG majors log onto social sites to woo customers.
  
• When Worlds Collide
• Deep discounting & FMCG / CPG brands.
• History of f-commerce and the AaramShop approach.

And just when we thought we got it.

Love the rigor and depth - The algorithm is changed as often as everyday and at times twice over.

Related articles

• Google offers peek behind its search results
  
• Finally: Google Wants Your Help To Identify Scraper Sites And Further Improve Their Algorithm
  

Ticketmaster & Facebook for next stage of social commerce

The next stage of social commerce, a mock-up of an arena seat map indicating where a customer's Facebook friends were sitting. 

Live events are inherently social, buying tickets should be, too.      

Starting today, you can see what the fuss was about. In hopes of spurring word-of-mouth marketing to reduce the estimated 40 percent of live event tickets that go unsold, Ticketmaster is launching this enhanced Facebook connectivity.

Read more here:

Related articles

• Here are the Distinguishing Traits of Social Commerce 
• Facebook Shopping as the future of Social Commerce