Ecommerce & the Social Web: Why it matters. What you can do.

Leveraging Social Technologies for Ecommerce 21 January 2009 Dayna Bateman Senior Strategic Analyst, Fry, Inc. Commerce Without Compromise™

Commerce Without Compromise™ Web 2.0 Has Changed Expectations WEB 1.0 WEB 2.0 Customer Customer photos Ratings See who else liked this Product Reviews: I bought this for my Customers mom and she loves currently It because… shopping our site Others tagged this item as… forDad, 50sModern © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 2

Commerce Without Compromise™ First generation web architectures were Monolithic and Centralized Characterized by: Hierarchical information architecture Deep drills, sprawling pages Closed systems Centralized administrative control One voice One story One perspective One Brand aspect © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 3

Commerce Without Compromise™ The Architecture of the Social Web The architecture of the Social Web generates powerful link equity and influence because it supports content creation, collaboration and the sharing of information. © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 5

Commerce Without Compromise™ The Architecture of the Social Web Several features of the social networking architecture hold promise for online retailers: Information Streams Permalinks Folksonomy Tags Social Bookmarks & Lists More Voices More Stories A more complex and authentic Brand expression © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 6

Commerce Without Compromise™ Social Technologies Permeate the Web comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008) • Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US • Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million • Total internet audience 188.9 million eMarketer (May 2008) • 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users) • 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%) Universal McCann (March 2008) • 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US • 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US • 77% of active Internet users read blogs Technorati: State of the Blogosphere 2008 © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 8

Commerce Without Compromise™ stream. n. In computing: a succession of data elements made available over time. permalink. n. A permanent link or URL that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives. Wikipedia © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 11

Commerce Without Compromise™ Information Streams Organized chronologically Freshness/Recency favored by Google Captures linked comments which further elevates link equity Frequently supported by RSS feeds Upside: Rapid search engine indexing and search engine rank (SER) Downside: Upkeep © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 12

Commerce Without Compromise™ Permalink Snapshots content mid-stream Provides an anchor in hyperspace for concentrated findability and search engine indexing Upside: Facilitates sharing, improves search engine indexing Downside: Few if any © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 13

Commerce Without Compromise™ The Landscape 26% of the Top 500 Retailers are Blogging Share information about product releases Address consumer concerns Develop and promote their brand voice © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 19

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear Clear headlining headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized chronologically Previous / Next navigation PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 20

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized chronologically Crosslinks Previous / Next engage and navigation clarify PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 21

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized chronologically Previous / Next navigation PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags Entries vary in length, but most are brief © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 22

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized chronologically Previous / Next navigation PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags All entries date stamped © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 23

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized Contextual chronologically navigation between posts Previous / Next navigation PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 24

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized chronologically Previous / Next navigation PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags Permalink accompanies every post © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 25

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized chronologically Previous / Next navigation PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags Preferably link to bio with photo © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 26

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Elements Clear headlining Crosslinks Brevity for scannability Date stamped and organized chronologically Previous / Next navigation PERMALINK Identify authorship Tags Tags create meaningful associations and provide link equity © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 27

category landing pgs Commerce Without Compromise™ Swim The Blog Architecture Men BLOG Leverage the blog Email Campaign A Frequently architecture to refreshed content support online – daily, weekly marketing Women initiatives and Posts are Tagged elevate search for syndication Email Campaign B engine rank Posts are Shoes & aggressively Accessories Post and archive linked to landing Email campaigns page and category Email Campaign C content Bags & Gear Promote Seasonal merchandise in blog posts that feed via RSS to site category Bedding landing pages Frequent posting can elevate Google Clearance rank © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 28

Commerce Without Compromise™ folksonomy. n. The practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content. Also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 32

Commerce Without Compromise™ Folksonomy Tags Natural language links created by community users Upside: Facilitates findability, discovery & keyword link equity; Free labor Risk: Tag Spam © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 33

Commerce Without Compromise™ What are social tags? Created by the people for the people Can be created by merchants, too Most common tags shared for Extend the product story selection Capture natural language – and emerging vernacular Are hyperlinked © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 34

Commerce Without Compromise™ What are social tags? Created by the people for the people Can be created by merchants, too Extend the product story Capture natural language – and emerging vernacular Free text entry Are hyperlinked also invited © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 35

Commerce Without Compromise™ Where do tags appear? On product detail pages On customer created outfits User-generated On blog posts tags leveraged on the home page as On product reviews navigation Within site navigation © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 36

Commerce Without Compromise™ How are tags used? For site navigation See all photos For topical and tagged seasonal “crumpler” merchandising For widget propagation To support search engine optimization strategies © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 37

Commerce Without Compromise™ How are tags used? For site navigation For topical and seasonal merchandising For widget propagation To support search engine optimization strategies © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 38

Commerce Without Compromise™ How are tags used? For site navigation For topical and seasonal merchandising For widget propagation To support search engine optimization strategies © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 39

Commerce Without Compromise™ User controls title, tags and Born out of the annotations Del.icio.us Bookmark Model Captures Title, Comments and Folksonomy Tags Generates natural language and Google-friendly permalink Links to others who have bookmarked the same item to facilitate affinity browsing Is public by default © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 43

Commerce Without Compromise™ Born out of the Del.icio.us Bookmark Model Captures Title, Comments and Folksonomy Tags Generates natural Affinity links language and identify others Google-friendly with like interests permalink Links to others who have bookmarked the same item to facilitate affinity browsing Is public by default © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 44

Commerce Without Compromise™ Amazon is pioneering lists in online retail Using a common architecture to support multiple list types Creating community and improving product discovery by empowering customers to create content © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 45

Commerce Without Compromise™ Tap your vendors for Social Web Upgrades Indexed, searchable product reviews from Endeca Sort by social attributes Freshness • Helpful votes • Individual • Reviewer Rating • Reviewer’s • Age © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 51

Commerce Without Compromise™ Blog Post content that is passionate, relevant and right now Cross-link to other blogs and sources of information Listen and respond Give them a reason to come back © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 54

Commerce Without Compromise™ Encourage Sharing Support Self- Publishing – and product promotion • Social Notes • AddThis • Widget WYSIWYG Technologies widget creation draws on user- generated data © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 55

Commerce Without Compromise™ Participate Find your demographic and meet them where they live Facebook • StyleHive • MySpace • ThisNext • MyYearbook • Offer passionate, relevant, right- now content Listen and respond © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 56

Commerce Without Compromise™ When it comes to Social Networking Sites Retailers should be asking How not When Social Networking: Should You Buy or Rent? Designing your Social Networking Profile Page An overview of the leading SNS, including: • Twitter • MySpace • Facebook • Social Shopping Sites ThisNext and StyleHive Bridget Fahrland, Executive Creative Director Dayna Bateman, Sr Strategic Analyst Fry, Inc. Internet Retailer: Guide to Retail Web Site Design & Usability, p. 40 © 2008 Fry, Inc. Page 57

Ecommerce & the Social Web: Why it matters. What you can do.

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