My top 10 trends talk presented at the Dallas Social Media Club on April 25, 2013.

1. 1 Contents are proprietary and confidential.

2. 2 Contents are proprietary and confidential.

3. 10 Trends in Social Commerce
Dallas Social Media Club
April 25, 2013

4.  Aaron Strout, W2O Group
 Managing Director, Head of Social
Commerce
 blog.wcgworld.com
 amzn.to/lbm4d
 @aaronstrout

5. so·cial com·merce /ˈsōSHəl ˈkämərs/
noun
The intersection of analytics, advocacy, content and
education with the purpose of narrowing the gap
between customers and business transactions.
5 Contents are proprietary and confidential.

6. The World We Live in Has Changed
The majority of content we consume is not via a media
outlet. It is through our friends and networks
Media refers to all
content
Blogs, Twitter, Facebook wall, mainstream media, videoNews flow has 5 drivers
If “media” is redefined, how could media plans
stay the same?
Media plans are
becoming obsolete
Our information needs change as our journey evolves
leading to different content, places and devices
Multiple Channel
Content Consumption
65% of people believe they are visual learnersVisual Trumps Copy
Content is now part of the rhythm of life. 1,9,90Content must be Fluid

7. Interpreting Behavior
AWARENESS
Getting someone’s attention is the
beginning of every relationship.
Sometimes a whisper is more
impactful than a shout. Yet, volume
won’t matter if your story isn’t
compelling.
ACTION
You’ve hit pay dirt.
Customers are now
engaging directly with
your brand gaining
first hand experience
but now they are
behind the wheel.
AMBASSADOR
We’ve reached the defining
moment, customers share their
experience, carrying the brand
forward to people we could never
reach. Now we must forge a
partnership with our most loyal
customers who are our best
advocates… make that evangelists.
ASSESSMENT (PRE)
You’ve got their ear. This is where
decisions are made, so what you say
– and how you say it – needs to
resonate and penetrate the
customer’s consciousness. If
successful they take action.
ASSESSMENT (POST)
Hope you made a good first
impression. Now they get to evaluate
their experience and relationship with
your brand. Did it deliver on the
promise? Did it disappoint? Either
way, you have to be there to answer.

8. Top Brands Becoming Content Curators…
• Top curated content from pre-screened, influential online
sources.
• Content created by approved staff contributors.
• Ranked by online reach + whether staff has interacted with it.
• Potentially featured by a staff Editor.

9. Top Ten Online Influence Areas
Influence Areas Trend Relevance
Audio
Favorite of sales force,
customers on the go
Podcasts of all types, plus audio tracks of video segments are an undefined area of
online, yet have growing utility
Blogs
>200MM; trend is to have
multiple blogs, multiple
languages
We should know the top influencers by topic who drive relevant share of voice. The
numbers of influencers are small, precision is key.
Data / Slides
30MM uniques at
SlideShare
A great location to share all public presentations.
Forums
The engine of conversations
online; often patient driven
Knowing who is driving conversation in forums is key. We should treat high volume
moderators with the same respect as we do with journalists.
Images
Is all content tagged to
impact natural search?
Companies often forget to tag all content in the 10 languages that reach 90% of the
online population.
Micro Blogging
An effective way to alert
influencers, help propel
news cycles
A great opportunity to build a network of influencers who want to share your news in
real time. Twitter is a prime example.
Search
Yes, Google is #1, but
YouTube is #2
We need to know the influencers on the first screen for our brand and key topics. We
also need to understand where people are taken when they search.
Social
Networks
The communities that are
often our “first place” to go
online
Our day often starts and ends with Facebook or MySpace or Orkut or other depending
where we live.
Video
Consumption habits are
starting to favor video vs.
copy
There are over 50 video sites to analyze, which sometimes house ratings and reviews
of our products.
Wikis
Free online peer edited
online encyclopedia
Nearly every topic has a Wikipedia entry, which means it could be the first information
a consumer finds about any topic they are seeking information about.

10. 10 SOCIAL COMMERCE TRENDS
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

11. 1. C²2C replaces B2B and B2C as the most
important model to reach customers

12. Critical Skill: You will pretend you
are a customer who snuck into
your company when you build out
your plans and models.

13. 2. The evolution of open-source marketing has led to
“Storytizing” which will replace advertising as the lead form of media.

15. Critical Skill: You will build all
media plans to improve
your customer’s ability to
tell your story with a focus on
“shareability,” “measurability” and
“control-ability.”

16. 3. Forensic analytics requires us to think
like detectives, find clues, follow their
path and locate solutions

17. Critical Skill: You will center your
questions on what you see in the
market. You will hit yourself in the
head if you are drawing
conclusions only from research
prepared just for you.

18. 4. Psychology, Nature, Statistics and
Economic Models offer clues on how to
build unique market advantage

19. Critical Skill: You realize all of
your models are old school. Key
is introducing new models from
outside your comfort zone to help
evolve your business and pursue
until you find competitive
advantage.

20. 5. You can become the top media outlet in your
industry/area if you think like a publisher and build
your social cloud architecture

21. Critical Skill: You will become
the best publisher and talent
agent in your industry by
tapping into the right content from
your
employees, influencers, partners
and customers.

22. 6. Commerce will occur
where it is most
convenient to occur,
anywhere in the world

23. Critical Skill: You will be expert on
how to optimize local
experience, while building global
momentum.

24. 7. Customer Service will
become a social
commerce profit and
knowledge center

25. Critical Skill: You will turn
customer service into a profit
center and an area of marketing
excellence for your company.

26. 8. Paid media will become the supporting actor for earned media

27. Critical Skill: you will build media
plans starting with your
customer’s needs. You realize
that earned media is really code
for customer media and you will
excel in this media first.

28. Cybersecurity
• How are we helping our customers become smarter about how to protect
their companies/brands?
• Common sense is what is require + knowledge of what is required to
improve safety
• Can someone just help me figure it out?
• What actions are we taking that invite hackers? Spammers?
28 Contents are proprietary and confidential.
9. Cyber security for companies and our customers will
become the new priority for protecting one’s reputation

29. Critical Skill: you expect that
your top issues in the future will
relate to cyber security and turn
this into an area of competence
for every customer-facing
manager in your company.

30. 10. A new “brain” will
enable you to
become the
smartest member of
your ecosystem

31. Critical Skill: You will build
marketplace advantage via the
creation of your new “brain”. You
realize you are now partnering
with your future
competitors, unless you become
the smartest member of your
ecosystem.

32.  Aaron Strout, W2O Group
 Managing Director, Head of Social
Commerce
 blog.wcgworld.com
 amzn.to/lbm4d
 @aaronstrout

33. Contents are proprietary and confidential.