Archive | February, 2011

Social profiling, then face to face meeting, is happening

By on February 23, 2011 in Social Media, Social networking, Trends

Another societal sea change is evolving. People now trust in online profiles enough to invite complete strangers into their homes. AirBnB is proof. AirBnB is a service that allows people to post their homes and extra space as rental properties: AirBnB is a tipping point indication of the credibility of the social media as reputation [...]

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In the age of Groupon, the return of Local Customer Service

By on February 12, 2011 in Advertising, Hyperlocal, Social Commerce, Trends

In this age of Groupon, consumers are ostensibly looking for and testing new business relationships with coupons. Price has become a commodity, and now local merchants need to distinguish themselves based on service in order to build and maintain a loyal customer base. I myself have been witnessing a vast sea change on how banks, [...]

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The New AOL – How Arianna can reshape AOL’s local initiative

By on February 8, 2011 in Hyperlocal, Mass Media, Newspapers, Social Media

AOL’s acquisition of the Huffington Post firmly entrenches AOL as a journalistic media endeavor eye-to-eye with Gannett, Murdoch and, gasp, the other newspapers. What is strikingly different about Huffington Post is that content is sourced from celebrities – politicians, actors, college professors, locals – and not from the ivory news desks that still embody the [...]

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Social commerce proliferates across niche group buying systems

By on February 6, 2011 in Local advertising, New business models, Social Commerce, Trends

Social commerce won’t be just the playground of Internet giants Groupon, Google and Facebook. White label social commerce platform providers will allow any publishing entrepreneur to easily build social buying applications. In my previous post, I discussed how the success of social commerce hinges on media distribution – how to get social deals noticed by [...]

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Cost-effective ways for local businesses to promote themselves online

By on February 4, 2011 in Advertising, Local advertising, Marketing, Social Commerce, Social Media

This article is posted by Mark Armitage, Director of Marketing Communications for Socialshopping.com. The landscape for local social marketing opportunities is expanding rapidly, and he provides an overview. For local business owners, whilst daily deals sites like Groupon and LivingSocial can drive large volumes of new customers, the profitability of running an offer through them can [...]

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Can Google compete in the daily deals space?

By on February 1, 2011 in Social Commerce

This article is posted by Mark Armitage, Director of Marketing Communications for Socialshopping.com. You’ll find his contact details at the bottom of the post. Following their much-publicized (and ultimately unsuccessful) $6 billion bid to buy Groupon in November of last year, keen observers of the social commerce space anticipated that it was only a matter [...]

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