Last month, Pew Internet published a media study on “How People Learn about their Community”. After the weather, breaking news – a real time ticker tape amalgam of Arab leaders being overthrown, earthquakes, sports scores, murders and accidents – comprise what locals look for. So what do people look for in local news? It’s pretty mundane. Local [...]
Yes, BIA/Kelsey’s survey says 48% of SMBs are on Facebook. However, the more telling implication of the above chart is how SMBs don’t even use marketing methods that have been around for a while (43% on email?) or are well recognized as effective (22% with blogs, most likely abandoned). At Street Fight Summit last month, [...]
Groupon is now offering topic specific deals, and unveiled its first real estate deal last Friday with a $25 coupon redeemable for $1,000 cash at transaction closing. With over 163 sold over four days of a one week deal, Groupon validated the concept that home buyers and sellers will pay a nominal fee of $25 [...]
Groupon-like deals can work for real estate, but not as a typical $10 for $20 worth of product purchase. Real estate can’t be sold as a 30% off purchase price item (although they certainly tried variations of this at California real estate investment clubs in 2005). Real estate marketing has generally relied on variations of [...]
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 [...]
This article originally appeared at Daily Deal Media. I supplemented the original article with new projections for daily deal revenue growth from investment firm Needham & Co. The term “social commerce” was rarely discussed until Groupon’s massive 1/2 off coupon they sold for the Gap: Social media provided everybody with a voice. Social media however [...]
Before Groupon, the local advertising dollar was spent primarily on local media – newspapers, TV and radio – and the well documented stagnation in media ad revenues put a lid on employment opportunities for local sales reps. Groupon, with its Daily Deals, essentially spawned a brand new local ad channel in 2010. Here are five [...]
With Groupon currently the poster child for social commerce, there’s a lack of true social interactions in the current nascent state of social commerce beyond “sharing” the deal with your buds. The group buying concept is essentially another ploy to get folks to buy something in the traditional e-commerce sense. How do deals become social? [...]
Innovation has gone into overdrive as Facebook, Google and Yahoo! serially announce a plethora of innovative products every week. This week brings: Facebook messaging – social email that allows Facebook to access all their emails without ever leaving Facebook. Google Hotpot – a recommendation engine associated with Google Places that roams right into Yelp territory, [...]
Patrick Kitano is founding Principal of Brand into Media, a unique strategy group working with corporations and organizations to develop social and media-based strategies that engage hyperlocal communities.
I'm the author of Media Transparent, and contributor to Street Fight, Social Media Today, Daily Deal Media, The Customer Collective, and Quora.
I speak on the future of social commerce at conferences associated with social media, local advertising and real estate.
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