Comments on: Top Retailers and Social Media – Designing our next study

By: Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:05:49 +0000

One more great suggestion from Twitter, an obvious miss in our initial list, which we'll add:
@jblock:
@adamcohen Another yes or no question; do they use podcasts to communicate with their customers.

By: Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:05:00 +0000

One more great suggestion from Twitter, an obvious miss in our initial list, which we’ll add:
@jblock:
@adamcohen Another yes or no question; do they use podcasts to communicate with their customers.

By: Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:34:56 +0000

For posterity, some comments from a discussion over twitter today - thanks all who participated:

@SocialTNT:
@adamcohen I would look for engagement. How many comments? Number of UG Posts on FB pages? Interaction and response from the brand?

@adamcohen:
@SocialTNT measuring not just whether companies are using SM tools but how much are they engaging - great feedback, thanks!

@SocialTNT:
@adamcohen Exactly! Can't wait to see the study.

@mjkeliher:
@SocialTNT About your note to @adamcohen: Measuring engagement is about success. Adam seems interested in measuring the *effort* first.

@adamcohen:
@mjkeliher i'm looking to see which retailers are using SM, but a follow-on could be measuring engagement. likely to refresh the study again

@SocialTNT:
@mjkeliher @adamcohen True,but just having a page isn't effort;14 yo's can design page. Effort is listening and engaging yr audience.IMHO :)

By: Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:34:00 +0000

For posterity, some comments from a discussion over twitter today – thanks all who participated:
@SocialTNT:
@adamcohen I would look for engagement. How many comments? Number of UG Posts on FB pages? Interaction and response from the brand?
@adamcohen:
@SocialTNT measuring not just whether companies are using SM tools but how much are they engaging – great feedback, thanks!
@SocialTNT:
@adamcohen Exactly! Can’t wait to see the study.
@mjkeliher:
@SocialTNT About your note to @adamcohen: Measuring engagement is about success. Adam seems interested in measuring the *effort* first.
@adamcohen:
@mjkeliher i’m looking to see which retailers are using SM, but a follow-on could be measuring engagement. likely to refresh the study again
@SocialTNT:
@mjkeliher @adamcohen True,but just having a page isn’t effort;14 yo’s can design page. Effort is listening and engaging yr audience.IMHO

By: Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:27:13 +0000

Len, Geoff - thanks very much for the comments.

Len - The "others like you purchased" is a cross-selling tool that is algorithm based, usually tied to sales rank of a product. Not so sure it's SM but it's definitely a compelling capability. Amazon was a pioneer in the recommendation engine department but lots of other sites are using tools to do this. The wish list idea is also a good one - not so much the concept of the wish list, but the ability to share it with friends. Amazon recently launched a facebook application that does exactly that.

Geoff - Good thought for looking outside the company. I'll look into it but it may be hard to determine unless it's very visible. I'm sure companies will have a way to contact them with feedback, but I'm not so sure they publicly share the feedback - whether or not they share that feedback somewhere is what we could measure.

Great stuff and thanks again for taking the time to respond.
Adam

By: Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:27:00 +0000

Len, Geoff – thanks very much for the comments.
Len – The “others like you purchased” is a cross-selling tool that is algorithm based, usually tied to sales rank of a product. Not so sure it’s SM but it’s definitely a compelling capability. Amazon was a pioneer in the recommendation engine department but lots of other sites are using tools to do this. The wish list idea is also a good one – not so much the concept of the wish list, but the ability to share it with friends. Amazon recently launched a facebook application that does exactly that.
Geoff – Good thought for looking outside the company. I’ll look into it but it may be hard to determine unless it’s very visible. I’m sure companies will have a way to contact them with feedback, but I’m not so sure they publicly share the feedback – whether or not they share that feedback somewhere is what we could measure.
Great stuff and thanks again for taking the time to respond.
Adam

By: Geoff Livingston

Geoff Livingston — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:11:13 +0000

It'd be interesting to see if they have a comment program for outside of the company... So what happens when people slam the Gap? Does the Gap respond?

Thanks for including me.

By: Geoff Livingston

Geoff Livingston — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:11:00 +0000

It’d be interesting to see if they have a comment program for outside of the company… So what happens when people slam the Gap? Does the Gap respond?
Thanks for including me.

By: Len Devanna

Len Devanna — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:12:26 +0000

Will be interesting to see these results.

Your list is pretty comprehensive... Couple of other things came to mind but you may have these covered in your existing topics.

Recommend /email to a friend? I guess social networking 101 but still a toe in the pond.

General discussions - I think the review piece you call out is huge - but Amazon takes it to a whole different level - http://tinyurl.com/2nscyd

How about the 'Others like you purchased...'? Perhaps less SM and more system algorithm - not sure.

Lastly - Wish lists may be an interesting thing to look for. Again, Amazon does a nice job of letting me tell my pals what they should be buying me.

Nice topic, AC. Will post again if I come up with other thoughts.

By: Len Devanna

Len Devanna — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:12:00 +0000

Will be interesting to see these results.
Your list is pretty comprehensive… Couple of other things came to mind but you may have these covered in your existing topics.
Recommend /email to a friend? I guess social networking 101 but still a toe in the pond.
General discussions – I think the review piece you call out is huge – but Amazon takes it to a whole different level – http://tinyurl.com/2nscyd
How about the ‘Others like you purchased…’? Perhaps less SM and more system algorithm – not sure.
Lastly – Wish lists may be an interesting thing to look for. Again, Amazon does a nice job of letting me tell my pals what they should be buying me.
Nice topic, AC. Will post again if I come up with other thoughts.