YAN is an even bigger issue when combined with the fact that 88% of online buyers had at some point intentionally left registration information blank or used incorrect information when signing up for a new account, up 12% from 2010. Also, the expectation of consumers for brands to support Social Sign-On has increased significantly as eMarketer and Janrain recently reported that consumer desire for Social Sign-On has increased to 77% of US Online Buyers in 2011.

The importance of leveraging a single sign on authentication platform that is socially enabled becomes the key to unlocking a brands social CRM strategy. The reason for this is that Social Sign-On can lower the barrier of entry for a user, increase validity of data via the users social graph as well as increase stay rates.

According to recent research from Gigya, web users who log into 3rd party sites with Facebook’s Graph API spend 50% more time on those sites, and view twice as many pages. Think about the impact to a Fortune 500 retailer with 50% increase in stay rates and how that may impact purchase frequency.

When it comes to selecting which service is ideal for your brand, Gigya also released information that shows that Facebook accounts for 61% of those social logins.

Where social sign on really gets interesting is when a brand leverages an OAuth solution, such as Facebook’s Graph API. Instead of depending on a user to input a few sets of pre-determined data, you potentially have access to 180 data points to associate with the user. This includes the ability to access data tied to their feed, friends, activities, interests, music, books, movies, television, likes, checkins and more based on the users privacy settings.

This increases the probability of accurate subscriber data as well as the ability to append your proprietary questions on the back-end of the authorization of the user. Users in this scenario are more likely to share information as they are not repeating the information process. This also means that for a brand, the ability to build a robust profile around an individual beyond the standard data points such as basic demographic data and purchase history becomes a reality.

One of the more progressive brands when it comes to Social Sign-On is Nike.

Nike offers multiple options for authentication.

When you choose to login via Facebook, look at the data that Nike gains access to in one session…

A possible user scenario is as follows. Nike is about to become the uniform provider for the NFL in the upcoming 2012 season. Imagine if Nike had the ability to quickly scan the profile data of those who have authenticated via social sign-on and find team & athlete related Likes, game Checkin’s from the last season (Timeline makes this even easier), team related status updates, etc… tied to the users NFL team & players of choice. They would be able to proactively target those users with highly targeted and relevant offerings around the upcoming seasons jerseys and other merchandise that the user would then be compelled to engage.

This solution combined with other integrated tactics would most likely net better results than engaging in a mass e-mail/traditional campaign. Moving forward, the brands that understand how to leverage the immense amounts of data that individuals are providing via their social graph and then create relevant & highly targeted outreach campaigns will be the brands that will capitalize on socially enabled commerce.

As e-marketer shows below, in 2012 $3 billion in goods will be sold via social media this number jumps to $14 billion by 2015.

The key to this trend is not just positioning products via social channels, but lowering the barrier of entry, mapping CRM & social graph elements as well as highly targeted, relevant and timely offers via social & traditional channels.

The brands that understand how to better integrate their CRM programs with Social Graph data to create robust user profiles that are then the basis for executing their marketing strategy will be the winners.

It should be noted that integration of SSO is a cross departmental effort and this is one of the primary reasons more fortune 500 organizations have not adopted this method. It will take visionary executives who understand the value of data integration to push SSO forward.
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Check it out and let us know what you think.

George Howard, the former president of the Rykodisc label stated that “Record labels in the future will concern themselves with all the heretofore locked assets that an artist has, and [with] utilizing music as a sort of gateway to a more dynamic relationship between artist and constituent.”

George’s comment illustrates the exact positioning of Fancorps.com, an online hub for street team management and promotion for music, film, video games, politics and sports.  Recently, Fancorps has been utilized to assemble the street team for latest season of American Idol’s 4^th place finisher, teenage pop-rocker Allison Iraheta.

I received a Facebook notification about the launch of Allison’s Fancorps street team, where I am a member of her fan page.  Allison also has an official Twitter account where she posted information about the street team launch.  I’ve been eagerly awaiting her December 1^st album release and this opportunity seemed like a perfect way to pass the time and help promote her debut record.

Allison was signed by 19 Recordings/Jive Records back in June, and the label is taking a grassroots, fan-based approach to her marketing efforts.  Social media is the main component of Allison’s street team, and members are prompted to choose which categories of street team promotions they want to be a part of: Allison’s Artists, Flyer Fans, MYSPACERS, Facebookers, Tweeps, and Telemundo Fans.

After joining Allison’s Fancorps street team, members are asked to complete “orders” which may include a variety of promotional tasks like posting Allison’s debut album cover to your Facebook Wall or submitting reasons why Allison should come to your hometown during her album press tour. Completed orders reward fans with points, which can be traded in for exclusive Allison merchandise.

Allison’s Fancorps page serves as a direct link to Allison herself and empowers her fans to spread the word about her new single and debut album. Fans get exclusive access to Allison’s music and assets, which help develop an intimate relationship between fan and artist.  Fancorps’s philosophy isn’t necessarily new, but its prominence and legitimacy in the digital marketing environment has grown exponentially since social media became valuable marketing channels.

Fancorps may not single-handedly make Allison Iraheta a star, but like Fanscape’s CEO, Larry Weintraub, mentioned in his assessment of the future of the music label, “The chances for becoming a star are slim. But they always have been.”

I stumbled across this blog last week and it’s amazing. I present to you: Things Marketing People Like.

I LLOLed at a few and you probably will too. Enjoy.

Something I don’t think I’ve seen in recent memory in marketing industry trade Advertising Age, is an editorial giveaway, and yet sure enough in my email inbox a few days ago was an article titled “’Mad Men’ Season Two on Blu-ray: a Giveaway” linking to a piece by “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco. It’s clear that the writer is a fan, and it is also apparent that the marketing behind the critically acclaimed series is definitely AdAge worthy. So the inclusion of the show itself is not unique, but the added bonus of randomly giving away Blu-Ray copies of the show is something that definitely caught my eye.
Which brings me to this point: Something as simple as a DVD giveaway is a fantastic way to connect readers to the content you are trying to circulate and at very little cost. The Mad Men example couldn’t be simpler in concept, yet the writer and the publication (and likely a marketing team with AMC) is clearly aware that the series is a big hit with their target demo, and has a direct connection to the subject matter (advertising industry) they communicate daily. It’s the perfect fit. Something tells me it will be one of the top clicked AdAge stories of the day.
To enter, email Simon Dumenco with “Mad Men” in the subject line, and he will randomly draw a winner before August 14. For additional details, click here.

The star of Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Nazi-scalping action flick Inglourious Basterds graces the August cover of Wired magazine, and PEOPLE.com has a first look.

Pitt, 45, sports a wireless cell phone headset and gives advice – in his Inglourious character – on a variety of subjects, including conduct at work, etiquette and those sometimes awkward cyber dilemmas. “Who cares if your Warcraft wife is really a dude,” Pitt is quoted as saying on the cover. “If it’s good, don’t check under the hood.”

To read the rest of the article click here.

Industry News via DM News….

Interactive marketing will hit $55 billion and represent 21% of all marketing spending by 2014, as marketers continue to shift dollars from away from traditional media and toward search marketing, display advertising, e-mail marketing, social media and mobile marketing, according to Forrester Research.

In the US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2009 to 2014, released July 8, Forrester found that marketers faced with budget cuts and the need for immediate sales in recessionary times turn towards interactive tools that are less expensive, more measurable, and better for direct response than traditional media.

“In today’s economic climate, marketers are shifting dollars downstream, so they are much more focused on tools that drive immediate response and sales,” said report author Shar VanBoskirk, VP and principal analyst at
Forrester.

Sixty percent of marketers surveyed indicated they would increase budget for interactive by shifting money away from traditional marketing. Unfortunately for direct marketers, the direct mail budget was cited more than any other traditional medium as the place to cut.

To read the rest of the article click here

Pushing your brand at a time like this turns me off as a consumer and shows how truly out of touch your brand is with the Twitter public.

I plan on un-following a few companies today who chose to practice bad marketing, and I don’t think I’ll be alone.

I am a pretty loyal person, and Google has always been my main man. I consistently use the word “Google” interchangeably with the word “search”, I’m in love with my Gmail and its search features, and I can’t get enough of Gchat.

Then all of a sudden, all of the talk was about Bing, the new man on campus. What is Bing? What differentiates it from Google as a search engine? Well according to Microsoft, it’s being touted as a “decision making engine”, not a search engine. Personally, it seems pretty similar to Google. Some differences: Bing puts their related searches on the left, instead of the bottom, which is convenient. When searching for “Saved By the Bell” (come on, best show ever) it organizes my results into different categories: just SBTB, SBTB Wallpaper, SBTB Quotes, SBTB DVDs, and so on. This could be helpful if I’m not really sure what I’m searching for, but it also clutters the page and makes it a bit confusing.

Ultimately, it’s too early to tell what I think about Bing, but I do admit their ad spots centered on “Search Overload Syndrome” are pretty entertaining:

I’m not saying I’m dumping Google, but I might have to flirt with Bing a bit to test the waters. What do you all think of Bing so far?

Company was overwhelmed by response to grilled chicken promotion

NEW YORK – A couple of unhappy customers who missed out on free grilled chicken at KFC after Oprah promoted it are taking their beef to court. Two California residents who were unable to use the online coupon sued KFC owner Yum Brands Inc. in state court in Los Angeles on Wednesday. They claim the fast-food company’s grilled chicken giveaway last month was a “bait and switch” to get people to spend money at the chain. For days after the 24-hour posting began, the company was swamped with customers craving the freebie. At some locations, lines snaked around the block and caused traffic jams. The company has offered rain checks to those who could not redeem the coupons.

Read the rest of the article here