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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1. Smartphones as common as the toaster. 2011 is the year smartphones take over. With an expectation of smartphones nearing 50% penetration in the US, Verizon adding the iPhone, and tablets taking over, we’re all going to be walking, talking, emailing, playing, and sharing while we chew gum. Mobile extensions to your social marketing plans are a must. Optimize your messaging for iPhone, iPad, Galaxy, Blackberry, Droid, et al.

2. Companies will integrate social feedback into their decision making process. In 2011, we will see a growing number of companies finally go beyond using social channels merely for building awareness and providing support. Expect to see a rise in companies who, by end of year, will be recognized for socially-informed innovation, customer focus and work environment, much like Zappos and Amazon were a few years back. (Predicted by Ravit Lichtenberg on Read, Write, Web)

3. Social Commerce. People like their Facebook, that’s where they spend most of their time online.  Facebook would prefer you didn’t leave.  So, why not buy all your stuff right there? Right now on Facebook you can book your Delta Airlines flight and buy your buddy a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream.  We’re definitely going to see more of this transactional business directly on Facebook this year.  And then we’ll start seeing it in other social platforms, not to mention on our phones.

4. Website Evolution. Websites will continue to become more social. Should I have a website or should I just be on Facebook?  You need both.  In fact, you need to be in more places: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress/Tumblr/Posterous.  And this list will grow.  Start by making your website more social.  Integrate Facebook open graph; allow people to “like” and rate the content on your website.  Overarching plan: give people a reason to return or else they’ll grab your store hours or client list and never come back.

5. Groupon: here today… Prediction is that we’ll burn out on the current incarnation by year’s end.  But that doesn’t mean it is going away.  Let’s call it what it is, the digital version of the guy with the sandwich board handing out flyers.  Retailers have more opportunities to drive people into their stores than ever before.  Ask a retailer if they liked their Groupon (and similar) experience and about half will say no.  Consider this a brilliant innovation or a retail marketing disrupter, but we’ll see more of this.  Google wasn’t going to spend a fortune buying Groupon for their health.  This is the evolution of targeted advertising.  Foursquare had you check in, Groupon had you buy a deal, expect a merging of the two: meet your friends at the local bar, the whole table gets a discount.  Reward the loyal and those who return, not just the lookie loos.

6.    The Digital Talent Pool The real talent—the ones you really want—are entrepreneurial and creative, and they’re not waiting around in your lobby to get a job. They’re trying it on their own.  Media outlets will find future talent on YouTube, iTunes, or other popular audio/video on-demand sites like BlogTalkRadio. NBC Universal announced an initiative last week where they will select 20 popular “tweeters” in each market to create content for their websites, broadcast segments, and other distribution channels.  (- Jessica Northey on Social Media Today)

7.    Video, not just for looking at babies and cats. YouTube is the number 4 most viewed website and guess who just cracked the top 20?  Netflix.  (per Alexa) Most of the sites on the rest of the list serve up plenty of video too (Facebook, Yahoo!, CNN, etc.).  Pay attention to sites like eHow and Howcast if you want to know how to build a table, bake a cake, or change a car battery.  People like visuals.  Show and tell is easier than ever and again, it’s what people want.  And going back to mobile, people can watch this on the go now too.

8.    Digital and Social immersion. Merge radio frequency identification (RFID) with smartphones and social networking and you complete the loop of total immersion in connectedness.  One word: EpicMix.  See what they are doing at Vail ski resorts and you’ll get it.  Your ski pass is embedded with a unique ID.  It knows where you are, how many miles you’ve skied, it tells you where your friends are, and it provides a platform to add photos and video.  You unlock badges that automatically update to your Facebook page.  You don’t need to do anything.  Imagine the extensions to shopping, dining, and travel.

9.    Cause Marketing. Expect brands to integrate a little extra feel good into their strategies.  Over the last two years charity started at home, but we’re starting to loosen our purse strings a little bit.  When it’s apples to apples, we’ll lean towards the more socially conscious product.  And technology is making this easy through things like text donations for NPR podcasts and fundraising apps such as kickstarter.  Remember this term too: Crowdfunding.

10.    Social Search. We put this at the end because it really started last year.  We just don’t believe everyone quite understands it yet.  At least not its implications for brands and their products.  Realize that when people now have conversations about you via open social networks (i.e. Twitter – for the moment), that filters into the search query.  Immediately.  So when you are looking up where to buy a barbecue, you’ll see real time conversations about the exact same thing!

Innovations and honorable mentions, a.k.a. things to keep an eye on this year: Quora, Social Scrapbooking, Social news on your tablet (e.g. Flipboard), near field communication (i.e. mobile payments, mobile ticketing, QR code reading, etc.), entertainment check-in apps (e.g. GetGlue, Philo, Miso), and of course, web-enabled televisions.

Firstly, people will become more negative towards organisations using monitoring technology in order to “gatecrash” conversations. Brand consumer trust will diminish. 

Secondly, the time, effort and resources associated with managing online buzz will become too much. Organisations will realise (some already do) that people will always express their opinions and they should be allowed to do it in, what they consider to be private.

While these concerns are reasonable, they make a case for better/ clearly defined/ purposeful monitoring initiatives. The consumers we are dealing with are empowered and want to be heard. And they should be. They are increasingly connecting with brands on social networks. According to SheSpeaks “Annual Social Media Study 2009”, 80% of female Internet users said they had become a fan of a product or brand on a social network. In addition, 72% had learned about a new product or brand, or joined a group around one.

Studies also suggest that consumers not only want brands to be on social networks but also want to engage with them. As per Cone Inc., new media users overwhelmingly believe companies or brands should not only have a presence in new media (95%) but also interact with their consumers in this space (89%). Consumers feel companies’ or brands’ top priorities within new media should be to problem solve and provide information (61%, up from 43% in 2008).

Further, solving customer service issues on the social web gives the consumers ready tools to share their positive experience with their network. We know that “75% of Americans are very likely to speak positively about a company after a good service experience in contrast with 59% who are very likely to speak negatively about a company after poor service”. (American Express, 2010)

At the end of the day. companies will need to put in place a social intelligence infrastructure for managing and analyzing social media conversations. Tough questions such as is this a departmental or an organizational initiative will need to be answered. Another mind bender, should companies listen to everyone or a chosen few?

I would suggest a three pronged strategy:

1. Identifying a set of influencers and/ or category enthusiasts who have social clout and setting up filters so that all conversations from this set – blog posts, tweets, forum replies etc – pour into a manageable database for further analysis and action.
2. Shifting conversations to “Brand Backyard” to solve relevant issues and garner actionable insights. The Brand Backyard includes sources such as customer communities, blogs, discussion forums and profiles on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter maintained by the brand. Further synergy can be built within these sources by integrating them to provide customers a seamless experience.  Lithium Community for Facebook does exactly that. A brand’s Facebook fans and its private community members can ask questions, access discussions and review products without ever leaving the Facebook page or the site.
3. Monitoring the social web by setting up alerts to identify any potential issues. Even with the above two in place, it is necessary to monitor the social web even if on cruise control. The idea is to identify any emerging issues or PR opportunities.

These steps should help brands to not only manage the quantum of online conversations but also build a positive customer experience overall. These are some of my ideas. What are your thoughts on managing this challenge?

Getting there is half the fun, right? Rarely. If you are like us, you are always searching for the best deal and the best advice when you are planning your vacation. There are a tremendous amount of resources out there to help make this process a little less painful and a little more enjoyable. Social websites, blogs, and applications have proliferated over the past few years and we’ve done our fair share of testing many of them.

If you’re looking for reviews from people who have “been there,” WhereIveBeen is for you. Want to sidestep the Internet cafes and use your mobile phone or laptop, the Wi-Fi Finder is the must have app. Wondering if you chose the best seat on that transatlantic flight? Seatguru.com is for you. In search of exclusive hotel deals, don’t forget to visit the Hotels.com Facebook page. Running through the streets of Rome and need a bathroom, SitOrSquat will be your best friend. Having a little staycation, don’t forget about your daily steals on GroupOn and LivingSocial. Whether you’re headed out on the open road, hopping on a plane or spending a little quality time with the family poolside, let Fanscape help you make the most out of your vacation time with 10 more of our favorite travel apps and resources.

TripIt (Free: Android / Blackberry / iPhone / Online)

TripIt makes order out of the paper trail (virtual or otherwise) that has been created by planning a trip. It is a hub for all of your travel plans to reside – from flights to room reservations to rentals. After you’ve created a free account, simply email your confirmations to plans@tripit.com and TripIt processes the information and creates a master itinerary for you. The service also connects you with local weather, directions and city guides to help you make the most of your vacation or business travel time. This information can also be shared with your friends, family and associates. The “Pro” version offers travel alerts, frequent flyer mile tracking and exclusive travel benefits. And at $49 per year the Pro version could be a life saver for the well-traveled business person.  USA Today’s AutoPilot (iPhone.iTouch only), is a very similar service, but is designed to sync up with TripIt.

Yelp (Free: Blackberry / iPhone / Online)

True, Yelp has been around for a while now, but there’s hardly ever a time where this doesn’t come in handy when trying to figure out where to eat – at home or away. If your taste buds feel adventurous you can always try UrbanSpoon, but Yelp and its more than 11 million user-generated reviews can help you find the perfect restaurant, event or special offer. Businesses can set up accounts, but it is the users who provide the reviews in an unfiltered and unbiased manner – allowing for us to pick places based on real-life experiences.

Around Me (Free: iPhone only)

If you like to go where the day takes you, or even looking for the nearest gas station, try Around Me. It let’s a traveler or even a local quickly find information and businesses based upon your location. For every listing you can see the location on a map or view from where you are.

Travel Channel GO (Free: iPhone only – coming soon to Android and Blackberry)

The Travel Channel’s GPS-enabled travel tool allows you to explore the world and experience a city like a local – discovering the best things to do and see. Discover nearby places that were featured on the Travel Channel and get tips from trusted Travel Channel hosts. You can also share travel hot spots and experiences with your friends as well as fellow travelers.

Trip Journal ($0.99 iPhone / Android)

This is one cool app. Google Earth integration allows for friends and family to follow your routes, locations, full screen photos, video and blog entries. The app is also integrated with Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter, making this a f-u-n and highly interactive app.

VRBO.com (Online)

VRBO – Vacation Rentals By Owner – is a fantastic site to find some of the best privately owned vacation rentals, homes, condos, cabins, villas and apartments. They have a blog that’s brought to you by the VRBO bear highlighting some of the actual rental properties available. You can search for a rental and even list your own property.

CruiseCritic.com (Online)

If you are a fan of the cruise ship lifestyle, CruiseCritic.com is a must visit site. This site offers editorial content, offers and news. What’s great about this site is its member review section. The member reviews are extensive and honest – providing specific information on cruise lines, particular ships and destinations as well as ratings on different aspects of the experience such as entertainment, excursions, family and children’s options.

TripAdvisor.com

TripAdvisor is like a trusted friend – helping you plan and have the perfect trip. Hotels, flights, restaurants and rentals, the site has’em. Unsure of where you even want to go? They also offer recommendations based upon your preferences. They’ve taken to the social space with a Facebook page and Twitter account than is the perfect complement to its website – offering discussions and relevant travel news for those about to depart.

Jetsetter.com

Get yourself invited! Jetsetter is a private online community geared for the more sophisticated traveler that provides its members with great insider access to special sales to some of the world’s greatest resorts and destinations. If you’re familiar with Jetsetter’s sister site,  discounted high fashion shopping hub, Gilt Groupe, you’ll understand that once you’re invited to be a part, you’ll have access to some great merchandise at fantastic prices.

Gadling

This travel blog is part of the AOL family of blogs and is chock full of travel information and pictures. The great thing about this blog is it isn’t centered around one city or one component of travel, but rather covers just about everything – from deals to healthy road trip snacks. Interested in info on the Opryland Hotel, they have that too (psst, it’s re-opening on November 15^th).

As we mentioned at the start, there are an incredible amount of travel resources at our fingertips – all devised to help simplify our lives. The more socially plugged-in we become, the easier it gets for us to make the best travel decisions and purchases. The result is a more carefree and enjoyable experience. Just what a vacation should be.

His tips include:

1. Do you have the experience we need?
2. Are you an expert?
3. How do you stay ahead?

Click HERE to read about Larry’s advice.

Fanscaper's @germer and @lardog2000

It was great seeing so many people involved in Social Media and finally getting to meet @jeffpulver was a highlight of the (my) night. Hearing people speak to the power of Social Media and how purposeful it can be takes it well beyond the proverbial fun and games of checking in here and building a farm there and I was impressed.

The ladies room is always worth a visit during any gathering, as it is a haven for some of the best one liners of any evening. Case in point, in between speakers I made my traditional pit stop and apparently @SimonMainwaring made quite an impression, as a number of the ladies were commenting on how hot and handsome he was. (Note to future #140conf organizers, the ladies like the good looking guys on stage.)

The evening even turned into an impromptu fundraiser for a patient of @Krupali where every attendee donated at least $1 to help make her patient’s dream of making it to the home of her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers come true.  Granted, this didn’t take place via a tweet or Facebook campaign, but if it wasn’t for the love of Social Media none of us would’ve been there to lend a hand, miles or a few bucks. 

I wasn’t able to take part in the purple Viper Room flash mob, but before I left, it looked like it was going to be a crazy walk down the Sunset Strip. Who’s got pictures of that…come on now share!

Thanks @ericgreenspan, @jeffpulver and everyone else in attendance for making my first #140conf L.A. Meetup so memorable. I can’t wait for the next one.

Pick Your Bracket

Everyone has their thoughts on who will win.  President Obama picked last year’s winner and this year he is going with the Kansas Jayhawks to win it all. While choosing the tournament winner requires some knowledge of college basketball, the beauty of the 64-team tournament is that there are so many unknown teams and shocking upsets.  Therefore, picking each game is a crapshoot.  Of course, there are experts who think they know the upset specials and Cinderella teams.  CBSSports.com has some upset predictions and Final Four picks, and CollegeHoops.net has plenty of news and analysis to help you out.  It’s worth doing a bit of research before filling out your own bracket.

Create a Pool

All of the major sports sites offer online brackets that you can fill in with your picks.  If you want to set up a pool for your friends or co-workers, I recommend using Yahoo! Sports or CBSSports.com.  Both make it very easy to set up free pools and offer all kinds of tools to help with filling out your bracket and tracking your march to dominance.  In addition, Yahoo! Sports is again hosting their yearly Tourney Pick’em game, where a perfect bracket will net $1 million.

Follow Online

Now that your bracket is all set, you need to watch the games to see if you made the right picks!  CBS and the NCAA have once again teamed up to offer free online streaming of all of the first round games.  Choose between Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight (for higher quality) and enjoy this year’s new features, such as picture-in-picture highlights of other games that you can see without leaving your current game and the ability to pull tourney stats in real-time.

Follow on Your Phone

Last year CBS Sports Mobile debuted the NCAA March Madness On Demand iPhone app that streamed all 63 tournament games live.  This app is back this year, broadcasting every game except the opening round play-in game live via Wi-Fi and AT&T’s 3G network.  The app carries a higher price tag this year ($9.99 vs. last year’s $4.99 price) but will offer added benefits such as scores and alerts, including notifications for when a game is close or headed to overtime, or when there’s an upset in the making. You can also try out PocketBracket, an iPhone and Android app that allows you to create and track brackets, organize pools and follow the progress of the tourney, all for the cost of $1.99.  You can set up pools among friends, or compete with others on the PocketBracket network.

Relive Tourney Memories

As you patiently wait for the tournament to kick off on March 18^th, you can browse the past ten years of March Madness glory on the NCAA Vault.  Check out full games and highlights, and share with your friends via the Twitter and Facebook integration.  Make sure to share the clip of Adam Morrison’s emotional meltdown as UCLA came back to beat Gonzaga in the 2006 Regional Semifinals.  It never gets old.

Good luck and enjoy the tourney!

Check it out and let us know what you think.

In the 2004 election Dr. Howard Dean emerged from virtual obscurity to become a viable presidential candidate – due in large part to his online fundraising efforts. To fund his campaign, he encouraged supporters to send online donations and visually tracked the progress on his website.  Many credit Dean as the pioneer for online campaigning and the inspiration for President Obama’s groundbreaking 2008 campaign developed by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

As we saw in 2008, President Obama took the use of the web and social media to a new level, harnessing its power to mobilize his supporters from the ground up.  More recently, increasing numbers of those in Congress have turned to Twitter as a primary means of communication with their constituents and counterparts. Whether it’s providing a community for supporters to team up or an avenue to lash out directly to your representative, social media is becoming firmly entrenched in the political sphere.

Although it may have been a case of too little too late, John McCain also delved into the social space in 2008 with his own networking site coined McCainSpace and a blog run by his daughter at McCainBlogette.com. The project did not see the same level of success as Obama’s, but it is certainly safe to say that the 2008 election was the first to make social media a primary campaign component. Today, President Obama has official profiles on more than 16 different social networking sites including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter – all of which are active.  His website also includes tools to join a local group, organize an event and fundraise.

The web has expanded politician’s reach dramatically.  This past month, more than 1.3 million viewers watched the President’s most recent State of the Union address from their computer screens or mobile devices on sites like YouTube, Hulu, Ustream, Facebook and CNN. The White House even released its own iPhone app that provided a live stream of the coverage.

Following the masses, many politicians are making social sites their preferred method of public communication.  For proof, look no further than former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman, who used his Facebook profile to announce that he would not be participating in the upcoming race for Minnesota governor. Using Facebook gave him direct control over the venue and the message while avoiding tedious media inquiries and misinterpretations. This type of authenticity is increasingly important in an environment notorious for fence straddling, side swapping and general ambiguity.  When asked why he chose the medium of Facebook, Coleman replied simply, “Because it’s 2010.”  Expect his actions to be the beginning of a new political norm.

Though not all politicians are as forward-thinking as Coleman, a large portion of Congressional members and groups are active social media producers and consumers.  TweetCongress.org, which tracks Twitter activity of Congressional members, lists more than 200 active members and groups. Some of the most popular include Arizona Senator John McCain, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.

Republicans may currently be in the minority, but recent research indicates that they are the definite majority in the social media world. In his white paper “Twongress – The Power of Twitter in Congress”, Mark Senak determines that nearly half of the Republican caucus is on Twitter and that GOP members tweet more often and have more followers than their Democrat counterparts. Similar trends exist for YouTube, Facebook and other sites as well. Senator Scott Brown, who on January 19^th became the first Republican elected to a Massachusetts senatorial seat since 1972, had five times more Facebook fans and three times more Twitter followers than his opponent Martha Coakley. This is certainly not the sole reason for his surprise victory, but the presence of an active social following must be given significant weight in the overall picture.

While the web has the potential to provide a level playing field for all parties and participants, recent research indicates that, just as in the offline world, there is a strong correlation between online political activity levels and household income. The study also found that active social media members are commonly the most active members in the political world as well. These indicators may explain some of the current skew toward rightward political participation, but the reality is that the Internet has altered longstanding patterns previously defined entirely by socio-economic factors.

The web has vaulted low-profile candidates into the spotlight and given them the ability to broadcast their platform at a level that less than a decade ago would have required several million dollars. It is exciting to watch as political figures and groups make use of social media, but merely having a presence is simply not enough. Politicians and the political world must continue to push far beyond campaigning and the occasional tweet by actively engaging with their audience. Bringing them closer and inviting them to be a part of the process is what engagement is all about. George and Abe would be proud.

Understanding that in order to connect with his younger and more digitally connected Catholic flock, he must engage with them where they hang out, socially speaking. Pretty progressive and forward-thinking move coming from an organization so steeped in tradition. The Pope and his advisers know that tweeting, blogging and commenting have the potential to reach audiences in more engaging and direct ways than a traditional sermon from the pulpit.  In the most recent Message From His Holiness, the Pope himself addresses the development of new communication technologies and encourages priests to make use of these mediums by embracing the opportunities they create:

“To priests in particular the new media offer ever new and far-reaching pastoral possibilities, encouraging them to embody the universality of the Church’s mission, to build a vast and real fellowship, and to testify in today’s world.”

Coinciding with the Pope’s declaration that 2010 will be the “Year for Priests,” the theme of this year’s World Communications Day (to be held May 16) is “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word.”  The event will bring attention to the unique possibilities offered by modern communications and give priests the information and tools needed to minister in a digital world.  Solidifying the Church’s acceptance of Social Media as a viable communications option, one only needs to look to its early adopters that include Friar Todd Peterson, Bishop Anthony Taylor and Cardinal Justin Rigali.