Social shopping is all bout building and supporting online communities around amazing products and services. As a business strategy, it can provide multiple competitive advantages for business owners. The model can also provide significant value to customers via recommendations, reviews and rewards – not to mention that a common shopping experience provides subject for social interaction and conversation.
The higher cost of a well designed product, Ralph suggests, deserves a second chance – even if the price tag stabs you in eye. Because there’s a chance that the functionality of the design may represent benefits (for you) which may or may not be immediately obvious and useful to you.
All of which reminds me of a frequent and recurring conversation that comes up when someone new visits with me in my home office.
The conversation usually begins like this:
…
Them: I like this chair. It’s [interesting, cool, and makes a statement]. Where did you get it?
Me: It’s made by Poltrona Frau. The company that does the leather upholstery for Ferrari – among other things. It’s called a Hydra armchair.
Them: FERRARI?! It must be expensive. How much was it? $1,000?
Me: $5,000. Each.
…
At which point, the person recognizes that their curiosity about the price was inappropriate.
Or, if they lack tact, they say that they would never spend that kind of money on a chair, that they could never imagine having the kind of money that would allow them to make such a purchase decision as I have made, OR they ask me if it’s the best fucking chair in the world.
My favorite armchairs for sitting, however, are not the Poltrona Fraus. They are also “design” products – leather upholstered, cubic in form, but they cost about $500 each. They were made by a currently bankrupt, no name company in a bad neighborhood of Bucharest. Those well designed arm chairs are in the living room and they have resisted heavy wear and tear for ten years. And, I suppose, they shall go another ten years. Or longer – if I rehabilitate them.
I once put a Poltrona Frau Hydra armchair in the living room – it did not take kindly to wear and tear. It was yellow and the color of the leather faded on the arms in two years. In three years, the leather began to wear noticeable in places. And, then, that poor thing suffered from the affections of my then toddler son.
Johnny loved the Poltrona Frau – a testament to the proposition that good design, like art, can appeal to all ages regardless of prejudice.
The Poltrona Fraus in my home office, however, serve different purposes. These armchairs inspire and provoke the imagination, they are fire starters to passionate conversations, and they make an authoritative statement. About design, mostly. But, perhaps, the Poltrona Fraus also tell a compelling and interesting story about me, what I know, what I have done, and what I can do.
Perhaps. Function and value should never be overstated.
The question, however, does design matter?, is an important question – especially to those of us interested in a successful online strategy – online presence, online advertising and marketing, websites, blogging, ecommerce, etcetera.
Good design matters. It goes beyond the first impression. It goes beyond the look and feel. It is an end to end matter. Good design, however, is not perfection.
Regardless of your design insight (or lack thereof), your own resources will determine how and when you can apply design solutions to the various present or impending challenges at hand.
Too often, the lack of resources which we (you or I) bring to the design of whatever we are doing – will, unfortunately, overstate the following:
who we are not
what we have not done, and
what we can not do
…
That sucks…
…
What’s your junk saying about you, your business, your product, or your services?
This is so awesome that it defies any attempt to describe it with any of my usual coherence, clarity and objectivity – not in one sentence.
It costs $10 per month. That’s about the cost of two super-sized venti whatever lattes – that some of you buy in one day. OR
You could just pay the one year subscription for $60. That’s a 50% discount!
Fucking A!
A as in AWESOME.
…
Disclaimer
I have not been paid or compensated in any way to share my excitement about this killer social app.
…
The problem with even the best of breed social apps out there is that they don’t provide the kind of opportunity and efficiency as all those social media experts and fans tout. If a social app ONLY changes the life of one person for the better – one in ten million – that’s an epic fail. It’s not a win!
Because that win ain’t yours!
And that win never shall…
Be yours.
Never ever.
…
What is an acceptable rate of win?
An acceptable rate of win is a win for one in ten thousand. You won’t find an acceptable rate of win on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, etc. And if you can prove me wrong, Mazel tov! I’ll give you $100.
But before you reach for my Benjamin, I have to describe to you how I describe an acceptable rate of win.
Social Proof
Results are everything. And what can be done in one month is the best measure of any social app.
1. Twitter
a. 1000+ Twitter friends auto-tweeting your posts
b. 100 new Twitter followers per week
c. Twitter verified your account because of your popularity
2. Facebook
a. 1000+ Facebook friends and subscribers auto-sharing your wall posts
b. 100 new Facebook subscribers (personal or fanpage) per week
c. 1000 likes per week
3. Blog
a. 3% to 7% increase in blog traffic per week
b. 1,000 new subscribers per week
c. advertising revenues increase by .05% to 2% per month
Social Search
Social Search is not just about typing a name, key word, or search phrase. It’s about the quality of results. It’s also about the speed of getting relevant results. More important than these, social search is really about the interaction available and the opportunity that can be unlocked between you and your social search result.
1. I can add up to 100 new people to my network per hour. I can search and find these new “Follows” in an intelligent and efficient manner.
a. Profile rankings based on the confidence by members of the community
b. Badges and Reputation earned by their selection for such by members of the community
c. Profession, Job Title, and Employer Company Name
d. Awards, Distinctions, and Recognitions
e. Personal Interests and Hobbies
f. Personal Likes (books, movies, music, etc.)
g. Full Name, email and/or location
h. Search Ranking of their profile and other online properties
i. Top 20 topics that reflect on them or their work (images may be included)
j. Mention in local, national or international news
2. Once identified, I can evaluate their relevance to me via a smart, useable summary of the above. That summary will also include information, pictures, art, other media and links which they have selected for the snap shot profile.
3. After adding people to my ADDS, several things will follow:
a. The Follow will be notified of my ADD by email or sms AND message in the network inbox of my account.
b. They will receive a snap shot profile of me and a call to action to consider adding me and/or send me a personal or form message that includes text, media and links.
c. If I do not send them one or two communications (maximum is two for a Follow) via the network within 30 days, I will be given the option to file “them” in a list of “Interesting People” or allow their name to drop from my list of Follows.
d. If they do not reply or respond to my initial ADD or messages within 60 days, their name will drop from my list of Follows regardless of my expectations and hopes. Furthermore, I will not be able to send them a message or re-ADD them for a period of six (6) months (or more) unless they initiate an ADD.
4. When they ADD me, they become a Friend.
a. I can send a Friend up to 20 free messages per month. The total size of a free message must be less than 1MB but it can include text, media and links. For an additional $5 per month, I can send up to 20 GBs of messages per month. Storage beyond 30 days is only a small, additional fee, but I can opt to have all my messages routed to my email before and after reading them.
b. I have fixed, named spaces and a rolling feed that can only be seen by Friends and/or the public according to the privacy settings I choose for a named space, my feed or an individual share. Regarding my Friends, I can also set privileges for what Friends can see what by “grouping” them. A Friend can be designated to as many groups as I create.
I could write ten pages about these killer features and I’d still have 12 more blog posts to write – telling you all about this BEAST.
Social – Can’t Touch This!
Twitter, Facebook, whatever… ain’t no one that can touch this. Just like MC Hammer sings it!
…
MC Hammer, Can’t Touch This
…
Today, it’s good to be me.
And that’s what a killer social app does! It gives you every reason to shout this out from the rooftops:
Mark Pesce, an Australian entrpreneur, recently tweeted:
Brands are like Tinkerbell: If you stop believing in them, they die.
Pesce’s tweet reminds me of the ancient proverb about the things that we believe:
Seeing is believing.
That’s what comScore and Pretarget are suggesting. That a parlay on online display ads pays handsomely. Because brands get seen online. Clicks, They are also suggesting, are not the last word in conversion: transaction, interaction, conversation, and/or community. In other words, online measurement and metrics are suspect. Say What?
Google’s new cloud-based online storage service, Google Drive, is yet another Faustian app by any other name. By uploading content to Google Drive, you grant Google a irrevocable license to use your stuff – even after you stop using Drive.
If you follow Gini Dietrich, Bill Dorman or Bruce Sallan, you’ll understand everything that I have to say here. Because there’s no better lesson than the lesson you’ve seen lived out by the people you know. IRL or social.
Like IRL, social is something you have to live – automation, enthusiasm, and/or drama does not deliver consistent and sustainable results. Nor value.
It should go without saying. That there is no difference between IRL or social when it comes to making friends and becoming influential. It just is. Until we are replaced by robots. That’s why Klout, Kred, and Empire Avenue can’t help you.
Beyond advertising, social, and IBM. And other digital DOHs.
by Stan Faryna
…
IBM’s 2009 report, Beyond Advertising, was said to be a feast. Download it here. But if it was a feast, it was a feast of leftovers. Think Thanksgiving – or, more precisely, the three day old leftovers of Thanksgiving. And that was in 2009!
Around the monitor of my MacBook Pro, a green slope sprawls with grass, apple or prune trees here and there, and fenced yards at the bottom of the hill. An elderly woman (maybe in her 70s) is feeding clucking chickens in one of those yards. A duck is quacking in complaint in her footsteps.
A boy (five to seven years old) is running up that hill. He’s got 100 yards more to go – if he’s aiming for one of the farm houses at the crest.
Above the hill, a blue sky spreads out to forever.
The symphony of sound is enchanting: clucking chickens, quacking duck, barking dogs, wild bird songs, honking geese, excited children, neighbors speaking loudly at their fences, and that’s not the half of it.
The middle-aged hotel manager wants to see something on Youtube. Or show it to me. I’m not sure which, but I push my laptop in front of him.
Pitbull, Give Me Everything
He gives me a thumbs up as the music starts to play. Then he pushes the laptop back in front of me.
Posted by Stan Faryna 
Follow me on Twitter: @Faryna
