Does social media make companies more profitable?

July 24, 2009 · Posted by Wanda Cadigan · 0 Comments· 0 Links to this post

Wetpaint and Altimeter just released their ‘Engagementdb Ranking the Top 100 Global Brands’ report. As the title suggests the report scores or ranks the social media engagement of the world’s 100 most valuable brands as measured by BusinessWeek / Interbrand “Best Global Brands 2008” rankings. The goal of the study was to measure how deeply engaged the top 100 global brands are in social media channels. The report offers great glimpses into the social media culture at such brands as Starbucks and Dell; however I question the conclusion the authors have drawn. “While much has been writte...

Ethics and User Generated Content

July 17, 2009 · Posted by Corey Gale · 0 Comments· 0 Links to this post

Some of the most popular features with consumers who shop on eCommerce sites are ones that incorporate User Generated Content.  In particular Product Reviews and Ratings are consistently rated as highly valuable to both retailers and consumers.  As the number of sites offering Product Reviews have increased, the credibility of online reviews has grown as well.  In a recent global study by Nielson, they found that the number of people who now trust posted online reviews was 70% compared with 61% in 2007. This has led to an increase in a “stealth marketing” practice known as “astroturfing” w...

Epicurious.com to offer e-commerce widget

July 16, 2009 · Posted by Wanda Cadigan · 0 Comments· 0 Links to this post

Conde Naste is offering an e-commerce widget on its Epicurious.com website to let browsers 'click to purchase' recommended wines. While Conde Naste will get a small percentage of the transaction, the real opportunity lies in advertising dollars. Winemakers can pay to have their wine offered as an appropriate choice for a given recipe, as determined by keyword matching. Given the sophistication of the Epicurious.com audience, do you think a pay-for-play wine recommendation will work?  To read the full article, click here http://bit.ly/1egoX8...