Page 244 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

228 7 Social Commerce: Foundations, Social Marketing, and Advertising

4. Describe social shopping. Social shopping refers to Enterprise 2.0
online shopping that is supported by social media and Geosocial networking
involves friends and online social media communities. Social business
The major drivers are the large number of people who are Social commerce (SC)
engaged in social networking, reliance on friends’ recom- Social customer
mendations, the potential of receiving large discounts for Social customer relationship management (SCRM; CRM 2.0)
the buyers, the increase of sales volume for the sellers, the Social marketplace
socially oriented shopping models, and the rise of the Social media marketing (SMM)
social customer. Social shopping (sales 2.0)
5. How advertisements and promotions are conducted in Viral blogging
social networking. The major driver of SC is the money Viral marketing
spent by advertisers who see a huge potential market. Viral video
Advertising can be done in many ways. Using word of Virtual economy
mouth is almost free for companies, but it can be danger- Virtual goods
ous (e.g., negative comments). The use of banner ads and
other paid advertisement and social search models gener-
ate billions for social networks (mostly to Google and DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Facebook). Large numbers of advertising apps exist. Also,
bloggers can provide positive (but sometime negative) 1. Compare social computing to traditional computing.
comments. Many companies have developed special cam- 2. Discuss the social element in social media.
paigns that engage community members in advertising- 3. Discuss the contribution of social commerce to e-com-
related activities (play games, vote, generate ideas, etc.). merce.
In addition, advertising on Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube 4. Compare Polyvore to Pinterest.
is becoming popular. 5. Discuss the reasons why people buy virtual goods.
6. Conducting social customer service and CRM. When 6. Discuss how traditional online vendors can add social
the CRM platform involves social media (e.g., Web 2.0 networking capabilities to their sites.
tools and social network sites), CRM is referred to as 7. Under what circumstances would you trust an expert’s
social CRM (SCRM). SCRM provides many benefits for recommendation rather than a friend’s?
customers, vendors, and public institutions that include 8. How can marketers use social networks for viral market-
an improved relationship between the empowered cus- ing?
tomers and the vendors, and service providers as well as 9. Why are advertisers so interested in social networks?
providing better service to customers. The evolution to 10. Discuss the issue of possible fraud in P2P transactions.
SCRM can be described along the following five dimen- 11. Discuss the shortcomings of user-generated reviews and
sions: The landscape (e.g., structure and focus); the recommendations.
touch points (e.g., the use of social media tools); busi-
ness processes (e.g., how to listen to customers); the
technology (e.g., socially oriented tools); and the orga- TOPICS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION
nizational mindset (e.g., patterns of interactions). This AND DEBATES
evolution is driven by the explosive use of social network
sites, the rise of the social customer, and the importance 1. Debate the privacy dangers to social shoppers.
buyers place on social recommendations. Customers are 2. Debate: “Is the social media influence on purchasing
empowered by social networks, so they can get attention overrated?” Start by viewing the slideshow titled “Social
quickly for problem resolution. Organizing a Facebook Media Influence on Purchase Overrated” (McCafferty
complaint blitz is not difficult. Customers can make sug- 2011) at baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/Social-
gestions for improvements and vote on them. Media-Influence-On-Purchasing- Overrated-660095.
3. Debate: One day all e-commerce will be social.
4. Daily deals are being offered today by many off-line and
online retailers and other organizations (e.g., newspa-
KEY TERMS pers). Only on the Internet are these offers common. Is
there a need for intermediaries? Debate.
Communal shopping (collaborative shopping) 5. Discuss how trust is affected in social shopping. (Consult:
Customer relationship management (CRM) Bazaarvoice.com 2011).