The most unique angle of social media is its ability for consumers to speak directly to an organisation – it suggests transparency to customers and when used correctly will help to reinforce a strong image for a brand. I understand, like many others do, that social media is a key way for businesses to listen to what people want and if they are savvy, adapt accordingly. It also allows you to speak directly to your target audience and this means it’s important to get it right with your brands social media representation. Social media isn’t a fad, and it won’t disappear – in a few years it will be so deeply engrained in every aspect of our lives that it will become a second language.

It can also help businesses gain global recognition, and reach customers in more obscure locations. The benefits are countless – the challenge is applying the right technology to make keeping your social media up to date as easily and time effectively as possible. There are a number of new innovations which optimise communication opportunities with minimum input from the organizations themselves. Our own Social Media Manager was developed with this at the forefront of its design – an innovative piece of software which automatically sorts, loads and precisely schedules a bank of tweets and posts to minimise the effort required to keep social media such as Twitter and Facebook up to date. Social Media Manager is an integral part of Feed Manager and is specifically designed to incorporate daily information about our clients’ products, across multiple social media platforms.

Innovations like these are the best way of using social media as a retail business – they are simple to use, and our service simplifies and shortens the business effort required. I believe that it is vital for businesses to assess their social media, and use the available means to make it as effective and successful as possible.

Their success relies on cutting the price dramatically to secure a quick sale – and higher spends tend to be feasible as the time incentive means people are unable to search for comparisons and feel pressure to move quickly. The concept relies largely on impulse buying, and there is often a hype surrounding the sale if the goods are particularly desirable and hugely undercut.

Another way of maximizing the flash sales is that many sites will not allow participation until signing up to a mailing list – meaning a customer database can be formulated and then targeted for further sales, also providing data capture and sales insights. Marketed well, flash sales create hype and brand awareness but rely entirely on websites functioning to their full capacity to deal with the large flow of traffic, and the right payment methods in place to ensure fast and successful sales. Product listings also need to be updated on a minute by minute basis to ensure the most up to date availability is shown at all times.

I think that flash sales have huge potential to continue to grow in popularity; high street retailers are beginning to introduce ‘pop up’ sales to their websites and offer consumers a chance for a bargain. Retailers keen to try the trend need to ensure their online site is functioning to maximum capacity to ensure satisfied customers and sell out sales. As the recession saw a dramatic decline in the impulse purchase, the flash sale seems to be introducing the concept back, maximising the fluid and fast paced nature of the Internet and its rapid turnaround time. Excitement and a fresh idea are always welcome in the online sector, and the flash sale seems to be offering just that.

Similarly, the stress of shopping is being removed by Blue Dot technology, which allows customers to check the availability of individual products in nearby locations through a Google shopping search whilst on the move. This is utilised through the GPS signal on the iPhone, palm pixi or android enabled mobile phone, and will tell you the nearest shop to have the product in stock, eliminating the frustrating search for a something particularly hard to find. Following its stateside success by retail giants including Best Buy and Pottery Barn, the launch of this tool in the UK is perfect for both shopaholic consumers who are desperate for the latest must-have item, and those who want to minimise their shopping time. I also regard it as an example of why we must look toward technology to drive footfall back onto the high street: it is proving a great way to revitalise a flagging sector.

The inclusion of Blue Dot in the Google search engine shows that the mobile phone is being taken seriously as a tool in both retail and online success, and as our mobile usage increases, it is key to continue to discover how the retail sector can make the most of these new opportunities in e-commerce and as part of their internet marketing strategies.

Many businesses are resorting to gift cards and vouchers which somewhat defeats the intent of a gift, as it may have no clear brand identification and may give an impression of impersonal laziness. To avoid this, the process of searching for an original and effective gift would need to be easier and more comprehensive. The continued development of Internet Search engines makes online shopping increasingly easier, and will save valuable time when trawling product listings for ideas.

Product extensions within Google is one such feature. When adverts contain a + symbol in the bottom left hand corner, the browser is able to turn current text-only based AdWords text adverts into a selection of image-based ads displaying a full range of products from a specific retailer. This enables the presentation of more detailed information, including pricing. This new feature is set to dramatically decrease online shopping time, and maximize efficiency as it allows browsers to cut through sites straight to the product listing, making it ideal for those with little time to spend.

The easier it is visualize supplier products available and the quicker the route through to a potential supplier, the more likely it is for a supplier to engage with a potential customer. As with all things Internet, providing visibility of your products in the right way for a typical search, will provide better results.

We’ve been saying for a while that things are bubbling under with the GMC. Affiliate listings are being purged, product submissions being reviewed (we think) much more closely and a lot more detailed checks are being done on product entries.

The latest changes have just been announced to Electronics product submissions, where starting in the first months of 2011, they are making some changes to how products in the Electronics category may appear in Google Product Search. In order to aid the user search, Google are stating that suppliers of data then include at least two of the following three unique product identifiers: MPN, Brand, and EAN.

While these attributes will not be required for the feed to process correctly, if you don’t include them, chances are that your products will not show often/(if at all).

So, forewarned is forearmed. Get that data into your product database now and included in your submissions now. Natch, Feed Manager is already submitting this if it exists for any client and the longer your products are submitted including the data, the better the long term benefits to your listing.

They quote a recent e-commerce consumer survey carried out by Webcredible which revealed that almost one third (28 per cent) of online shoppers are most likely to be persuaded to make an online purchase by the reputation of the retailer.

We agree that inclusion of surveys and reviews are an essential part of listing products on price comparison websites. Not only do they provide a strong level of reassurance to potential purchasers, they are often picked up by Google to support natural rankings. Google’s own checkout reviews feature heavily in their product listings, and help support their rankings as well.

To find out more on deploying any shopping comparison site survey scripts, get in touch.

Recently, one client altered their needs, so that clicks were of paramount importance, replacing the previous necessity of a set cost per acquisition (CPA).

In accordance with this, we changed some of the campaigns in the account from CPA bids to CPC (Cost-Per-Click) bids.

A CPC bid refers to the amount that you are willing to pay for a click on your advert when the advert appears on Google or partner sites. A maximum CPA bid is the amount that you would be willing to pay for a conversion.

Consequently, we noticed a significant change in the performance of the involved keywords over a set time period.

The general trend in changing from CPA to CPC was a surge in impressions, clicks, click-through-rate and to an extent, conversions.

However, coupled with these changes was a surge in overall cost and cost/conversion.

Therefore, the bidding preference you implement can have an enormous effect on your campaign and how well it performs, emphasising the importance of structuring your account thoroughly to ensure you maximise your success.