My Social life depends on Groupon?????

The emerging of Groupon was no surprise to me. In the past we have always been all about the discounts from the 2 for 1's at a grocery store or 2 for 1 drinks at your local bar/restaurant. Now there's a website that offers daily specials that will more than likely encourage your social life. Groupon emerged and takes pride in being the first to give you discounts with unbeatable prices on the best stuff to do, eat, and be entertained.

With it's much success company's such as Google and Facebook were trying to buy the idea. Instead since groupon turned down google's offer and now facebook, they have decided to go on and create "Google Offers" which functions like groupon. "“Google Offers is a new product to help potential customers and clientele find great deals in their area through a daily email,” the fact sheet says according to authors of Mashable.com and now facebook will be doing the same according to Emil Protalinski which he states "Facebook has already started promoting its Groupon-like service. The company has pushed a new story with the headline “Deals on Facebook. Now Better With Friends” to the Facebook News Feed. It links to a new Facebook Deals landing page at facebook.com/deals, which says “Coming Soon: Deals Are About to Get Better with Friends” at the top." Now Groupon has competitors in the market, the race for the best deals is on.

Now with social media  getting hold of this idea most people will more than likely base their day to day activities on what has the best deals today. It's agreed that with this day and age in this economy people are spending more of their leisure time at home versus going out to buy dinner. With these deals it's more likely to turn around and people will be more willing to go out and splurge as long as their discount was worth it.


http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-promotes-groupon-attack-with-new-facebook-deals-page/843

http://mashable.com/2011/01/20/google-offers/

Myspace still in the fight/ advancement on technology concerning privacy etc......

So according to the blog marketing for sensible folks, MySpace is till in the fight for gaining it's popularity amongst social media participants. My suggestions is that MySpace just give it a rest on being the most popularity anfd should target a new market and try to be more useful in reference to networking. They should really just change the mission of the company since its been reported that though they moved up the ranks for social media they are still have an accelerating decline.

Secondly we have cell phones allowing you to use your mobile device as a form of payment. With cell phones being stolen on a day to day basis this can increase identity theft indefinitely. With the idea that now  Google may combine your “financial account information, gift-card balances, store loyalty cards and coupon subscriptions” all on a single chip in your phone definitely raises concerns. If someone takes your phone and know about computers and are career computer hackers they can easily access all this information. With consumer privacy being questioned with the rise of possible facial recognition on social networks; the term "privacy" will no longer exist and you might as well get rid of your computer and your cell phone.

I do not know how I feel about this one

What's Myspace to do????

As we all know when social media was becoming more and more popular, Myspace was one of the first and more successful network to really get people connected throughout the world. Then came Facebook which practically took the Myspace audience. What is it about facebook that made those who were Myspace fans make the switch? Many have stated that Facebook was less complicated. Myspace gave you the option to customize your page by adding different ways to showcase current interests and or friends. These features were a definite plus but the hassle of trying to find url and html codes became very difficult and timely. Myspace was also a way for artist to showcase new music, new videos, and share personal information with their fans. It was definitely a way to get connected.

So why did Myspace users make the switch to Facebook?

Well facebook has a more simplar way to add photo's, and find friends online. Just like Myspace when it first started, facebook gave friends the option to invite other friends through email to join your friends list and create pages. Facebook's simplicity I can personally say made them more appealing than myspace. Though I cannot customize my page with colors and music, I can find friends much easier, post photo's and videos, and put up statuses that all my friends can see and chat about that Myspace didn't offer.

What can Myspace do to gain popularity?

Personally I feel as though a relaunch of what Myspace has to offer that differentiates it from facebook is a great start. The fact that I can still create my own playlist and other's can listen in on what kind of music I'm into now is a great feature. An integration with facebook is also key so that users will not have to create a completely different profile where they would have to upload their photo's again. Will facebook realistically allow Myspace to integrate with their site is up for question? But if Myspace is serious about becoming one of the top sites for social media, then the integration would play a major part in gaining its users.


Here's a short history on myspace
http://www.brighthub.com/office/collaboration/articles/13478.aspx

Happy Blogging

E-marketing using social media to influence consumers in the decision making process

In recent years Social Media has become a successful part in a company's way of advertising to it's consumers. On facebook there is a number of ads that show up on the side of the screen that facebook users can easily make the mistake of clicking and your routed to a company's advertisement or homepage. This doesn't just happen on facebook. Now other social media websites like youtube and pandora, an online radio station, has commercial breaks. But, can these commercials influence your decision making process. It has been known that if the commercial is very convincing then the consumer may feel compelled that they have to have that product. Is the advertisement is relatable to the consumer watching they may feel as though they too should have a product or utilize a service. Isn't this why marketers work so hard to try and define the consumer and search for ways to sell their product or service as a must have. I believe that is why Social Media has become an avenue used for company's to advertise. Once the consumer recognizes their desire for a product it's up to the advertising to sway the consumers recognition into a need to have that company's product and not try to search elsewhere. For example, car commercials and advertising try to define who their target consumer is in order to sell their product. Once they do that they create an image that is relatable to that consumer. Then marketers create a commercial or advertisement that makes that same consumer only want that product or service. The mercedes commercial aired during the superbowl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOEw3PDh8zo) or the many commercials for the camaro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btrh69gaLTo) does exactly that. They know who their consumer is and they created a commercial that either made you feel like that car is me or I need this car because that is who I am and you wouldn't want an alternative like a lexus or mustang, you want the new mercedes or camaro. The recognition the developement and the fulfillment can be displayed in one commercial. It has happened to me before. While on facebook I saw the ad for 1800 Contacts I realized I'm low and needed some and was compelled to place the order online. Sometimes it can be that simple.

http://www.wpromote.com/socialboost1?gclid=CImhuoPlqKcCFUnt7Qod7T3rBg

Retailers using Social Media to get consumers to buy more...Is it really working???

I currently work in a Retail store where using social media has become one of the company's top objectives for 2011. Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter has become an interest to many big name retailers such as Macy's, City Furniture, etc. What I have seen thus far is the usage of facebook to either advertise events, major promotional deals and even when they currently have job openings that may interest their followers and/or "friends". But when retailers such as Macy's and even Charlotte Russe use Social Media as a promotional option what are they really looking for and what are the benefits. I visited one location in particular and saw that they're promotional items that week were primarily being advertised for Facebook users. If you "like" the company on facebook you get an additional 10% off ANY item in the store. They want to be your fashion best friend and how else other than being your facebook friend. Once a consumer "like" the page what does the company get in return. A sale they otherwise may not have been able to attain had they not added an incentive. Once you "like" a page on facebook your hit with automatic updates in your minifeed as to what's new and what's a hot item at that particular retailer. They even associate celebrities with their items to increase the attentiveness of the consumer. Twitter is another Social Media outlet in which for some retailers if you retweet what they ask you to retweet, there's an incentive to encourage you to make a purchase at their store. I've personally observe the excited consumer once they realize that a simple "like" on facebook or a retweet will ensure savings on an item that they would want to buy.

All in all, Social Media definitely works to a company's advantage when it comes to sales.

Erica Devieux

http://sparxoo.com/2010/06/08/how-retailers-are-using-social-media-to-promote-sell-and-engage/