I am the co-host of a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with    Desiree Scales, the CEO of Bella Web Design. We have great conversations about topics related to online marketing. I am posting the programs here for the Overflow audience. This is episode 75.

We are very pleased to have Benjamin Trotter, the founder and CEO of the social shopping engine, Storefront Social. This exciting new startup allows brands to conduct ecommerce activity directly integrated into their Facebook Fan Page.

This tool is at the forefront of the latest wave of online marketing in the retail space, the intersection of social sharing and commerce called “social shopping.” Since the days when shopping took place on streets and in “markets,” consumers have been relying on word of mouth as the best way to determine good deals and reliable merchants.  As we moved towards industrialization and mass media broadcasting, we lost much of the referral aspect of where to buy, but the social media boom has allowed that “social graph” back into the buying decision.  The largest social network of them all, Facebook, did not have an easy solution for a merchant to sell product, until now.

During our year end 2010 Technology Prediction podcast, we foreshadowed this type of retailing taking place on Facebook.  We believed that within the year 2011, platforms would develop that would allow merchants to quickly and easily showcase their products directly on the site.  Benjamin has achieved that reality.

Benjamin’s idea had its genesis while he was the Director of Ecommerce for a children’s clothing company.  He was exploring all channels for generating traffic, with a particular focus on the social media sites, and started focusing attention on the company’s Facebook page.  Since products change frequently in the clothing niche, he focused on using simply data feeds to display product from their site simultaneously on Facebook. As soon as the traffic and conversions started flowing in from the page, he knew that he had something that could be packaged and sold to others.

On the first day of his proof of concept attempt at allowing others to use the platform, he received a support request from a customer who had signed up and was integrating his system .. and he was off and running!

As with all great entrepreneurial stories, Benjamin came to the conclusion that he needed to take that leap of faith and go all in with an attempt to turn this platform into a full-fledged business. The application comes with a free trial startup, so with over 50,000 users, sometimes clients can slip through unnoticed …  that is until a client the size of Borders Books users the app to display inventory on Facebook.

An interesting analytic that has been discovered is the correlation between Facebook fans and the views of the commerce page.  Intuitively, one would think that the higher the fans the higher the views, but in fact the reality that Benjamin sees is the higher the interaction with fans the higher the views.  As we discuss many times, social media is an ongoing dialog that takes real activity. It cannot be just placed out there and expected to generate returns.

Some key selling points for the way that Storefront Social handles these transactions include directly passing off the commerce functionality to the client’s ecommerce platform, privacy protection, no customer service silos, no additional reporting requirements and no added layers of transactions.

Future iterations of the application will include features such as a notation in a shopper’s Facebook feed when they have made a purchase, and conversely, getting some customization of product recommendations displayed based upon a shopper’s friends list or personal interests.  Benjamin believes that the company relocating to Austin will allow him to get more directly involved with the Facebook staff in offices in that city.

They have also been able to create custom applications for their larger enterprise clients who are looking for a more branded approach to this integration.

An example of an SMB customer who has seen the direct impact of using this application is The Pond Outlet. Their Facebook page had about 7000 -8000 dedicated fans, when they integrated the $29.95 Gold Level of storefront.  During that first month time period, $600 had been spent on Amazon suggested search and garnered $3000 worth of revenue, while Storefront Social generated $7,000 worth of sales!

We really thank Benjamin for his time and wish him the very best in developing this exciting technology. Take a look at the website at StoreFrontSocial.com to sign up for the free 7-Day Trial, visit them on their Facebook Page and drop a message to Benjamin to tell him you heard it on The Bella Buzz, or send a message on Twitter @StoreFrontApp.

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The Bella Buzz is sponsored by Constant Contact. Connect, Inform, Grow.  Constant Contact’s leading email marketing, online survey and event marketing tools help all types of small businesses.

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

I am the co-host of a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO of Bella Web Design, Desiree Scales. We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing. Thought I would also post the programs here for the Overflow audience. This is episode 57.
On this episode of The Bella Buzz Podcast, Desiree and Joe explore the social media space through the lens of pop culture, and the recently released movie The Social Network.

The movie is the semi-factual account of the creation of Facebook. We are presented with Mark Zuckerberg’s tale from his days as a student at Harvard, his motivation for making a name for himself as a hacker and coder on campus, through the launch of the site. Throughout the narrative we are also presented with the depositions from two lawsuits, that the company and Zuckerberg had to endure.

We really don’t need to go into the details of the script on this podcast, full details can be found on it’s IMDB page.  However, there were some lessons that we were able to glean from our viewing.

The lessons were mostly along the lines of maintaining a singular focus on achieving your objectives.  It’s hard to know when you “have a marlin” but when you do recognize it, do everything in your power to land it.  Never go off looking to get the little fish.  There is something that is very exciting in the entrepreneurial spirit that many of the startups around the country demonstrate on a daily basis.  This film depicts it very well.

When once there was an American Dream to earn a living, put a roof over our heads and provide for the future.  Today’s depiction of the american dream is to build something that changes the world.  Facebook has obviously had a tremendous impact, globally, on the way in which we connect, communicate and establish relationships.

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Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

Fluid Media had the privilege last Thursday of participating in a class at the Art Institute of Atlanta.  We were invited by Dr. Larry Stultz to speak to his students about social media marketing and how the tools are changing the way that brands are able to interact with their target audience.

We applaud Dr Larry for reaching out to many different professionals to speak to his class, since things are changing so rapidly in online marketing. We are sure that the class will gain significant insights into marketing tactics by hearing directly from the source.  For reference materials, the class also uses  Life After the 30 Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe as well as listening to the JaffeJuice podcast.

Facebook was a major segment of the conversation particularly as the students discussed the migration away from My Space for various reasons, most notably the intrusive nature of the advertising on My Space.

The main point that we tried to make during the conversation is that there are different types of influencers who have impact on consumers, depending upon the social network being discussed .. from anonymous influencers on Amazon to friendly influencers on Facebook, with follower/following influencers in between.  Marketers need to understand how all types of influencers can have an impact on consumers and the most successful will initiate brand conversations on every social network, according to the type of relationships that are established there.

We should also point out that the class had a definite understanding of online privacy concerns and in particular how it could impact their job search should inappropriate things end up where they can be found.

A suggestion for Dr. Larry’s class is to invite a legal expert in to discuss privacy in the digital age. The class could be geared towards the responsibilities of a marketer who might be developing apps or Facebook games to promote a brand, that simultaneously gathers market research and personal information. How is a marketer obligated to handle this information without causing harm to the user?

Meanwhile, Facebook announced and then retracted their changes to the Terms of Service. The flap seems to be a big stink about something that was percieved as reality in the general public anyway .. anything that is put online is generally no longer in your control.  It does however, point out a general mistrust of Facebook’s overall intentions, particularly among power users who have seen services like Beacon get launched and then withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

Facebook has to consider how their reputation is percieved, most notably among influential bloggers who criticize the company.  From the initial complaints recently settled by the founders of ConnectU who claim the concept was stolen from them .. all the way through to Beacon and now TOS fiascoes, Facebook has been battered many times over. While another behemoth online, Google continues to advance apps that could directly impact a person’s privacy while setting up a major marketing windfall without too much complaint.

What do you think, should privacy become a central part of the curriculum for a marketing class?

Inauguration Day 2009, when social networking demonstrated it could convey the principle of participatory government .. we had communications from some of the two-million people on the Mall in Washington posting to Twitter, and we had a convergence of CNN broadcast and the social network Facebook joining forces for real time streaming of events with a collective voice, CurrentTV turned on their Twitter application, plus countless other gatherings of people with the power to express their opinion.

On a day when at the stroke of noon eastern time, the web site Whitehouse.gov was revealed to proclaim “WhiteHouse.gov will be a central part of President Obama’s pledge to make his the most transparent and accountable administration in American history”.  It is a day when the Whitehouse web site includes a blog with the first post Change Has Come to Whitehouse.gov

During the Overflow podcast recorded on this morning of great change in the country, we talk about how social media tools are different for every person, place or thing. Despite some who are trying to apply do or don’t principles to using social media, decreeing a certain protocol must be followed to be true social media, we believe that each situation dictates how to use the tools that we have.

Social media is self governing in a truly democratic kind of way, which will allow everyone to have their own voice in how they wish to use the tools. Those with their own ideas should be allowed to put them forth … and should not be warped to the expectations of the few with the loudest voices.  If someone uses social media tools  in a way that is acceptable to you, follow and dialogue with that person, if not then find someone who meets your expectations.

From a business perspective make sure that as client and consultant, measurement factors are determined prior to implementation of social media strategies, with an eye towards the objectives to be achieved. It may be number of followers, community members, posts on a forum … more than simply a conversion to sales.  As long as the expectations are clear from the outset, tactics that achieve results are to be rewarded.

To tie it back to the swearing in of our 44th President, allow the tools to help provide you with  a voice and a say in the process. How much you use them to influence your community depends upon how much you participate.   There is no right way or wrong way as long as you act, just make sure you do on to others……..

In the second, first edition of the Overflow Podcast for 2009 we have to cop to a “do over” for the first edition of Overflow recorded last week.

In an attempt to demonstrate our thinking regarding the use of social media tools, we thought that it would be clever to take a look at a specific organization and bring to light our recommendations. The idea seemed to fall into the category of killing two birds with one stone … record a weekly podcast for our listeners and then re-purposing that podcast as a new business pitch. We would send a link for Overflow to that potential client that we targeted, outlining our rationale.

Upon second thought, we decided that it wasn’t fair to the subscribers and listeners of Overflow to subject you to that type of blatant pitch. Your time is too valuable and we are humbled that you choose to spend some time each week with us, and we would have felt extremely guilty if we had proceeded with our idea.

So here is our first Overflow of 2009:

We have come to appreciate Facebook as a potential network for brands to gain exposure to a potential of 150 million users and counting. Facebook seemed to be a hangout for college socialites planning the next keg party in the early days so we were not heavy supporters, however we have come around to believe that it can be a destination to build a secondary brand community complimenting the original web site/ blog.

There are still elements in Facebook that aren’t all to clear from a real business standpoint – throwing sheep, sending flair, sending drinks .. although Cameron postulates that the branding of such “features” could help promote a product.

The older demographic is starting to adopt Facebook as a great way to regain contact with long lost high school and college friends, while the growth of the younger adopters has flattened out, simply because they have saturated the space. It really is starting to hit the mainstream.

Our experience with clients advertising on Facebook has not yielded any results in terms of click throughs or conversions on the banner ads throughout the site, so there is still an entire business model to be executed for the company. However, brands who are able to interject their message directly into the news feed of users we believe will witness significant results.

That’s why Facebook Connect as an application should be immediately deployed by brands. Having consumer interactions with a brand’s blog appear directly in the news feed of Facebook users is a sure fire way to expose a message (important!!) in an actual consumer’s voice to their social group. From there it becomes exponential message reinforcement and growth as others within that friends list interact with the brand.

Also keep in mind the opportunity to post video and photography as a way to create brand awareness.

A secondary conversation to the Facebook social network is the use of LinkedIn as a complimentary way to expand your social graph. A great feature to use if you are looking to demonstrate knowledge or expertise in a category is to participate in LinkedIn Answer to gain credibility.

Have you found Facebook to be beneficial for your brand marketing efforts? Let us know in the comments.

To friend us on Facebook you can connect with Joe and Cameron

To connect on LinkedIn you can find Joe’s profile or Cameron’s profile.