Last week I attended Altimeter’s event titled “Rise of Social Commerce”. I knew that it would be a great event and it definitely more than met my expectations!

The Altimeter group lined up an amazing set of speakers which offered incredible networking opportunities. I appreciated how they positioned it as ‘we’ are the early adopters and were there to learn together.

Here are some key takeaways from Day 1:

Definition of Social Commerce: The use of Social Technologies to connect, listen, understand and engage to improve the shopping experience.

1. Need to redesign the shopping experience – so it’s not pushing – but rather being social.
2. People want to shop in the palm of their hand. They want to give feedback on the what’s on the shelf and the products
3. Need to create frictionless commerce.
   1. How do we redesign the buying experience?
   2. How do we enrich the engagement processes
4. Need to anticipate what people want

Bob Kupbens, VP of e-Commerce, Delta said that we need to shift from transactional to emotional.

• How many screens does it take to book a ticket? How can it be made more interesting?
• His suggestions were:
  • Go where the customers are at
  • Engage in natural conversations
  • Leverage the tools available to you

One phrase that I loved was, “Marketers and retailers have an opportunity to delight. We need to provide relevant content to the right people.”

Manish Mehta,VP of Global Online for Dell, gave a great presentation. He said that social isn’t just a campaign, but it’s a harmony across the fabric of a company. He suggested that we need to think beyond social commerce and consider creating social businesses. I was very impressed that Dell has created a Social Media and Community University & have trained 1500 employees face to face. They are also creating a Listening Command Center that will be staffed 24/7. It will be unveiled before the end of the year.

The most profound takeaway from Manish’s presentation was, “Campaigns are really a huge risk. You’re paying for building a very expensive fan following. (and to what end?).

Brian Solis, author of Engage!, always has very insightful things to say. His main point was that customers want a dialogue. He suggested focusing on:

• active listening & learning
• engaging in meaningful dialogue
• adapting
• shaping experiences
• driving action

People are social consumers. 23% of Twitter users follow businesses to receive special deals and promotions.

He suggested that there is now a fifth ‘C’.

• Community
• Content
• Conversation/Communication
• Connection
  • Commerce

Altimeter livestreamed the event and has made all of the slides available. I believe that the recordings will also be coming soon.

• Download the slides here
• Jeremiah Owyang has created a comprehensive list of takeaways

A recap of Day 2 coming soon!

About Connie Bensen

Connie Bensen has written 27 post in this blog.

Connie Bensen is the Director of Social Media and Community Strategy at Alterian. She has authored a series of ten white papers on the ROI of Social Media. Forbes.com recognized her blog, Community Strategist, as one of the top 20 best marketing and social media blogs by women. 451 Marketing has noted her as one of the top social media strategists to watch in 2011, and she was a 2009 Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research.

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