In the digital world, more people are buying things online to save time and, sometimes, to save money. Typically, social media and ecommerce are separate when it comes to online shopping. A business offering their goods to an online market would use social networks like Facebook to promote their brand, products, and sales and link it back to their webpage, where customers would then make the purchase.
Recently, I watched the James Bond film, Skyfall which sums up the philosophy of digital marketing. For example, my favorite scene in the movie was when M created a set of "MacGyver-like" booby traps around the house to prepare for the arrival of Raoul Silva and his henchmen. It illustrated a recurring theme and, ultimately, a lesson we can apply to the digital world: "The old ways are sometimes the best."
Some businesses are very successful with their digital marketing campaign. However, can social networks thrive if they monetize their services? So far, social media giants like Facebook haven't produced the best results. Now that Twitter has teamed up with AMEX (American Express), people are eager to see how this marriage will end. Will it disappear into the sunset, happily ever after, or file for divorce, like Ross Geller?
If this union is successful, online marketing companies can promote similar services for their clients. Companies will have the opportunity to expand their business plans and marketers will have to become more business-minded to reach out to the right audience and develop creative initiatives to grow their customer base.
As a result, people will have to be more social to take advantage of these opportunities that appeal to them. Marketers will have to hone in on their behavioral economics skills to appeal to the customer base. Will it work?
If it is unsuccessful, here are 3 reasons why:
- People may be reluctant to share their credit card information on Twitter, because they fear losing their identities to hackers.
- People may be too frustrated with the process. For people who learn and understand the process, they may forget a step or two such as tweeting a reply to AMEX to finalize their purchase within that 15-minute window, making the purchase null and void.
- People may lose interest. Because the process is tedious and, to some, arduous, they may make one successful purchase and forget about it.
Ultimately, I'm not sure if such a campaign will be successful but it's a bold first step for Twitter and it does have potential. For this to be successful, the key is to either teach people how to use it or develop a simple one- or two-step process. However, people are likely to regress to their "old ways": buy products from the company and use social media for support-research and customer service.