Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Mar 15, 2010

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With one or two exceptions (most notably Dell, which has claimed several million dollars in revenue from Twitter), few businesses have used Twitter to drive significant sales. Studying the Twitter profiles of some major UK online retailers and analysing available data suggests that, as far as business is concerned,Twitter is yet to live up to its hype.

The ‘wrong kind’ of followers, low follower numbers and a general disinterest in e-commerce sites on Twitter has meant that so far Twitter is far from proven as an effective tool for business. – Is Twitter any use for retailers? (Econsultancy)

Twitter’s use by business (or any use, really) is relatively new. It took companies several years to use the web for commerce too. I think it is possible for retailers to effectively use Twitter, but it needs to be part of an overall digital strategy. And they need to engage a community that’s interested in a two-way conversation. My question would be what type of other presences do the retailers in the article have? Do they just a website or are they engaging their customers elsewhere?

Foursquare means business. The 1-year-old startup now has a huge brand — Starbucks — using its platform to test out an experimental customer rewards program.

Starting today, frequent Starbucks visitors who check in at retail locations using Foursquare will earn customer rewards. Although there’s no financial incentive or free coffee to begin with, customers can unlock the “Barista badge” after five checkins. – Foursquare and Starbucks Team Up to Offer Customer Rewards (CIO)

In case you were wondering if Foursquare was going to stick around – you can stop now. They have deals with several large companies and are using the service much as was envisioned – as a way to provide loyal customers with perks. With partnerships like Starbucks and their business dashboard that should be released shortly, they’re on the way to becoming a solid force in mobile marketing.

Over the past couple days, we’ve been able to put together a decent picture and identify some knowledge gaps and points of confusion for many would-be social media experts. But first, let’s address why some of the RWW staff – and many of our readers, some of whom must hire social media experts – feel it’s important for even the most marketing-oriented of consultants to have a rudimentary understanding of the workings of the Web, including its ecosystem of companies and applications. – What Do Social Media Marketers Know About Tech? SURVEY RESULTS (ReadWriteWeb)

As a tech person, I always think everyone should know more about tech. If CEOs respected tech more, it would be treated as way to solve business problems (which it is) instead of a cost center – but enough about that particular rant. I have some problems with this survey because I’m not sure how many tech people would get some of the questions – they’re super specific. To be fair, maybe we should ask the same questions to tech people and see how they answer as a way to compare. Either way, yes, it’s important for social media marketers to have some understanding of tech so they can make informed decisions.

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