Some companies; Mercedes-Benz being one, have achieved a phenomenal Facebook presence by adopting this strategy. But for many, they are beginning to realise, that the measurable effects of a multitude of “likes” are actually minimal.

In fact, they are simply a forced public display of an opt-in to a brand’s social news stream. It is not what it was first presumed to be; brand advocacy.

Phase 1: Like. Phase 2: Advocate

Advocacy goes beyond an affinity with a brand and can be extremely effective at influencing other people’s behaviour. 90% of people said they would trust word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know according to the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey.

So if the wisdom of friends is becoming ever more relevant, how can you use social technologies to stitch together the wisdom of friends and increase the flow of advocacy of your brand?

Between 5-15% only of all pasts that past through people’s newsfeeds on Facebook are ever viewed. So to improve upon this, the “recommend” button was introduced. This is a form of advocacy as people are effectively saying when they use it, that “this is something which I like, and think will also be of specific interest to you”

The Google “+1″ button works along similar lines. Using this has the same effect; it publicly gives something your stamp of approval.  These stronger advocacy tools may well influence current SEO, giving much more weight to search via social interaction. That remains to be seen. But it does indicate that social media is moving into a new phase, where companies will be expected to work much harder to earn engagement and advocacy.

Fans must become genuine advocates. To achieve this, brands must create more meaningful and valuable interactions with people. It is no longer enough to be “liked”.

Depending upon your business, you will no doubt have a call to action, which is your goal in terms of emarketing. It may be more sales, more enquiries, more referrals etc.

No matter what your goal is, in the world of Web 2.0, you will need to build relationships with your target audience, before any of your goals will be achieved. This will require extensive RESEARCH at the beginning..determining where your target audience are on the Web is critical. Otherwise, you will be wasting time and money. Don’t skimp on this stage of the process.

The web is becoming ever more social. Rather than being a medium simply for absorbing information, CONSUMER GENERATED MEDIA, is the new buzz term. Consumers want to publish and exchange information with one another. The social networks are the tools that facilitate this. So, it should not be that hard to find where your target customers are talking..blogs, forums, message boards, social networks…simple searches using keywords for your business will bring up a great deal of useful information to get you started.

Then you need to LISTEN and PARTICIPATE. Don’t go in with the sell-sell approach – it is extremely bad etiquette in the world of Web 2.0. In fact, you will do your brand more harm than good that way. Be PATIENT. The more you acquaint yourself with relevant conversations, the more you should find an area where you can provide some real value to the consumers. What do they need? Can I provide it?

Bear in mind always that this is about consumer empowerment. Give them something useful and they will share it with their friend..be your brand Advocates..Find the influencers…and set yourself a goal of becoming an Influencer in your area..

When you become an influencer, then you really will be a master of the social web!

The concept of “social” shopping / commerce has been circulating for a few years, but the idea has yet to reach critical mass. Given how intertwined the purchase consideration process and social media have become, it is surprising that social shopping / commerce still seems to be in its infancy. So, if we aren’t yet ready for social commerce, what do we expect as we use social media to support our purchase decisions?

We expect to be inspired (awareness) – the April launch of Facebook’s Universal Like button and social shopping sites like Kaboodle and Woot! enhance our awareness of brands, products and services we didn’t even realize we even wanted…or needed. They allow us to browse brands and products without being tied down to any one retailer and importantly, they give us a window into what our friends think are must haves.

We expect deals (engagement) – you may not be a coupon clipper, but it’s hard to say no to a good deal. Social media has proven itself to be an effective channel for finding and sharing deals, promotions and coupons. The lure of exclusivity has buoyed deal-a-day services and made them increasingly attractive to retailers, manufacturers and social media platforms (e.g. Twitter recently announced its @EarlyBird service which will share time-bound deals from participating advertisers, Amazon acquired deal-a-day site Woot! in June). In fact, the promise of exclusive deals tends to be a key motivator behind why consumers “like” brands on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

We expect a megaphone (advocacy) – social media gives us a platform to talk about the brands we love and the ones we want to make sure our friends avoid. A happy customer is a brand’s best marketer.

We may be conditioned to click on deals through Facebook for, say, a TV, but we aren’t yet fully on board with making our purchases through social media platforms. How do you think social commerce will evolve and when do you think making transactions within social media will be commonplace? Will mobile be the catalyst?