1. Fluid’s Rachel Roy fan-only Facebook shop resonates – with fans and with clients. Andrew, our CXO, explains why it works here. A 25% increase in fans in the first 24 hours is worth talking about.

2. Lucky magazine is integrating digital into publishing and fashion in great ways. In this month’s issue: Daily Deals for their At Your Service, QR code promos and ads using ShopText (think text-to-give becomes text-to-buy or sample).

3. Social media expertise is excelling in-house. As more brands hire community engagement or social media managers we’re finding big opportunities for strong partnerships. Client understanding will lead the shake out of social media vendors and offerings. Yay.

4. It’s time to upgrade my iPhone. Why? Video. What sparked this thought? I watched a guy clean and squeegee the windows near SFO security with more gusto, style and love than can ever be imagined. It was awesome. He needs to be seen.

5. WiFi on airplanes is no longer a wow. It’s expected. As it should be.

6. WiFi in our hotel was prorated at different amounts according to speed. Including an option for $20. For $20 the WiFi should make me a milkshake. Plus it’s WiFi – I’m not choosing dial-up vs. dsl. This does not make sense.

7. Accenture has replaced it’s Tiger Woods airport ads with an elephant crossing a gully on a narrow tree trunk. Seems now is the time to pitch them as they’re bound to have extra money – an elephant is much less expensive than the Tiger.

Cheers,
Amy

That record has been broken. As of last week, the Red Cross alone has received over $25M in text-to-give donations for Haiti. $3M in the first 24 hours. 25% of the overall Red Cross funds donated.

A devastating event + human generosity + mobile technology equals:

- A broad base of in-the-moment givers
- A momentous moment for mobile

The money raised to positively impact Haiti relief efforts is the biggest win. The implications for e/mCommerce though are incredibly exciting.

Here are the top five things I see text-to-give teaching us:

1. The power of “virtual” currency
Disney has Disney Dollars. Facebook and online games have their own currency. Chuck E. Cheese has tokens. Casinos transact in chips. Credit cards aren’t the same as cold hard cash. Whether we like it or not, these all leverage the fact that people are likely to spend more money when they’re not transacting in actual dollars. Text-to-buy via mobile creates this same sense of distance.

[Haiti donations efforts were focused on $5 and $10 donations. My colleague smartly asked, what if they’d allowed text codes with varying cash amounts (HAITI25, HAITI50, etc.)? Would donations be that much bigger?]

2. Mobile providers as payment systems
Text-to-give means that providers become the payment method. The $10 donation goes on our mobile bills and the providers reconcile with the non-profits to ensure that the donations reach their end destination. This puts providers in a powerful position.

It’s not a big leap to think about facilitating mCommerce purchases via text messaging. Mobile providers could become the next PayPal – taking a percentage on the pass-through before the order is delivered to a retailer.

3. Social sharing after an action
Companies are consumed with how to make their commerce and brands more social. Much of it is focused on sparking purchases through the power of social networks. What about making them social post-purchase?

People showed me the texts from their $10 text-to-give donations on their phones. And I, like many others, used social media to share the text “HAITI” to 90999 message after giving. It was viral in the truest sense of the word.

Donating online raised even more interesting lessons for eCommerce. OxFam provides connections to Twitter and Facebook on their donation confirmation pages and follow-up emails. Their calls to action from donors have consistently scrolled through my Facebook Wall since the tragedy.

This needs to happen more with ecommerce purchases. We need excited buyers sharing products purchased via simple functionality placed in the post-purchase communication stream.

4. A shift in point of sale location
Point of sale has traditionally meant candy bars, US Weekly magazines, socks, CDs or snow globes strategically placed near the checkout counter. In ecommerce it’s add an item to cart to get free shipping or cross-sell of items like this one that you may like.

With mobile, point of sale becomes anywhere a consumer happens to be standing. It can be completely out of the context of a store.

5. The importance of urgency
Disaster brings a type of urgency we’d never wish on anyone. But the efforts to aid Haiti reinforce the impact of urgency to catalyze action.

In the commerce realm, this is the success of HSN and QVC. eBay and auction sites have owned this online. They’ve been joined by the likes of Gilt, Ruelala, Ideeli and Groupon. Old Navy Weekly reinvented the online weekly ad by using this tactic (while keeping their Item of the Week promos still going strong). Urgency drives sales.

What are the implications that you see?

You can still give to the Haiti relief efforts through many organizations – $10 through text-to-give or more via online giving. I’m moved by the momentum. It’s by far my new favorite social media case study.

Cheers,
Amy

Bacon currently has 379,844 fans on Facebook. Kevin Bacon has 5,985. With six degree of separation that likely equals an amount that exceeds the number of Facebook fans for your brand.

Unless you’re Coca-Cola (4,007,785 fans), who let two fans keep running their page or Starbucks (5,116,222 fans) who frankly, is Starbucks.

Free shipping for becoming a fan wasn’t enough for JCrew (164,848 fans) to unseat bacon. Although kudos to them for their simple implementation of a proven ecommerce winner.

A brand’s number of fans has become the stuff of bragging rights and for some, night sweats. Rivaled only by the quest for viral video views on YouTube.

My opinion: Kick the leader board to the curb and don’t let bacon get your brand down.

In 2010 I think we’ll see a shift to quality and qualified Facebook fans. Who wants fly-by-night fans when you can have a smaller circle who are vocally and adamantly in your corner?

In 2010, repeat visits to Facebook brand pages will rise as a KPI. Brands will being to confirm or ignore their fans – just like we all do on our personal pages. This move will make brands nervous and make potential fans more interested. The offers on the other side of the red rope need to be worth the wait for approval.

The true test? As more and more retailers have the confidence to implement ecommerce within Facebook (Go retailers!) the numbers will provide proof. Then we’ll know if high numbers drive loyalty, conversion and cart size. Or if the fan popularity contest lasts no longer than the reign of a Prom King and Queen.

I know how I’m voting.

1. Inside Network and Serious Business released a report projecting U.S. virtual goods to hit $1B this year. It’s a twist on nothing for something driven by Facebook apps like Farmville – which gained a mind bending 18M users in the last month to hit 51M monthly uniques.

Or the goods can be as simple as a $1 virtual birthday gift. Adding $1 seems to make it mean more than when it’s free.

[From an ecommerce perspective: What are you selling that people would want in a virtual form? Or where could we be selling it?]

2. Seth Godin proposed that CraigsList should implement a dollar fee for all postings. The idea being that the transaction makes the poster accountable. Lose the anonymity and drop the scamming, dodgey, dirtbags (um my words not his). I love this idea. As Wired reemphasized in August , Craig doesn’t want the money. So give it to a different non-profit every day.

Craigslist has equated free with anonymity, backed by value if you trust the specific sellers you encounter. The $1 proposal equates an ecommerce transaction with trust and ability to trace. Infusing ecommerce adds the human element to keep us all honest.

So is this the end of free? Not exactly. Free can still be an essential introduction, a surprise and delight element and a try before you buy tactic.

My two cents? These ideas challenge us to consider whether a dollar can add value – to be confident enough to even consider whether what we may give away for free is worth something more.

My left over $.98 (plus a penny I just picked up) is going to iTunes.

Cheers,
Amy

We’ve brought Amy on because gone are the days where retailers can rigidly control virtually every aspect of their online presence and shopping experience. Blogs and customer reviews mean consumers have a voice in the conversation. Content is increasingly portable and flexible. Conversion funnels begin before consumers get to your site and social networks allow consumers unprecedented influence over what friends and strangers are buying online and in stores. This complex landscape requires shopping and brand experiences that are thoughtful, flexible and strategic.

It is Amy’s job to help our clients plot a path through this evolving landscape, particularly in social media, and to make sure everything Fluid deploys is on target from both a quantitative business and brand perspective.

Welcome, Amy.