Web Development / Internet Marketing Blog

If you’re a brand or company that pays attention to analytics and takes digital seriously then the chances are you know the percentage of your audience which access your website via a mobile device. If it’s significant, say more than 20-30%, then you probably already have or are in the process of developing a mobile website.

E-commerce is by no means a new concept, although in South Africa it only truly began to take hold in 2005, when people started adopting ADSL. Internationally, particularly in the US and Europe, widespread use of commerce goes back further than that. From our side, limited and often unaffordable internet access, coupled with lax implementation of security systems for making online payments and submitting sensitive information, were primary reasons for our delay in embracing e-commerce.

Content Management Systems (CMS) are by no means a new phenomenon; in fact they’ve been around in simplified form for at least a decade or two. It’s in recent years though that they’ve become increasingly popular with people and companies who require more control over their website.

It’s now (thankfully) common knowledge that a meticulously strategized social media campaign can do wonders for your brand awareness and exposure, especially when incorporated as part of your overall internet marketing campaign. Of course, social media is by no means the answer for each and every company, and even then you have to be careful to select which platform is best geared towards your brand, customers and target audience.

There’s no denying that mobile devices and internet connections have improved ten-fold over the past few years. There’s also no doubt that the future of IT is swiftly going mobile, along with everything connected to it, such as e-commerce

Welcome back! In part 1 of our blog post on Embracing Social Commerce we looked at: • What social commerce actually is • What consumers are saying and doing about it • What some of the benefits of social commerce are and • How it works Following on from that, we’re going to delve a little deeper into Social Commerce and look at a couple more aspects of what is set to be online marketing’s next big thing.

Firstly, what is it? “Social Commerce” stems from the integration of e-commerce and social media in the form of: forums, social shopping tools and apps, and online ratings and product reviews written by and for one’s peers. Essentially, consumers have shifted the interaction of the in-store shopping experience to that of the online experience.

In our previous post we explained what Content Strategy is, why it’s important and how it ties in with your CMS design as far as specifying features such as content models, metadata and work flow.

Lima Bean’s new blog site has just been launched, so keep your eyes peeled for regular posts focusing on the latest trends within the web development, CMS, e-commerce and e-marketing world. Our aim is to keep abreast and keep you informed about these developments while laying it out in a way that everyone can understand and appreciate.