Found this article on Mashable about a social media marketing report that claims that social media has little to no effect on how consumers shop online. If you believe the report, you can be an online retailer with the coolest, most engaging, most enticing, most informative Facebook and Twitter accounts in the world, and it won’t amount to a hill of beans.

I say balderdash! (Read my comments on the article here.) I know from personal experience, not to mention plenty of other research I’ve done, that says otherwise. Social media won’t often lead to getting new customers or leads, but it’s one of the most powerful bang-for-the-buck ways to build brand loyalty and provide great customer service. And what business on earth doesn’t want to build brand loyalty and provide great customer service? It’s almost a no-brainer, which is why a report like this just doesn’t pass the smell test.

Retailer: I may find you on Google or through an ad somewhere. But if you want to keep my attention over the long haul: you need to communicate with me! And social media is your best way to make me like you. Tell me a story. Show me what you care about. Get me excited about something new. Engage!

Heh. I just read this great article by Umair Haque about how the concept of innovation as we’ve typically understood it (new features, new capabilities, new flavors, new styles, etc.) is starting to look less appealing than the concept of awesomeness, where you take something and do it a lot better, with more care.

I think the author is basically right. We can try to come up with all kinds of “innovative” ways of doing things and miss the fundamentals. Sometimes, I just want a really yummy cup of coffee and know the ingredients were grown in an environmentally-friendly and ethical manner. I want an awesome cup o’ joe. Simple.

Most technological gadgets trend towards being woefully over-engineered. Too much innovation, not enough awesome. It’s good to be reminded to strive for the emotion, the care, and joy of creating a product — even if the product happens to be a wooden chair rather than a spaceship.