Social technologies are undoubtedly impacting the way we shop.  With reviews and ratings on product pages, which are often able to be shared across social networks and throughout our social graph.  This user-generated content can help others determine whether or not to make a purchase, and companies are capitalizing on this social influence, encouraging users to share their consumer behavior.

Once simply a sharing service, Swipely is developing its evolution into a credit card loyalty program for small businesses with a new set of trading tools. This week Swipely, the provider of social marketing tools for local suppliers, launched the Main Street Marketing Manager, which includes loyalty tools as well as more detailed analytics, providing a set of campaign parameters that target lapsed customers.

Founded in 2009 by Angus Davis and officially launched in 2010, Swipely is a platform for social networks looking to expand their marketing capabilities.

The Swipely Main Street Marketing Manager is designed to understand customer spending through analytics, segmenting customers based on historical shopping behavior, sending targeted campaigns to users and convert existing customers to loyalty customers.

The tool permits dealers in Boston, San Francisco and New York to hone in on customers with offers-based interactions with their recent purchases.  Merchants can, for example, send an offer saying “we miss you” to customers who have not made purchases within a certain time, or a “thank you note” offer for those who have visited recently.

“Swipely brings online marketing tools used by e-commerce giants offline to Main Street, turning the payment network into a marketing machine that any business owner can use,” said Angus Davis, founder and CEO of Swipely. “We crunch the big data behind millions of transactions across our merchant network to help owners engage customers without becoming technology experts or spending lots of money or time they don’t have.”

Swipely encourages their customers to sign up for loyalty programs through a credit card they already use. They then automatically receive rewards as they spend money with participating merchants. The new program offers an opportunity to target specific customers at specific times.

Loyalty and Real-Time Content Program

Swipely is not alone in providing real time analytics and solutions to customers. A number of startups and many large players are hoping to become the provider of loyalty programs and promotional offers to small businesses.

SCVNGR has deployed new LevelUp mobile payments solution to bring a seamless pay-by-phone system. The program works by downloading free apps on Android phones, linking to credit or debit cards, and the ability to pay for purchases in participating locations.

Mobile wallet providers such as PayPal and Google are become platforms for transactions and loyalty programs for merchants. Adobe has also introduced a few tools, including Adobe Social and Adobe Discover, for advertising across social networking sites and various mobile devices. These tools help marketing companies find and take advantage of behavioral patterns based on large amounts of data.

Thismoment, another fast-growing social content management provider, leverages a company’s brand, real-time capabilities and loyalty programs with their Digital Engagement Channel (DEC). Using the company’s DEC platform, brands and agencies can create, distribute and optimize branded and user-generated content across YouTube, Facebook, the iPhone, and beyond.

According to a report from Adobe Digital Index, merchants are now measuring the impact of website traffic from major social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Blogger, YouTube and Yelp. The report reveals first-click attribution models lead to more social media engagement in buying a product process, and it also accurately captured the benefits of social media’s role in the buying process.

“By ignoring the value of these earlier interactions, last-click attribution gives disproportionate credit to the marketing channels customers use late in the purchase process, potentially undervaluing the role of other channels in building awareness, engagement, and ongoing relationships between customers and brands. In contrast, first-click attribution gives social media more credit for these earlier interactions. The difference between last-click and first-click is significant and has the potential to change the way companies allocate social media budgets,” the report highlights.

Identified.com Gamifies Job Search for 4 million Young People

Facebook itself is a social network that is used mostly for leisure and fun, but it can also be used for professional matters. There are services that go further, allowing you to increase career options that you put to your Facebook profile.

Identified.com, the fastest-growing professional network for young people, found that most job seekers don’t provide all the information in their online profiles that recruiters need to know. To overcome this issue, Identified.com has gamified the job search process to make it more relatable and rewarding. The idea has helped Identified reach an estimated 4 million users.

The company released an infographic on the evolution of gaming and the power to use social networks with gamification tactics for young professionals aged 18-29. The gaming technique is helping Generation Y manage their career information online.

“Critical information that recruiters need to hire literally does not exist in one place online for young people,” said co-founder and co-CEO Brendan Wallace. “Generation Y is nearly invisible to employers so this technique is key. We constantly hear that the pain point among employers is sourcing the education and job information of the 18-29 year-old demographic, but Facebook is a great starting point.”

The Identified study found that more than 72 percent of Facebook users add new information when they come to Identified.com, layering in content that’s not already part of their Facebook profile. The gamification technique solves the problem of the invisible worker for recruiters, while encouraging and empowering millennials to be more strategic with their job and education information.

From social media networks to web based tools and smartphones, companies are approaching these newest technologies to the requirements of today’s hiring process. Employers and recruiters are leveraging web technologies and social media to find top job candidates, research them and match them with the right opportunities.