With Social Sites Groupon and Facebook growing rapidly overnight, it was only a matter of time before social commerce was tipped to be one of 2011’s highest online growth areas.
As shown by Forbes, 41% of Facebook fans are more likely to recommend a brand to their fellow online community. Social Commerce is only as confusing as you make it; the best place to start is by implementing a strategy that will work effectively for your company. To help you with connecting your brand to social commerce, I will give you ten tips on embracing and facing the social world of commerce.
1. Check & Re-Check your Analytics
When dealing with analytics, you need to measure your social web traffic to help identify your goals and work towards future results. If you find that your social networking traffic is not converting effectively, you need to identify the problem quickly.
It is so important that you check and re-check your analytics because even the most thorough professional may fail to identify an issue.
2. How social are your Customers?
To find out how social your target audience is, try setting up a Facebook and/or Twitter account to promote your brand. You may not receive the response you initially wanted but, social sites are not for everyone so give it some time before you re-think your strategy.
3. Using Facebook to promote your Brand
As mentioned previously, Facebook is not for everyone but it doesn’t hurt your brand to have an account regardless; it’s free publicity!
The best thing about using Facebook for your brand is the amazing opportunity it gives you to market your product. If you use analytics (point one) to measure success then you know exactly where you stand with your brand and its connection with social commerce.
4. Make your Website User Friendly
By this I mean adding Social Media links to your website e.g. Adding ‘like’ or ‘tweet this’. This encourages your users to get involved and promote your brand by sharing content with their fellow social networking friends.
5. Use a Facebook Shopping App
As most people now have a Facebook account, take tour brand to where they feel most comfortable and offer them an opportunity that they cannot refuse. Using the ‘Shop Tab App’ is an easy place to start when building your Facebook shop. (Although this is limited in regards to its use, you can upgrade to a better platform whenever you feel like it)
6. Investigate Customised Solutions
If you feel you are ready to transform your Facebook into a fully functional ecommerce platform then there are various routes you can take.
The American firm ‘1-800-Flowers’ offers a flash based site which is pulled in through an iframe because it is hosted on a different server. This is the very first company to trial f-commerce and has proved successful in doing so. If you want detail then ‘1-800-Flowers’ is for you!
7. Do more than just sell
There are only so many sales you can make without engaging with your target audience. They need to feel part of your brand and that they are contributing to the social shopping experience. The companies that have proved most successful are those who are part of the social web.
8. Create content that you can give away
By this I mean simply making sure you content can be received by RSS. Introducing this will show your target audience that you have produced content that gives them something they can value. Give your customers something to read without having to answer pages of questions. Don’t lose their interest on an error that can easily be resolved.
9. Be Responsive
Sometimes a re-tweet or responding to a comment is not enough. Have a look at what that person may have to offer YOU. Take a look at their website/blog as it may help you further your knowledge in commerce.
10. Create ONE message
The important thing about Social Media is that you have one direct message that you want your peers to see. Yes, you can show other interests but make sure it is part of your overall message; whether that is as a person, or representing a company.
Remember, on average a fan is worth $136.38 to a brand and spends on average $71.84 per year. It’s the perfect time to embrace the world of social commerce; it has the ability to increase brand awareness and much, much more. Thanks for for the gentle nudge that helped write this article from the guys at econsultancy.
Are you ready to Embrace Social Commerce?