Written By: Alana Bender
The biggest selling season of the year is underway! Retail stores and companion online shopping sites are up and running, and gunning for customers' wallets as soon as the last morsel of turkey is gobbled.
Four out of 10 shoppers prefer to shop online now for their holiday gifts, according to Shop.org’s eHoliday survey. Reasons were pretty obvious: 24-hr. convenience, free shipping and ease of price comparison all added to why shoppers prefer going online with goods.
If you're in business, and have an e-commerce transaction element to your site (or partner with one who does), it's time to think about using new marketing tools to bolster sales this holiday season. Internet research firm eMarketer estimates that online retail e-commerce holiday sales should reach nearly $55 billion in 2012. That a very healthy 16.8 percent increase over last year, and as eMarketer points out, the fourth straight year that online holiday sales will show growth in the mid-to-high teens.
Helping to drive those numbers skyward has increased use of social media sites for companies and brands. Using social media tools to grow your e-commerce channel can help stimulate interest from online customers in your products and services. Estimates show that 70 percent of adult social networkers shop online (and that number is expected to grow during the holidays) and that 53 percent of active adult social networkers follow a brand.
Clearly, social media usage is booming. So why isn't social e-commerce booming as well? For several years now, savvy marketers have used sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others to share images, product reviews, new product enhancements and brand extensions. Developing a closer relationship with fans and those who follow the brand on various sites was supposed to move the needle in social e-commerce, or social commerce, as some call it.
Internet investor Fred Wilson wrote recently at his blog about how e-commerce conversion rates can increase with a good social layer:
“When a retailer or e-commerce service implements a highly social layer into their service with hooks into the major social platforms, the conversion rates can be significant. I have seen this first hand. This is an indication that users enjoy and benefit from social commerce when it is built into a native e-commerce service."
But it hasn't always turned out this way. In fact, some social networks are more inherently designed around socializing- not buying. For instance, people go to Facebook generally to connect with friends, but not necessarily to transact or buy. And if the marketing pitches get too hot on Facebook social streams, its users may become annoyed with the marketing commercial updates.
There are exceptions, of course. If you see a forwarded update on your Facebook that touts the ease in ordering Christmas flowers for a spouse, you might be hooked to buy. But holiday ads on your feed (sponsored or not) for irrelevant household appliances, mismatched clothing or office equipment may cause you to unlike a brand (or a friend!).
Facebook started online merchant stores in 2011 for customers to buy the merchant's goods directly through Facebook. But the shopping experience wasn't that different than the retailer's own sites and the process for social customers was slowed down on Facebook. And Facebook users just simply didn't respond to the sales initiative. One analyst remarked that it was like "trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar." Thus, many Facebook stores started closing almost as quickly as they originally opened.
But the social media site continues to plug away and make its site more open to merchants and users who might want to buy things while online on Facebook. A more recent Facebook activity has been its test introduction of a 'want' button, similar to user's 'like' button but one designed to drive more commerce activity on the site. Already, Facebook accounts for 60 percent of social media driven purchases by Q2 2012.
At Twitter, many merchants, brands and companies use their Twitter feed to monitor customer support issues, like product praises, complaints and technical or informational issues. Depending on the use of Twitter, you can engage as deeply with users and customers as you'd like.
Establishing greater rapport with your core users can not only bring them closer to the brand, but can also open up dialogue about key aspects of your products and services. Often, these tidbits of wisdom shared over Twitter can become your next marketing campaign.
Not only that, but you can position your brand as a leader in your industry. For instance, if you sell repair services for appliances, use Twitter to point out ways in which your company has fixed appliances. Use Twitter hashtags with common repair terms on them so people can search for your tweets. Use a geographic designation in your tweets as well to localize your content. With enough exposure, your company will soon be seen as a prime mover in your town or city for getting refrigerators fixed.
Amazon
Amazon was an early leader in e-commerce on the Web, and today dominates digital purchases of e-commerce, electronic books and reading devices. And its customer reviews were social media between friends before social media existed. But it missed social networking and social media in recent years, and have had to play catch-up since.
In fall 2011, it hired a director of its social operations. And by summer 2012, Amazon started giving users the chance to share their purchases on social media sites. Today, you'll see share links for Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook below the 'Add to Cart' sign at Amazon. That's a huge step for the company, but nothing that other companies with social sites aren't already doing. One hopes that Amazon swiftly starts to combine its social media efforts with its e-commerce prowess.
As a business owner, finding new ways to share your e-commerce availabilities via social media can only enhance your business. With more shares, you'll find more friends of your brand and customers of your products. The world is moving toward social, and it's a ripe opportunity for your brand to start sharing a little social commerce this year.
Author Bio: After getting her Computer Science degree in NorCal, Alana's interest in writing about technology took over & she started freelancing for various blogs & publications. She loves the beach & Apple products!