Social Commerce is a new phenomenon that has taken the e-commerce world by storm.
Unlike many technologies to emerge over the years, social commerce has had a rapid
adoption. A few years ago, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn were not common
terms in our vocabulary. Few could have predicted how pervasive the social technologies
have become not only online, but also in our daily lives.
Put simply, social commerce is the concept of word-of-mouth, applied to e-commerce.
Social commerce has taken word-of-mouth where it never really existed before, the
online shopping world.
Today’s shoppers are looking for transparency from retailers. Providing the opportunity
to share knowledge, insights, thoughts and opinions ensures that retailers are offering a
more social experience online and adds significant credibility to a website. As retailers
introduce social commerce to the online experience, it is critical be authentic and
genuine when speaking to shoppers, who are passionate about products and their brand.
The social web is here to stay, it’s no longer a young adult phenomenon. In fact, the fastest
growing demographic on Facebook is now woman between the age of 45 and 55, who also
happen to hold a big piece of a family’s purse. By personalizing the experience, retailers
can engage shoppers and transform them into brand advocates.
Social Commerce Impact on Retailers
In many cases, retailers were on the forefront of social technologies such as enhanced
conversion rates after integrating ratings and reviews into product pages. Conversion rates
are one of three primary benefits retailers can enjoy by pursuing a broader social com-
merce strategy. By making their entire retail experience social, and leveraging the unique
components of social commerce from a technical, application and strategic perspective,
retailers can turn their sites into communities, where conversations flourish around
brand, product, and lifestyle-oriented content – creating a larger, more vibrant, and
more effective online experience leading to return visits and increased sales.
As shoppers have adopted social technologies, merchants and manufacturers have
responded by providing features such as ratings and reviews and integration to T
witter
accounts, where shoppers share promotions and new products. Companies are innovating
the shopping experience with social technologies such as a Facebook store and integrated
social campaigns. Social Commerce is redefining the way brands and retailers are inter-
acting with customers.
The Key Components of Social Commerce
Social commerce can deliver several key benefits. Fist, social commerce drives new
online visitors. By deploying a social, search-optimized content on their sites, retailers
organically can increase their search engine page rank and attract site visitors through
the multitude of new access points created by this content. Custom content with product-
relevant topics, categories, and lifestyles – whether created by users or professional con-
tent creators – can drive new traffic to the site. For example, a home and garden retailer
hosting an article about “How to Build an Outdoor Deck” would attract users searching
for related terms on major search engines – in turn acquiring highly qualified new site
visitors. Retail strategists and marketers should examine content as broadening the top
of the marketing funnel – building traditional “awareness” – not through print ads or
network TV spots, but rather through today’s corollary: search. Understanding the
science of deploying SEO-friendly content is key: even the top position on the second
page of Google search results gets less than 1% clickthrough rate.
