Ecommerce: how to use properly social media

What is exactly Social Commerce ? 

For many people, social commerce is just another online shop on Facebook or using social media to assist the purchase or sale of products.
Nevertheless, it goes much further than that: Social Commerce is mostly a new online retail model or marketing strategy integrating social networks or a peer-to-peer communication to drive sales.

We can see 4 different types of Social Commerce: 

1. Sales peer-to-peer platforms : such as Ebay or Amazon where people communicate and sell directly to other persons
2. Social networks stimulating sales: such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest where sales are driven by social networks (eg by a ‘shop’ button.). 
3. Groups of buyers: such as Groupon or LivingSocial where products and services are offered at low prices if enough buyers accept to purchase.
4. Product recommendations: like Amazon or Yelp where products are recommended based on the purchase historic of other people and rewards those who share their experience and purchased products on social networks.

But Social Commerce offers more possibilities in terms of integration on commercial sites, community and editorial strategies, than simply be resumed to the opening of a catalog on Facebook, for instance.

Indeed, various tools are at the origin of a good social commerce. We actually should not stop at the purchasing act itself but see the whole package, the trading experience, the individual’s behavior,the conversational approaches … etc.

Here are 5 keys to a successful social commerce:

1. Visibility: make its product or service visible on social networks by means such as tweets or sponsored Facebook posts . This is an effective way to make visible in a direct and targeted way potentia commercial offers .
2. Amplification and virality: share his purchase with his entourage. Social networks are the today’s best tools for word-of-mouth. Talking about his purchase to make other people aware of the purchased product or service .
3. Reinsurance: chatting with the customer before the purchasing act, highlighting some customers’ testimonials, integrated forums on the website, … are many approaches that aim to reassure a prospect into decision-making phase.
4. Customization: thanks to the Facebook Open Graph, companies can filter highlighting offers and content on their own site and better target individuals. We go from a commercial portal products logic  to a more targeted marketing logic. 
5. Customer reviews: positive opinions of customers and influencers are triggers of purchase. With social networks, these posts are no longer just published on the commercial site, but also on Facebook, Twitter or blogs. They can be identified through specialized providers, then again broadcasted on the commercial site.

Dialogfeed offers tools for social ecommerce

Dialogfeed can help you implement your strategy for social commerce through its social wall, able to deliver social stream, whether corporate or external:

Highlight your key products, gather all your social feeds (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc …) into a social wall customized to your image. Amplification and virality will be also part of it.
Republish positive opinions from RSS influencers talking about your products and your brand on the social wall . This way, you will inhale your following community via the view of opinion leaders.