Today it seems like everyone is on social media – not just individuals but enterprises large and small. Why? Because social media links you directly to customers, allowing you to provide and receive direct feedback about products, services and customer relationships.
Of increasing importance is the fact that social media can also directly aid in increasing traffic to and sales from your online store. With the dramatic rise in the number of people using social media – and of the increasing use of internet-connected smartphones – people are connecting in more ways online than ever before.
Shopping with friends
Social sharing is playing a major part in the purchase behaviour of customers in 2015. A study by Sociable Labs declared that 62 per cent of all online shoppers have read product-related comments from friends on Facebook; 75 per cent of these shoppers clicked through to visit the retailers’ site and an impressive 53 per cent actually purchased the suggested product.
Customers today are more confident when a product is endorsed by someone they know. This is nothing new; word-of-mouth has always been the most effective way of driving sales. It’s just that we have different platforms on which to share information.
We also have better data. The Sociable Lab study stated that 57 per cent of shoppers are more likely to actually purchase something after receiving positive brand acknowledgement from a social network friend.
Tools and tricks
In order to take advantage of this growing trend, companies need to make sure that their content and products are easily shared on social networking sites. In practise, this means making sure that social sharing buttons are prominently displayed, pictures are formatted in a way that makes them easy to “Pin”, and clear calls to action are used.
Live online chat is also on the increase, with a survey from eMarketer finding that 20 per cent of shoppers prefer to use live chat as their main communication method when contacting retailers.
Live chat is an immediate way to fix errors with checkouts and promotional codes, which can help lower cart abandonment rates. Customers want things fixed instantly; they’re not interested in taking time to make a phone call or send an email.
Selling smarter
Smartphones place your online business directly in the palm/pocket/lap/handbag of your customer at all hours of the day – making social marketing instantly accessible. According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Placecast, 20 per cent of the U.S. population made a purchase from their mobile phone last year – that’s over 39 million people.
