Leveraging Social Networking Sites to boost Ecommerce online traffic
Forrester research firm a leading research firm on online trends, conducted a survey on online trends and found that companies that are growing faster than expected are more likely to embrace social media. The study also showed that even companies planning to make a cut on their online business will be less likely to cut their spending on social media usage. More and more companies are embracing social media networking as their marketing strategy to boost their e-Commerce sales.
What is it that is making companies focus from their traditional online approach and embrace the social media networking? The answer is simple. Be it Christmas sales or Thanks giving sales, bargain hunters are always on the lookout for good deals on the internet. Social networking sites provide a one stop reference guide to these people with similar interests. Consumers are also using the social media to express their product or online opinion/experience positive as well as negative on this platform. And all this happens at a much higher rate than that would have been achieved using the conventional word of mouth publicity.
Effective Social media networking usage allows your company to get in touch with your customers, share their ideas and be in tune with their latest needs to achieve a superior competitive advantage. This tool can be effectively used to increase Ecommerce store traffic as well as to create awareness about your products/company ultimately leading to a boost in your Ecommerce sales. Good ecommerce deals can rapidly reach target customers frequenting these sites. Also with budget cuts on marketing expenses in these tough economic times, this is a perfect medium for Ecommerce stores with to publicize their offerings at a very low cost.
Simple Steps to Leverage Social Media.
1. Define the Objective
2. Pick the Right Mix
3. Content Management
4. Message Delivery and Follow up
1. Objective Definition
Objectives will always differ from company to company. However a general guideline can be achieved by brainstorming the following questions within your team.
· What communication do you want to propagate to your customers?
· Do you want to announce a new sale coming up on your Ecommerce website?
· Do you want to emphasize on your customer service?
· Do you want to publicize a new promotion scheme on the web?
· Do you want to emphasize on your corporate/environmental/social responsibility?
While outlining your goals, take care that the intended audience also benefits from the communication message.
2. Picking the right mix
The right assortment of these sites is the key. Although social networking sites usage by customers will differ for every ecommerce business model, it is always recommended that your top Social Media set should comprise of at least one of these popular social networking sites www.youtube.com , www.flickr.com, www.twitter.com.
The right mix needs to be decided depending on the customer set you are targeting and your business objective. Feature explanation of these sites given below.
You can upload your product information or demonstration videos on “YouTube” and embed the video on Ecommerce website. This feature helps your potential customers on Ecommerce as well as networking sites access your well compiled images/videos on YouTube and get benefitted. Some simple steps given below:
i. Post your videos on YouTube.
ii. Add a YouTube building block to the website. Point that building block at the client YouTube account.
iii. Add new videos to YouTube and simply change the setting in your YouTube building block to see that video on you site.
Check out this page of a client example using Ignify Ecommerce to show how easily you can embed YouTube videos on your eStore and increase stickiness. http://www.umarexusa.com/pages/100_shot_maintenanceMov.aspx
Flickr is an online photo management and sharing application. You can upload your product photos to Flicker. Add this website block on your website and provide existing Ecommerce users with a unique visual appeal. And you get all this without worrying about your Ecommerce web server space. The steps are really simple to implement:
i. Post your images and videos on Flickr and YouTube.
ii. Add Flickr building block to the website. Point that building block at the client Flickr account.
iii. Add new images to Flickr and see them appear instantly on the website.
Twitter allows you to micro-blog and list all the activities in short texts. This tool can be effectively used to announce the commencement of a new product or company news. Providing a link to the product details page helps in increasing site traffic and boosting sale for that product.
3. Content Management
We recommend using new products or products with promotions applied to generate maximum customer interest. You can also include discount codes on Twitter and link them to your website. Last but not the least; link your existing Ecommerce users to your social media by providing a link on the home page of your site itself.
4. Message Delivery and Follow up
Although above benefits look simple, social networking usage requires a lot of personal attention from the management of Ecommerce stores. Take for example your customer shows interest in your promotional campaign on a networking site and there is nobody to respond to it or the page link does not open on the Ecommerce website. Incidents like these can create negative impact on your potential clients and customers can quickly lose interest. To avoid this pitfall, you may have to organize a resource who can dedicate some time to answer and guide your customer. You can make customers delighted by showing your genuine concern towards their tweets. This can require a dedicated knowledgeable person who can reply to tweets as well as ensure that customer responses are taken up internally within the team.
That’s all there is to it! While not every ecommerce store uses social media interface, those that do it well will reap the rewards in the longer run with higher customer loyalty, lower marketing costs and the benefits of the word of mouth.
This post is written by Himaunshu Rajadhyaksha. Himaunshu is an Account Manager in the eCommerce Practice at Ignify. Ignify eCommerce is the only PCI compliant solution that integrates with mid-market ERPs. Ignify eCommerce offers out of the box integration with Microsoft Dynamics ERP (including Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics SL) and Sage ERP (including Sage MAS 90, Sage MAS 200 and Sage MAS 500) Ignify is a Global Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner specializing in ecommerce for Retail, Distribution, and Manufacturing businesses. Ignify has been included as the fastest growing business in North America for 3 years in a row by Deloitte, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine.
