Secrets For Turning Social Media Into Sales

Retailers continue to embrace social media as a vehicle to connect with consumers, increase sales and showcase products. In a study conducted by Booz & Company in 2011, the firm anticipated the social commerce market to grow six-fold to $30 billion worldwide by 2015, with $14 billion coming from the U.S. alone.

 During a recent webinar, titled: “Social Commerce: Secrets For Turning Social Media Into Social Sales,” presenters Paul Marsden, a consumer psychologist and market researcher, and Paul Chaney, Internet marketing consultant, offered best practices for retail investments in social commerce. The webcast was presented by Awareness, a social media software provider.

Marsden and Chaney also shared six secrets to successful social commerce. The points were gleaned from their latest book, “The Social Commerce Handbook: 20 Secrets For Turning Social Media Into Social Sales.” The top six secrets are:

1) Help consumers solve problems together through social intelligence;
2) Help consumers resolve the need for “social status” with early access to new products;
3) Solve consumers’ need for peer bonding with social gifts and gifting;
4) Tie the “discover” component of social commerce to the“ buying” aspect of social media;
5) Lead with purpose, not a pitch. Be purpose driven; and
6) Provide an online marketplace where buyers and sellers come together to exchange goods and services.

“The simplest way to define social commerce is ‘helping people share where they shop and shop where they share,’” said Marsden. “It’s about adding a social layer to help consumers shop smarter when they are on an e-Commerce site or using e-Commerce applications.”

The top three reasons retailer should invest in social commerce, according to Marsden, are because it is:
1) What your customers want;
2) What you need (ROI); and
3) Good customer economics.

“Smart businesses are using social commerce to deliver ‘social utility,’ which helps consumers solve their pain points by allowing them to come together and use their collective customer social score to get a better deal or information,” noted Marsden. “More so, it is about helping people unravel the core of their social problems: peer status and bonding.”

Rather than coming out of the gate with a sales message, added Chaney, retailers must determine an authentic purpose that is consistent with their brands, contributes to the greater good and promotes the well-being of others. “It’s a clearly stated, compelling and unique value proposition communicated across social channels,” he said, “that will set your brand apart from other companies’.”