So not so long ago we were told the new inbox would shift to social media, and it did as sites such as Facebook, quickly became one of the most visited sites. We were then told that the news would soon start to find us, and again it did. I remember finding out the news of Michael Jackson’s death via Twitter!). So whats next? Which trends or areas can we expect will see growth over the comings months/year?
We’ll I’ll stick my next out and say that one of the areas I’m tipping to see exponential growth next is Social Commerce.
We’ll no longer have to search for products and services, they’ll soon start to find us! We know ‘word of mouth’ is one of the most powerful tools in a marketers armoury, and the technology is now in place for customers to see what their friends, colleagues and wider networks have purchased, found relevant, liked or commented on.
Imaging looking to book that summer holiday but noticing in your social network, news feed or status update, that one of your friends have booked a holiday to destination ‘A’ and another five of your friends and colleagues with similar imterests have liked or left positive comments about their choice. Imagine then being able to book the same holiday or similar through the same companywithout having to leave the site you are on! This could apply to any type of product or service. It would be fully trasactional, secure, searchable, marketable and be conveniently integrated in to the sites you visit most – your social network.
The trust you have in your network would be so much more powerful, than anything we have seen before such as blind reviews or testimonials, and the benefits this would bring for customers would include peace of mind, saved time, energy, fustration and money.
Now granted we have seen some steps in to this area with success stories such as Dells ‘Outlet’ store on Twitter, but I’m envisaging a much wider adoption which will be fully transactional with increased viral awareness across social networks – think referral programmes on steriods!
So what form do I think this will take? Well, the most ovious place and the social network most geared up to this currently, would be Facebook. Perhaps this will be in the form of custom tabs or canvases on a companies page and feature a secure shopping cart and checkout process.
Does this mean I’m predicting the end of the standalone e-commerce site? Of course not. Well, not in the short term anyway, there are numerous benefits for having multiple online precence across the web but this is another example of how companies should now be thinking, engaging with and leveraging the power of the customer, providing them with a choice of how to interact with your brand.
For those wanting to know more about how the best to implement social-commerce in to your social media presences, feel free to get in touch.
