The days of sharing experiences, both good and bad, are long gone. Today, people just go online and check reviews of any product or service that they are desirous of purchasing.
Similarly, people check out hotel reviews before booking into one. The same applies when you are planning to visit a new place. Suffice to say, digital media has the supreme power to make or mar business reputations. Hence, the evolution of social media in e-commerce can no longer be denied.
Business On Social Media Platforms
Business always follows where there is a concentration of people. Earlier these places of concentration used to be places, towns, and cities but now it is the Social Media platforms. People spend so much of their time on these platforms that the businesses were forced to take proactive steps to reach out to them.They had to change their tactics to encompass this evolving and dynamic market. Today, the social media and e-commerce relationship has become quite strong. So much so that it is can be defined at the most mutually beneficial association.
Importance Of Social Media For Business
Social media started out as a channel to connect with people that you like and wish to remain in touch with. Today, it has become a place where businesses reach out to new customers, provide efficient customer service, market their new and old products etc. It can rightly be said that companies look at social media as a channel that can help them increase sales. As a result, marketing budgets have increased strategies changed.
Impact Of Social Media On E-commerce
It’s now time to understand how social media is bringing about a change in the business world. Let us study this impact through the following key points:
- Online Presence For Business Mandatory – For any business or brand to prosper it is necessary that they have a strong online presence. Having a dedicated website is not enough. You need to cultivate your brand presence on all social media platforms so that you become a force to reckon with.
The idea is to ensure that you are always in the eye of prospective customers. This way when a demand arises in which your brand is an expert, your business will automatically become a preferred choice. A strong online presence, therefore, serves the dual purpose of increasing your goodwill and also increases sales.
- Strong Customers Guiding Businesses – Customers are the main guiding force behind every business. They guide the future of new products and services. Feedback and customer service plays a very important role in deciding the features of any appliance.
Similarly, many times packaging changes because the customers wanted something new and more appealing. The point to be noted here is that things changed because the customers wanted them to and not because it was a whim of the brand.
So, social media provides a large customer base to e-commerce but at the same time, it also empowers these very customers so that they are impossible to ignore.
- Impulsive Buying Increasing Sales – most of the customers want instant gratification. Things are so easy to buy that not much thought goes into purchasing anything. Moreover, the customer does not have to go to a storefront to pick up whatever they have purchased. It gets delivered to the doorstep.
With so much convenience available just a click away it becomes a responsibility of the brand to ensure that they have easy loading and appealing websites.You can use private messaging service also. Additionally, apps too should be mobile compatible, easy to load, error-free and provide a rich experience.
It has been noticed that those sites that are not user-friendly and take a longer time to load have a higher bounce rate. Having a high bounce rate is not good for any company and has a negative impact on sales. Social media can be used to propagate in-app purchases and advertise your user-friendly website.
- Boost SEO Ranking – Comments and advertisements on social media websites are very often liked, shared and further commented upon. These acts help build the brand image.
If there are good things being said about you on social media and your e-commerce site is being shared more often than your competitors then it increases your SEO ranking. A high SEO ranking will automatically drive more traffic and leads to your e-commerce site.
- Social Media Page For Business – A dedicated business website is not sufficient anymore. Prospects do not know about your brand so first you have to create awareness. The best way to do so is by going directly to the people who are on social media.
People who frequent social networking sites want to see if your brand is up to any good and whether you have any products or services that interest them. All this and much more information is made available for leads that visit your company’s social media page. A well designed and attractive page will serve as a platform that provides honest product reviews and at the same time also generates interest in other things that are being sold on your e-commerce site.
Similarly, these pages give you a chance in proactively solving customer end issues and answering their queries promptly. Frankly speaking, social media pages allow a brand or a business to improve their goodwill.
- Measurable Results – If results are not measurable then it is not possible to know whether your social media marketing strategies are working in the favor of your company or not. Almost every social networking sites come equipped with features that allow you to not only measure but also see these results.
This feature permits the company to do a comparative study of all social media platforms that are being used for marketing and advertising. It becomes easy to identify those platforms where strategies needs a little tweaking and also those that are sheer money pits.
Future Of Social Media In E-commerce
Social media and e-commerce are intricately enmeshed in our daily lives. This interdependence is going to increase tenfold in the future. AI bots will be used to instantly answer customer queries. In-app payment integration will become fully evolved. Not only that but customer grievances will also be handled immediately. In all everything will be aimed towards instantly satisfying the customer so that they buy the product or service immediately with no further delays.
Proud father, husband, and corgi-owner. I’ve been working in SEO Industry for more than ten years. I love finding new trends that affect technologies that impact the world of telecommunications and web. Product Manager at Seomator. You can find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.