How To Leverage Social Media For eCommerce

Savvy business owners these days are using social media for business to attract new customers and communicate with existing ones. Integrating social media in your marketing plan is a wise strategy and something that you can not afford to ignore. The bottom line is that if you aren't actively engaging your target market through social media, your competition is!

Recent Trends

Recent trends show us that both B2C and B2B's are using social media for eCommerce. Facebook, for example is huge and is expected to continue growing. In a recent study, more than 89% of small business owners are using Facebook and 68% of them say that Facebook is the social media tool they use the most. In addition, 77.5% say they will spend even more on social media in 2011.

According to the study, these are the top reasons that small businesses are choosing social media:

• 40.8% - attract new customers
• 27.6% - use social media to promote their brand
• 15.7% - communicate company news via social sites
• 11.3% - stay in touch with existing customers

Some businesses are actually using Twitter to respond to complaints that their customers have tweeted. Dell increased sales by more than 1 million in 2009 doing just that. When a customer is contacted in real time it shows that the business cares and will make the effort to effectively communicate and correct any issues or problems.

Because the internet is an integral part of our lives, we have become accustomed to instant or quick responses to our problems. Businesses that respond in real time to their customers will surely grow customer loyalty. To stay competitive in today’s market means being flexible and utilizing social media in customer relations.


What Social Media Can Do For Your eCommerce Business

Many companies are reporting impressive results from their use of social marketing. One thing it can do for your business is save money from other expensive advertising campaigns. Of course any marketing plan needs to be diversified in its strategies.

What used to be word-of-mouth advertising has been replaced by the internet’s social connections between users. Reaching out to people in this way can show that your business is keeping up with the times and that can raise consumer opinion.

Another plus is keeping existing customers by responding quickly to their concerns and complaints. Some companies are wary because there will be good and bad comments but consumers will judge a company on how well they respond and whether or not they seem concerned about keeping their customers satisfied.

Any business that wants to compete at the highest levels needs to learn how to leverage social media for eCommerce. Simply putting a Facebook Like button on your site can help syndicate your content to hundreds of potential customers. Sending occasional Tweets can also expose your products and services to many people instantly. This will add a viral aspect to your marketing and will help increase exposure and inevitably sales.


Are you ready to jump into social media but are a little hesitant? 3DCart can help you by offering instant updates of your Twitter and Facebook accounts as part of their eCommerce software. Click HERE to learn more and sign up for a free trial.