Social Media + eCommerce = Social Commerce

Written by Bryan Radke, VP of Strategy

Social Commerce is one of the hot digital topics today. Mark Zuckerberg was quoted back in February saying, “If I had to guess, social commerce is the next area to really blow up.” We agree. You can’t deny the influence of social media, and consumers continue to become more comfortable and reliant on shopping online. Combine the two and there’s definitely something there worth exploring.

What is “social commerce” exactly? Let’s break it down.

·    Social Media: the act of people sharing content & information with other people using various online    technologies (not just Facebook and Twitter, but also forums, blogs, product ratings & reviews, etc.)

·    eCommerce: the buying and selling of goods on the Internet

Social Media + eCommerce = Social Commerce

Even simpler, social commerce is about harnessing the power of word of mouth, social media and community to accelerate consumers down a path to purchase. Consumers trust what REAL people have to say most when deciding on a purchase. Nielsen recently reported 90% of consumers trust the opinions of people they know. In contrast, only about 33% of consumers trust online banners.

Social Commerce presents marketers with the opportunity to sell MORE stuff, return a STRONGER social media ROI, and engage consumers FASTER.

The Faces of Social Commerce

Sharing -- Empowering your audience to share your brand and content is powerful marketing. Facebook Connect and ShareThis can make it turnkey.

Ratings & Reviews -- Amazon paved the road, and now solution providers like PowerReviews and BazaarVoice enable product ratings and reviews on thousands of websites globally.

Purchasing -- F-Commerce (eCommerce on Facebook) is just one example of where the opportunity to purchase is being rolled into the social conversation. 1-800 Flowers was one of the first to launch a store on Facebook.

Influencing -- Urban Daddy and Thrillist use daily emails to influence the brands, products and events people need to care about, and then provide a clear path to get there.

Self Expression -- Interactive fashion website Polyvore enables users to create fashion collages from any online store and then share with friends or the masses.

 Some principles to developing a social commerce strategy:

·       People trust other people more than they trust you. Connect brand lovers with potential brand buyers and you’re on your way.

·       Exclusivity increases desirability. Offer some products exclusively through your social channels for a limited time.

·       Popularity is still important beyond high school. People gravitate to what the crowd loves, and enabling consumers to “vote” via product rating & review functionality is a great way to leverage social power.

·       Make your content sharable and AWESOME. Make as much of your content as possible consumer “sharable” to social networks. Use plug-ins like Facebook Connect and ShareThis to facilitate. Of course also make sure that content is AWESOME so consumers actually want to share it.


Where to start? Get in the game. Don’t be afraid to try, fail, and figure out what works for your business and your consumers.