Over the past few years, major retailers have capitalized on
the popularity of social media to increase brand awareness. Inevitably,
these retailers began to also treat their social media pages as direct sales
channels in what has become known as social selling.
Of course, the major players of retail have the resources to
devote entire infantries to managing the multitude of social networks now
available, but small to mid-sized retailers can match the success of their
larger counterparts with some simple best practices, even if they lack the
labor force to forge a Twitter Team.
The evolution of social media as a sales channel has become
the norm, and retailers need to stay in front of their customers by
continuously engaging at their level. Social media efforts will not only
build brand awareness, but will facilitate that sense of community and engage
shoppers, resulting with higher retention and increased sales, which is the
ultimate goal.
Direct Sales
By 2015, about half of all web transactions will occur
through social media, which translates to an estimated $30 billion in sales,
according to projections by the marketing firm Vocus. Yet, the same
analysis says that of the 40 million business-related fan pages on Facebook,
only 17% have the capacity to sell directly through this popular social media
channel.
For smaller retailers, having to manually update Facebook on
a regular basis let alone multiple social media accounts can take hours and
thus discourage them from ever delving into the social selling realm. But
many of today’s retail management systems and ecommerce platforms
now include integrations to major social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter
and Pinterest, making it possible for small to mid-sized retailers to upload
product images, descriptions and relevant links to multiple social media
channels with just a few mouse clicks. Selling directly through social
media may not surpass the volumes sold through more traditional channels such
as a brick and mortar stores or E-Commerce sites, but it can certainly
influence purchasing decisions in those other venues through a process called
channel-hopping.
Indirect Sales
A social sale will not always end on Facebook or Twitter,
but a sale can frequently start there. A link to a product on a social
media site will often plant a seed in the mind of the consumer. From
there, they may turn to an E-Commerce site to conduct more research and
ultimately finalize the purchase in a brick and mortar location. In such
a scenario, when the consumer “hops” from channel to channel before finalizing
the purchase, does any single channel deserve full credit for the sale? A
recent study of cross-channel shopping habits revealed that consumers will
complete about 60% of the traditional sales process before reaching out to a
sales representative, no matter what the price point. In other words,
customers are often shopping without the retailer being aware of it. Much
of that shopping takes place right on a retailer’s social media page.
Social SEO
Social media links now factor into the algorithm used by
Google to rank its organic search results, according to an article published by
Entrepreneur. Sharing links on highly ranked social media sites, such as
Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, can actually help boost the search rating of
an individual E-Commerce site. Retailers that publish relevant blogs on
their E-Commerce sites have a considerable advantage when it comes to
SEO. By blogging and adding fresh content regularly, retailers can
exponentially increase the number of indexed pages that are “crawled” by the
major search engines.
Extend the CRM
Savvy retailers not only use their social media pages as
sales funnels, but also as tools to manage customer relationships. In
that way, social media channels also serve as valuable extensions to CRM
functions. Through social networks, retailers can post news about
upcoming discounts, sales events and other promotions, but also provide direct
customer service. While the major retailers can afford to dedicate teams
of employees to field these inquiries, smaller retailers can utilize something
as simple as an email notification to manage communications through social
networks.
Speak, but Also Listen
Much of social media focuses on talking, but rarely stresses
the value of listening. A retailer’s social user base can often provide
valuable insights into emerging trends, since they will likely represent part
of their market. A survey conducted by Deloitte revealed that 65% of
executives who responded use social media to understand shifts in their market.
For read original
article source: http://multichannelmerchant.com/marketing/social-media-evolved-sales-channel-21072014/
0 comments:
Post a Comment