eCommerce Blog

What do you get when you throw a bunch of people in a room together with nothing more than their thoughts and a few hours to kill? One thing you can count on—once they’ve gotten past polite small talk—is animated, revealing conversation about whatever happens to be on their minds. As a general rule, people love sharing their opinions and gauging the reactions of others.

The same concept holds true in the world of cyberspace. With the proliferation of social networking sites, people need not be in the same room—heck, not even in the same country—to share their viewpoints. Most everyone is scrambling to make their mark in the online medium, and interactive forums and blog postings make it virtually effortless to get their thoughts and experiences on the record.

So how does all of this impact eCommerce? More than you might expect. Social networking has become a largely untapped resource for the marketing of online products and services. Remember word of mouth, perhaps the oldest and most effective method of advertising? It’s still alive and kicking, with a twist—instead of Aunt Sue telling her neighbor about the incredible deal on that sweater she got at the department store, she’s blogging to thousands about the steal she found on Amazon’s site.

What Exactly is a Social Network?

According to Wikipedia, it’s defined as “focusing on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others.” Some examples of today’s most popular social networking websites are MySpace.com, Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com, Dogpile.com, Meetup.com, and Stumbleupon.com, but these are just the tip of the Internet-wide iceberg that encompasses community forums, user-submitted product reviews, blog postings, bookmark “tagging,” and social shopping sites. In these meeting places, interaction is the name of the game. Members chat, email, and blog about everything from potty-training tactics to online dating services. And within every question, answer, gripe, and tribute lies a potential consumer—your potential consumer.

Effective Social Networking Tactics

Once you’ve identified a forum or group with direct or indirect interest in the product or service you provide, do what you can to become one of them. Post answers to questions and become an active member of the online community. Over time, you’ll accumulate insider information about their shopping behaviors, their likes and dislikes, and what makes them more or less apt to buy.

After you’ve gained a sense of trust and authority in the community, you can begin subtly mentioning your product or service as a helpful solution to the members’ problems, needs, or desires. This isn’t the place for persuasive selling—the second someone suspects your motivations are self-serving, you’ll lose all credibility. The key is to create just enough buzz to get the other folks talking about your offerings, and then sit back and let the site do the work for you.

When launching a new product or re-design, online forums can be a great source of feedback from current and prospective customers. Another strategy is to market special promotions and product updates to selected members on social networking sites. Having a grasp on their shopping proclivities gives you an inherent advantage in presenting wares that cater to their wants and needs.

Why it’s Not Perfect

Due to the sheer volume of users logged onto social networking venues, a passing mention of your website can drive a surge of high traffic right away, but you may find that a majority of these visitors aren’t qualified buyers. Even so, it’s never a bad thing to generate publicity for your online store—if 500 people view a particular product page, and half of them tell someone else about it, you could enjoy a tidy boost in revenue, even if it is rather indirect and delayed.

Another downside is that maintaining a presence in social networks can be time-consuming. Posting regular blog submissions and remaining active in forum threads can easily become a full-time job. Plus, it takes a great deal of foresight and creativity to make your post stand out among the hundreds of other entries. To make social networking really work for your business, you need to have a dedicated resource who can churn out the necessary content.

Spam is another risk when participating in social networking sites. The more “friends” you acquire, the greater the chance that those new connections will start pestering you with spam emails and postings. To prevent this, take the time to screen your online buddies carefully to make sure they’re legitimate.

The Last Word

Although it may have its drawbacks, social networking presents a unique and cost-effective method of online marketing. The Internet fosters relationships between like-minded folks across the globe, creating a prime market for web-based businesses seeking qualified leads. The price is right–besides your time and energy, it won’t cost you a dime, and your new “friends” could end up converting into customers.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 8:44 am and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.