The Influence of Social Media on Ecommerce Selling

Placing advertisement is a traditional method adopted most of the organization to promote marketing and sales. But this medium is not so effective and it is limited to some extent. Breaking all the issues, the social media has emerged as an ultimate place for the companies to promote their products and services. Social media opens the communication line between the business and the customers.

Shoppers prefer the internet for various purpose such as convenience, price, selection range etc. The social media plays a vital role in ecommerce buying. People get influenced when peers recommend the product or service. It also establishes brand name which is promoted easily by the social media.

People are engaged with social media promotions and spend 10x more than regular medium. 71% of Consumers are likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals. 53% of consumers use twitter to recommend products/service, among them 48% bought the product/service. Social media is a key influencer on promoting sales on ecommerce platform.

Facebook is a key player that helps to sell products online. It allows the customers to share their opinion on product as well as place likes which acts like a poll for the product. According to a report, 62% of online shoppers have read product-related comments from Facebook, 75% percent have clicked to view the product link on retailer's site, and 53% of people have clicked further to buy the product. Around 64% of Twitter users follow brands to receive exclusive product promotion and discounts.

The social share of website traffic for Q1 2013 counts to 55.18% for Facebook, 24.96% for Pinterest, 10.65% for StumbleUpon, 9.06% for Twitter, and 0.14% for LinkedIn. Facebook aims towards contextualizing and personalizing content anything from ads to email marketing such that it keeps the visitors engaged. Social selling or sale through social networks are the most considered part of new sales model. Also, the success of the newly built E-commerce software is determined by participation and integration with social media which can bring in more traffic to the software.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google are the top 3 social media sites used by marketers. 93% of marketers use social media for business. 70% of brands have a presence on Google plus. 70% of marketers have used Facebook to successfully gain new customers. 34% of marketers have  used Twitter to successfully generate leads. Flickr, Tumblr, and StumbleUpon are the least popular sites used by marketers.

Mobile devices plays a great role in ecommerce sales since 60% of the population access social media content using them. Some of the tips to generate leads effectively through social media are discussed below.

Create a blog
Blog posting with unique contents can attract formidable number of customers to your site. The options to share email or fill in forms can be useful to collect the information from the customers. Blogs with reader-value can definitely bring in good traffic for your linked (ecommerce) site leading to sales.

Twitter cards
In 140 characters, a tweet about your business or twitter card is most likely affordable for attracting the customers to the ecommerce site. Twitter cards increase conversion rate on the site capturing in-app form fills from followers. It acts like a landing page on your tweet.

Facebook posts
The ecommerce site is closely networked with Facebook. The user can share the products on Facebook which when liked or shared increase the popularity in the social media which leads to increased sales. It is a viral effect. Ads can also be posted on the Facebook.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the best ways to attract leads since it acts like a meeting point for customers, investors, business partners, sponsors, affiliates, etc. A complete profile which is impressive is sure to bring in more customers. The secret of success is networking with people. The conversation on Linkedin can be converted to potential lead builder for business.

Slideshare
Visual elements always get the attraction of the customers. With 60 million visits per month, slideshare provide the visual element for your posts to attract more audience who may turn up as customers. Contact forms can be inserted within the presentation documents and video.

Lead generation is the main criteria or focus of any ecommerce business. Social media is an identified or proven method to bring in more traffic to the site which influence the sales.