The jury is still out on whether social media can drive sales, but one thing is becoming very clear, sales are happening on social media sites (e-commerce), especially on Facebook (f-commerce). Let us examine the importance of Social Integration and F-Commerce, along with the importance of Facebook friends sharing items with their friends and asking friends, before they buy something.
Facebook, now being a place where goods are sold will actually help their primary revenue strategy (advertising), as ads on their site will be closer to a potential purchase- with the focus on not just being a marketing tool, but a sales tool as well.
Facebook has given free reign to leading developers such as to develop commerce apps. This allows the full social interaction and user contributions to assist in the online buying of products and services. But why is F-Commerce so important? There are a lot of folks out there who desire a more comfortable, easy shopping experience and in a way wanted to avoid the overcrowded shopping mall. Online F-Commerce offers a friendly and attractive environment along with polite answers to the customer’s questions. More specifically, F-Commerce just got a big boost when the announcement was made that Facebook was partnering with PayPal, the world’s leading online payment option. Also, the sheer scale and weight that 500 million users can leverage is very exciting. We expect F-Commerce to continue to flourish.
Lets take a look at some great specific examples of F-Commerce. This first one is
This first one is Joseph A Bank Clothiers, a leading provider of menswear for over 105 years. As you look at the page, it integrates the social aspects (wall/discussion board) with the store. This creates the full social integration with F-commerce. People are always more apt to ask their “friends” for a recommendation on a product, versus a salesperson they have never met.
The next example of F-Commerce is Blombos Cave, a provider of hand-made jewelry. This page again integrates the social ability (wall/discussion board) with their store. Another great thing about this page is that next to the title, it says “find something beautiful, and tell us about it”. That is a huge key to F-Commerce, get the individual engaged and empowered.
One trend that I have noticed is the popularity of sharing items with your friends and asking your friends before buying anything online. As a marketer, you place significant value on positive word of mouth. However this is different and better because “in friends we trust”. Social actions and recommendations often happen on Facebook, but not advertisers prompting or bribing. User-generated discussion on walls offers the depth and detail that are traditionally not found in brochures or other media advertisements. More importantly, it is perceived by the consumer as non-biased because advertisers did not create it. It is clear to me that shopping is an inherently social experience made better with friends.
The power of the personal referral is clearly the future of F-Commerce. In “real life”, how do you get a idea for a good restaurant, a good mechanic, or generally what to buy? You ask your friends, now with F-Commerce you can ask your 500 friends where is the best place to get a deal on a designer suit or handmade jewelry. This is done through Facebook users sharing items with their friends and making product recommendations.
Unlike the real world, the advantage of the Internet is that everything can be found and organized quickly in a structured way unavailable in the offline world. But now that our offline relationships have been enriched and expanded online (primarily because of Facebook), the two worlds now have an opportunity to merge. The merging of these two worlds means that we can use our offline relationships to effortlessly get recommendations from our friends, in a seamless and structured way.
That’s the future of social commerce, and it will be here before we know it.
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