Social Commerce: Mouth to Mouth Advertising at Its Best

The key to successfully implementing the social commerce layer into a marketing strategy is getting customers to share their experience of using a product, or service with their friends. Thanks to the myriad social networks out there today, the term friends has taken on a much broader meaning. It now includes virtual strangers, who are nonetheless very much connected through, for example, the Facebook, or Twitter newsfeeds. And mouth-to-mouth advertising has always been more effective than any other form of advertising.

People love to share information about their purchases and resulting experiences, they will do so regardless of the threat to their online privacy and safety. However, as LinkedIn founder Ryan Hoffman warns, not all products will benefit from social commerce in the same way. Music, movies and books will naturally benefit, while more commonplace items, such as toasters, might not.

Quantifiable Marketing Results

Another very important benefit of social commerce is that, for the first time, the results of advertising campaigns can actually be accurately quantified and analyzed. For example, the ticket selling site Eventbrite.com knows that every time a Facebook user shares an event with their network of friends, using the “Like” button, the site gets 11 visits, which generates $2.52 in sales. In comparison, sharing on LinkedIn and Twitter brings in $0.90 and $0.43 respectively. Needless to say, this type of information is invaluable to companies and businesses in any sector, as it allows for the exact assessment of the return on advertising.

While social commerce is still in the early stages, it is expected to explode in the near future. This will be aided primarily by companies enhancing their online presence, as well as studies into the psychology behind social commerce.

Staff Blogger, the Technology Gurus, Inc.