Four Ways To Make Social Pay

Brands use social media to forge customer loyalty and promote themselves. But what about revenue? Here is how you can move from conversations to commercial rewards.

Social media offers brands an increasingly viable route to forge customer loyalty and promote themselves and their products in an environment where people are buoyed by friend and peer recommendations.

In fact, the U.K. Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) expects brands to increase their social budgets by 21% this year. But simply having a presence on social media is not going to drive revenue.

In order to monetise investment in social channels, you must be able to move your social strategy from conversations to commercial rewards. So how can you ensure you are part of the s-commerce evolution?

1. How To Leverage The Buy Button

“Buy” buttons were introduced by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram last year, enabling consumers to purchase directly on the social network without leaving the platform. It’s a logical next step in the evolution of social platforms, using the network to heighten the customer experience whilst generating sales. Done well, the “buy” button creates the opportunity to make impulse purchases online and could develop into a significant revenue stream. But adoption to date has been gradual. Whilst a consumer is now using multiple devices to shop, many are yet to make a purchase from anywhere other than the retailer’s website, so there is naturally uncertainty around this. Significant uptake is going to come through using “buy” buttons appropriately.

To encourage consumers to purchase, remember the “social” aspect of social media. Using ecommerce to enhance the personality behind your brand should be top of mind. Try to understand what customers find interesting, relevant, and engaging, and respond accordingly.

2. Facebook Reactions - The Double-Edged Sword

With the launch of Facebook Reactions in February, being mindful of the customer has become even more important. The emoji-styled buttons provide another layer of emotional connection between a brand and customer, one step beyond a “like.” Whilst you will be eager to do everything in your power to encourage customers to hit the “love” button, you need to remember that this development also gives consumers the opportunity to hit the “angry” button if their expectations aren’t met or if your brand approaches social commerce in the wrong way.

Above all, being subtle and avoiding aggressive selling is key. If your target audience feels like they are being pressured to make a purchase or bombarded with sales messages, you could lose their business. They could even go so far as to compromise your brand’s online reputation by sharing their negative feelings through the Reaction buttons. As with all marketing channels, you should prioritise generating trust and loyalty over making a quick win.

3. Use Social To Target A Niche Audience

There is more than one way to drive social commerce effectively, but you must understand what will suit your audience and fit with your overall brand personality. For brands looking to engage with a more niche audience, such as designer fashion etailer Net-A-Porter, a different social approach can be the key to success. To monetise its social media presence, the brand has launched its own social media app.

By emphasising the importance of community, the fashion retailer is targeting a fashionable audience who want to be part of a “style tribe.” The rise of social media and style blogs has shown that women around the world are inspired by each other’s style and wardrobes. Social shopping app, The Net Set, lets customers upload and share fashion and style content. Image recognition technology is then used to scan uploaded content and show the user items from Net-A-Porter that are most similar to, for instance, the clothes worn by celebrities in consumer-posted images. The suggested products can then be bought through a few clicks at Net-A-Porter.

4. Email And Social Make A Powerful Combination

Whilst social media is an extremely powerful channel to engage with a consumer, email still boasts the highest conversion rate. Finding ways to curate and integrate user-generated content into emails is currently one of the more prevalent social trends.

Encouraging customers to post selfies with products or provide testimonials on social media for use in future emails will help you build the credibility of the brand. Not only will this provide an authentic testimonial to prospective customers, it will also drive brand advocacy, as most consumers will feel honoured to have their content featured by their favourite retailer. Including a social feed as secondary content in emails is another powerful way to use both channels together. For image-based sites, such as Instagram, this works particularly well.

The power of social media is immense, and the path from social media user to commerce customer is one that’s gradually being paved. By incorporating social into your marketing strategy and introducing cross-channel promotion, you can strengthen customer loyalty and drive higher engagement beyond asking for a simple “like” or “follow.” Continue to test and adapt your strategy as social platforms and consumer behaviours evolve. Strike the right balance or risk losing customers altogether.