Increase Social Media Effectiveness
40% of customers have made an online or in-store purchase after an interaction with the product on social networks. Each social share is worth an average of $2.04!
Almost all ecommerce companies have social media accounts. However, not every online store optimizes the utilization of social media to drive key business goals. A key opportunity we often see ecommerce websites fail to take advantage of are product level social sharing buttons. The advantages of this are threefold: brand awareness (your ecommerce store), product awareness, and consumer to brand engagement. These benefits can translate directly into increases in overall traffic to your online store, increased revenue from online shopping cart checkout conversions, deeper market penetration and more.
The Social Science of Sharing
There is a lot more to social sharing buttons than simply slapping a few 'Like' buttons on a product page. The size and color of the button, the language of the button ('Like,' 'Share,' or a custom phrase?), the placement on the page, and more. Here are some tips and best practices for social sharing buttons:
Always A/B Test- The only way to know for certain which social sharing strategy is optimal is to constantly test all variables associated with social sharing buttons. You'll have to correlate
social media metrics, explained here, with your overall
online ecommerce website metrics.
'Like' rather than 'Share'- Simplify the process of sharing for your consumers. 'Liking' a button is much easier and much less intrusive than a 'Share' as it doesn't require the user to post on their wall. A great strategy to capitalize on both 'Like' and 'Share' is to have the sharing module pop up after the user has clicked the 'Like' button.
Know Your Social Audience- Different networks cater to different populations. Retailers find that Pinterest and Facebook social sharing translate into increased shares more often than other networks, while B2B businesses will find Google Plus and Twitter more useful for the sharing of their products. As such, emphasize your most lucrative (as measured by analytics) network's sharing button.
Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity- Remember that your main goal is to SELL YOUR PRODUCTS! Thus, your CTA should be the most prominent item on every page. Social sharing buttons are important, but not as important as your 'Checkout' button. Do not let social buttons distract users from the action you most desire them to take. Page placement or funnel placement come into play here. For example, after the user has purchased the product, the confirmation screen can contain very prominent social sharing buttons!
As every online business is unique in some ways from the competition, at the very least different in brand, strategies for social sharing will differ. The key is to constantly monitor key metrics and make changes accordingly based on metric fluctuations and how the compliment your overall business goals.
Here are
10 more tips that will help improve your online B2B ecommerce performance.
Clarity ecommerce: Making Social Sharing Easy
Constantly making changes necessitates having a CMS that allows you to quickly and easily adjust on-page elements.
Clarity's ecommerce solution is designed with the need to quickly and easily adopt changes that react to analytical data and market changes. Additionally, any team in your organization can make these changes without advanced technical knowledge of web languages and coding. We also take social buttons a step further, allowing you to customize the copy and aesthetic design of the buttons so as to increase social conversions. To make the most of social networking, call Clarity today to discuss how our tools can optimize your social strategy in a way that increases overall revenue and ROI.
Get a Quote: 800.928.8160 (toll-free)
Get a Quote: 800.928.8160 (toll-free)