Webinar preview: deriving ROI from social media

It’s no wonder that merchants feel compelled to join the social networking fray. As of August 2011, – more than half of the total U.S. population, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Social networking is third only to search and email as the top online activity, Pew found.

But maddeningly, while brands attract followers by the thousands, in most cases sales and revenue have yet to follow: less than 1% of online purchases from either new or returning customers can be directly credited to social networks, according to industry researcher Forrester. Perhaps because attributing sales to social media is so difficult, as of last year many merchants had not set concrete revenue goals for their social programs, Forrester found, with 62% of merchants reporting that “the returns on social marketing strategies are unclear” and 82% saying they still view social media as an experimental frontier.

But merchants needn’t simply grit their teeth and play along with no hope of recouping costs; nor can they simply sit back and pray for a magic bullet that will instantly enable seamless commerce transactions on every social network. Rather, building an effective social media presence – one that tightly connects community and commerce – requires merchants to carefully study the opportunities, and to match the right social media activities not only with their target audience, but with shoppers’ needs at every stage of the customer lifecycle.

Tomorrow’s webinar, the final installment in our business optimization series, will examine how merchants can make that connection. We’ll take a look at how merchants are using social media to help shoppers:

• Research products. Forrester estimates that in 2011, fully 36% of all purchases – not just online purchases – were influenced by the Web in some way, with product and brand research leading the list of online shopping behaviors.  Merchants should cater to this behavior on social media outposts not just by posting product links as status updates, but by engaging brand followers with shopping tools that blend the rich product discovery experience of the eCommerce site with social features such as sharing and commenting.

• Buy products. Driving sales from social media is possible: marketing firm Ryan Partnership found that 36% of consumers have been spurred to try a product from a brand they’ve never used before thanks to social media, and 22% of shoppers say social media has prompted impulse purchases. To tap into this shopping influence, merchants must streamline and customize the buying experience for social media.  While not every merchant should launch a Facebook store, nor can merchants simply link from the Facebook page to the eCommerce home page; rather, merchants must adapt fully to the social medium with a custom experience that makes transitioning from socializing to purchasing a seamless experience.

• Get customer service help. Whether or not brands intend it, social media posts have become de facto customer service channels. The medium inherently gives power to consumers by allowing them to post on equal footing with brands; their plaudits or complaints are amplified throughout their networks of contacts, and how brands respond is a test of their commitment to service. Nearly half of social media users have relied on “social care,” according to a survey from NM Incite, and 30% of consumers prefer to access customer service via social media than the phone. To ensure a satisfactory experience, merchants must proactively manage expectations and provide key content.

• Find support for their lifestyle. Many merchants have leveraged social media to demonstrate how their brands align with followers’ priorities and interests, to spur engagement with lively discussion topics and links and to showcase staff expertise. Consumers crave this value-added information, with one-third of those who follow brands saying they seek information about events, current trends and ideas, or photos and videos, according to Shop.org.

• Give feedback. Social media affords brands the opportunity to connect with followers in myriad ways beyond front-line customer service. Not only does soliciting feedback give shoppers new ways to interact with the brand, but followers are empowered with a stake in the brand and its success, forging a tighter connection that can boost loyalty and sales.

Register for the webinar now and join us tomorrow, Wednesday, November 14, at 10 a.m. Pacific,  to explore these topics further, accompanied by a bevy of examples as well as tips for measuring social success and analyzing new opportunities.