ACtion Magazine - April 2016 - (Page 12)

Make your social media shoppable " Angie Kilbourne "Just as e-commerce is becoming more social, social is becoming Social media is now a business mainstay that will become even more important as the key means to communicate and grow a re- more sales-centric," Carnoy explained. "For businesses struggling to lationship with your customer base," stated Tony Molla, vice presi- monetize the social capital they have spent significant resources to build, dent, Automotive Service Association, during his keynote at the Mobile the concept of social commerce is groundbreaking. It allows businesses Air Conditioning Society (MACS) Worldwide's 2016 annual convention to finally fully integrate social into their overarching marketing strategy." and training event. "It's (social media) the new 'word-of-mouth.' Being Build a better social storefront adept with social media will be the primary means of staying in touch with Carnoy shared several best practices to consider when creating a social and being relevant to those who fuel your business." commerce portal: Make no mistake - customers are better in● Use customer photos: To insert your formed than ever before, Molla added. They use storefront into the social platforms your brand an increasing amount of online research, rating ...social is becoming is active on, it's important that your markettools and personal social media before they ever more sales-centric ing blends in with the native content already talk to a shop: "The criteria that matter to them on your social platforms. For example, display include trust, product/service recommendations, photos and videos that look similar to those creconvenience, your professional appearance, cerated and shared by your followers' peers. Better tifications and other qualifications, as well as value - a much broader yet, use real customer photos and videos to market and sell. Be sure term than price." to ask permission to use the material before using it to your benefit. Evolve to social commerce ● Post consistently: At first glance, this one may be obvious, but it "For companies intent on growing an effective social media presence, actually requires the most effort. However, there is direct correlation building a shoppable digital storefront that their customers visit regularly between how often a brand posts and the rate of return visitors. Be is critical to success," advised Juliet Carnoy of Social Media Today, a B2B cognizant that it often takes multiple returns to turn a prospective publisher of social media news. "In a perfect world, businesses would customer into a customer. Don't forget to interact with them. Alloallow followers to shop on every social channel possible, but limited recate time to 'Comment' and 'Like' your fans' posts and to monitor sources constrain the choice of one or two high-impact channels. Focus on the conversation around your brand. the platforms whose demographics reflect those of your target customers." ● Analyze data: Collect key metrics, such as the number of likes, Digitally savvy shops recognize the need to expand their social media comments and shares for each photo that your brand uses to market presence from a customer service channel into a "social commerce" chanand sell on social media. Monitoring these numbers will help you to nel - a streamlined shopping experience. The social commerce premise understand which types of content resonate best with your followers. is simple: Instead of pushing consumers to leave their social media habFollow the format of your strongest content, but don't be afraid to its to visit an e-commerce site, bring the site to the customers. Integrattest something new and creative. ing a digital storefront inside the social networks your customers frequent On Facebook, Carnoy suggested businesses create a Facebook page makes it easy to convert "researchers" into "buyers." tab that allows users to access a shoppable gallery of photos. "It's an easy way for followers to browse products and buy in one click, directly on the social network. It's also a great place to feature the highest quality photos from your social media marketing campaigns and engage with loyal customers." On Twitter, retweeting customer photos and including a link to the featured product's page can drive more sales from your social presence. "When your customers and other browsers scroll through their social newsfeeds, your social commerce effort blends in [with] customer content viewed by their friends. This helps everyone organically discover your products and services without feeling like they are heavily marketed to or spammed." "Once you have selected the correct initial platforms for your shop Stat: Of the $327 billion U.S. consumers are expected to and implement social commerce best practices, your ROI will increase spend online in 2016, 74 percent of online customers say and be more immediate," Carnoy shared. "In time, you will then have the that they rely on social media to guide their purchase deciresources to invest in creating social storefronts on other social platforms sions. - Forrester Research Inc. (U.S. Online Retail Forecast your target customers use, such as Instagram, Pinterest and others." ❆ Study) " 12 ACTION * April 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - April 2016

ACtion Magazine - April 2016
Training is key offering at 2016 MACS
Networking at MACS
Outlook
Service Port
Leonard's law
Virtual View
Last Watch
By the Numbers
Cooling Corner
Industry News
Association News
New Products and Services

ACtion Magazine - April 2016