There is nothing more permanent than constant changes. Every day social media experts introduce more and more innovative initiatives, tactics and products that make people crazy (in a good way) and boost sales, making social media the most valuable tool for driving e-Commerce industry.
Can we still ignore this boundless pool of opportunities, or should we delve deep into the best practices for building your own social media strategy? Get the most out of it and discover the new ways to attract and connect to your customers.
The Internet is flooded with the mass of information, aiming to help you start your social media activity. Let’s see what is trending now:
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Live life to the fullest, or live-streaming
In 2015, people were obsessed with live-streaming videos in Periscope and Meerkat. In 2016 this trend will definitely not fade away. More than that, it will gain even more power attracting the leading world brands, who feel free to experiment with their accounts and provide the customers with the new experience of watching ‘behind the scenes’ of their favorite vendors.
These broadcasting platforms allow people to communicate by video-messaging, transforming the watching process from purely meditative to highly interactive. It makes live videos a new chat for active social media users, who comprise the major part of your audience.
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Say HI to your favorite e-Commerce store, or who is the ‘Chat bot’?
During the latest F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco, Facebook announced the launch of a ‘chat bots’ platform that will enable businesses to start using Facebook messengers as a platform for selling their products and communicating with the customers in real time.
The idea that Mark Zuckerberg shared seems to be pretty simple, but at the same time it can be easily called groundbreaking. Just imaging that you can chat with the business you’re interested in the way you chat with your friend. Nice option, isn’t it? In fact, chat bots represent interactive software robots that will stimulate conversation, using artificial intelligence.
Another good news for business owners: for now Facebook offers this functionality for free (planning to monetize it in future), so it’s the best time to figure out how to use it for your particular business or project.
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Press the ‘buy button’ before you say goodbye
Have you seen the ‘buyable’ posts on Pinterest? It’s been a really huge step to enable customers not only to view, but to buy products right from the app. Following the giants like Google, e-Commerce platform providers start to transactionalize their offerings. As far as I know, currently Pinterest provides this option for retailers, hosting their stores with Shopify, but in the near future, other eCommerce platforms will definitely consider using ‘buy buttons’ by adding a Pinterest network to their accounts.
This is definitely a new vision of how social media can boost retail sales. And a new popular e-Commerce trend called transactionalization, enabling to perform transactions write from social media channels.
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No money, no ads
In 2016, the experts predict the significant change in brand advertising. Retailers tend to go social, because social media platforms offer highly efficient tools to reach the customers. Unfortunately, not all of them are free.
Due to the specially configured algorithms, it becomes harder to reach your audience, your potential customers. The ad-blockers, so popular today all over the world, will force business owners refer to social networks as the primary source to address customers and spend money on the advertising opportunities they offer.
What else should we expect from the world of social? Stay tuned and share your thoughts in comments, because when it comes to social media, we all see the great potential it has to drive revenue for businesses, being at the top of the most effective e-Commerce tools.
(Alexandra is a marketing specialist and a professional translator. For the last five years she’s been writing corporate blogs, website content and analytical articles on e-Commerce, technology solutions, etc. for different companies, including Amasty .)
