5 March Social Media’s Impact on eCommerce by Mike McDonald Social Media 355 Views Have you noticed the similarities between social media platforms and eCommerce? They have more things in common now, as they are becoming more closely intertwined. For example, eBay now has an online chatbot which helps you shop and narrows down your decision making. Before social media, businesses brought in more customers through advertisements on websites and message boards. Now, in the age of social media, businesses use social platforms to build their reputation and status. Brands uses social media to advertise, interact with customers, and promote their online presence. The infographic below shows the timelines of eCommerce and social media platforms. You can see how each has evolved and influenced each other. For this piece, I’ll outline the social media’s role and impact on and how it is benefiting eCommerce. Paid Promotions Businesses use Facebook to market themselves and Facebook makes it easy to do so. Facebook provides tools for you to understand and analyze how successful your post became. You see demographics, location, and age group of the people who viewed your post. This alone is a sufficient reason to start planning your marketing campaign on Facebook. Personal Messaging People are starting to use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter less frequently. However, that trend is followed by an upward use of the private messaging utility. There’s a surge in messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat. Businesses follow the trends that people take so in this case personal messaging. Now, brands have set up chatbots, which are Artificial Intelligent characters that mimic real people.Chatbots can offer information on specific products, nice discounts and services, advice, and even settle complaints. In-app Buying Buying products through social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest is easy for customers. The pages load quickly tons of interesting merchandise and have a low bounce rate. Once Apple Pay is accepted on all social media platforms and eCommerce sites, it will make it even easier to make purchases on a whim. Takeaway In the coming years, social media will impact not only our online shopping experiences but also other parts of our lives. Social media will push eCommerce to be a bigger market and a simpler place to shop. Source: https://www.16best.net/blog/social-networks-and-their-importance-in-ecommerce-gateways/ Share