Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest Buttons Rated Most Effective Social Media Marketing Tactic [STUDY]

Eight in ten digital markets say that social sharing – adding Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social networking icons to their product pages – is somewhat or very effective for increasing conversions from consumers, reports eMarketer, citing data from Adobe.

37 percent of marketers rated social sharing buttons as very effective, with a further 46 percent claiming they were somewhat effective. Live chat/instant messaging, user-created collections and user-generated content also rated highly in the survey.

Conversely, brand social media is deemed less effective than retailer social media by consumers, with both finishing behind deal and product review sites for purchase influence, reports Ryan Partnership.

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The Effect Of Social Media On Commerce [Infographic]

At the end of the day, Social Media Marketing means absolutely nothing if it doesn’t affect commerce.

This infographic from Fedelta starts with the presentation of the always impressive stats for social networks usage. You know, 100k Tweets are sent every minute, there are 152 million blogs online, 3 billion hours of YouTube are watched every month, etc. But lets get passed that and look at the more interesting data, where updates and videos and all that other stuff actually affects the sales department.

Here are some the interesting points you should pay attention to:

Purchase influence vs Direct sales

When we talk about how Social media affects commerce, it doesn’t mean sales are made over Facebook, most of time it means how the social web influences purchase decisions.

The salesclerk is dead

People trust product information from online sources and their own friends online over retail employees. I mean, just last week one of the employees at the AT&T store couldn’t answer my wife an iPhone question on his own and had to consult with his manager. This is only their best seller product…

Social environments vs E-commerce

It’s obvious, you don’t like to see the sales rep walking towards you in slow motion through the car dealer lot when you’re shopping for your new vehicle. People don’t like being pushed into a product but, they like getting friends opinions.

There are some pretty big numbers here in this infographic:

• 92% shoppers have more confidence in online information than whatever the salesclerk has to say
• 50% of mobile searches lead to sales
• 81% love to see products being used in video reviews
• 75% said user-generated videos reviewing a product have affected a purchasing decision
• 55% share purchases on social networks

Now, the homework is yours: How are you using social media to assist purchases in your business?

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Effectiveness, Measurement and Conversion in Social Media: Do On-line Marketers Get It?

Not many marketers of blue chip companies in Kenya understand these important aspects of social media; effectiveness, measurement and conversion. This is the reason why many leading brands in Kenya’s corporate sector have shied away from playing their game in the social media space. Yet, to justify why a brand should join social media, a marketer should be in a position to show how every marketing dollar used in social media would bring a return on investment.

Many brands only have a mere presence on social media, but no one can clearly demonstrate how it is adding value to the business. That is why you’ll find many companies have a twitter or Facebook page which is hardly updated.

Let’s delve into the issue of the effectiveness of social media in a business. Social media is effective for on-line surveillance, data mining, communication, reputation management, marketing and customer care among others. There’s a lot of value that a business can derive by actively engaging customers on Twitter by quickly solving their problems. Not only is it cheap, but saves time. If your brand is not doing it, the question is why?

How many brands have considered the amount of business intelligence and the data that they can mine by analysing customer’s online conversations about products or services? Data mining is today’s internet gold. How come the US government knows almost everything happening in every part of the world? The reason is because they’ve invested heavily in intelligence gathering.

For a brand to do data mining, it will require an on-line surveillance system and a dedicated data analyst whose work is to interpret the data collected to ensure it makes sense.

One of the greatest headaches for most on-line marketers today is the inability to convert followers, fans or site visitors into buyers. The best strategy when using social media is to ensure that your social media sites are not stand alone platforms, but should drive traffic to your website. In other words, your social media platforms and website must be integrated and shouldn’t appear to be doing separate things.

Once visitors land in your site, you can deal with the issue of conversion by setting a well-optimized landing page. To have high traffic in a website is useless if there is no call-to-action that will prompt people to do something once they land into your site. A good tactic is to request your site visitors to fill a form, buy a product or download a PDF file. That way, you are able to collect and build a database with contacts of your site visitors.

In conclusion, social media should be used to complement other marketing channels and not necessarily to be used alone. There are import parameters that can help you measure the impact of your social media marketing by looking at leads, site traffic, impressions, customer satisfaction and the level of conversion among others.

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Are You Using Social Media Effectively?

You’ve got your Facebook page set up, you are on Twitter, and you have a company LinkedIn profile. Now comes the big question: are you getting the most out of all your social media efforts? If you feel like you could use a hand in fully taking advantage of social media, then you’re not alone. According to a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, 43% of those surveyed feel that their organization could use some help with getting the most out of their social media efforts.

With eight out of ten U.S. companies now present on Facebook, 48% present on LinkedIn, 45% present on Twitter, and 31% on YouTube having a social media presence is no longer a competitive advantage. In fact, today it’s now expected for a company to have some type of social presence. Yet, just because a company might be active on the most popular social sites doesn’t necessarily guarantee success.According to an interview conducted with assistant professor of marketing at Brigham Young University, Jeff Larson, many business owners are still unsure of how to use social media “The parameters are up in the air…You have to attract customers to the Facebook page and then ask, ‘What do we do with it? It’s very ill defined.”

“I would differentiate between being on Facebook and using it,” says Larson. “I would wager that 50 percent of companies are merely on Facebook and not posting on it. It requires a lot of resources. It’s a very difficult endeavor.” So if so many companies are ineffective social media users, then who is doing it right? Well I’ve dug up several companies that are doing social media right, and why.

• Ford – Ford has become known as a large social media advocate. For example, in 2011 Ford unveiled their new Ford Explorer to the world first via Facebook. Ford also teamed up with the social gaming giant, Zynga, to host the world’s largest Words With Friends game to promote its 2013 Escape. For their Fiesta, the car company launched “Fiestagram”, a six-week contest in which users could submit photos and win prizes. Lastly on the Ford Google + page, they have hosted various “Hangouts”. One example was they held one to update their fans on the latest happenings at the Daytona 500.

• Zappos – Zappos is known for their “like-like” relationships with their fans and customers. Their view is if they treat their potential fans as equals, they solidify their relationships even more. Zappos engages with their fans on Facbook first, before having them signup for their mailing list or offer deals. They have “fan only” deals, granting their Facebook fans instant access to exclusive videos and special promotions. Lastly, what’s cooler than having a Facebook “fan of the week”?
• Taco Bell – The fast food company has had a huge success on Twitter with over 200,000 followers. Their unique voice and style has helped connect the brand to a young demographic. It doesn’t stop with just their Twitter handle. When they launched their new Cantina Bowl, Taco Bell ran a campaign offering the product with a QR code made up of lemons and avocados instead of pixels!
• Coca – Coal – Sure everyone knows Coke. The difference between branding and what Coca-Cola has done is that the soft drink company has transformed into a way of life. “Live on the Coke side of life.” Coke is concerned with customer engagement, relying on the community to help curate its communications and wow are they successful. Fans from all over the world check-in on opening happiness.

There you have it. Four companies you should try to model your social strategy after. Remember you’re not alone, a lot of companies struggle with social media. I hope that by checking out some of these social media masters you can learn a thing or two and maximize your own social media efficiency.

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