The future of e-commerce can be strongly linked to social networking and word of mouth marketing. Consumers have the power to advocate brands through user-generated reviews, social networking sites and interactive advertising content like online videos.
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You need to engage your customers in a dialog, so that they get used to hearing from you. Give them the option to create user reviews on your Web site, and be proactive and follow up with an e-mail that will encourage them to continually participate.
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When customers get used to conversing with you, then they will be likely to write about their positive experiences and your site will not just have bad reviews. Eighty percent of reviews are positive, because consumers want to participate in a network and trust hearing from each other more than from the retailers.
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But it’s not just about good reviews. Bad reviews help determine bad products and identify poor quality. Firms should remove products that continue to get bad reviews. This proactive approach allows a retailer to add value to its customer and reduce non-turning inventory.
Not only are user reviews beneficial to customers, but social networks like MySpace and Second Life allow for products to be engaged more deeply and give brands a life of their own through community.
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Brands that will survive are the ones whose consumers tell the story of the brand to each other instead of the brands telling the consumers their story. The great thing about social networks is that they also create distribution around the Web for you, and they validate the brand to other people. Kids were integrating viral video campaigns into their own online identity and this gives the brand a greater level of authenticity.
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More discussions and research on social networking, ecommerce and integrated sales and marketing programs can be found at www.bb2e.com/resources.html
