June 16, 2010
Guest Post by Jimmy Rodriguez is the CTO and co-founder of 3dcart.
3dcart just released their latest update, 3dcart 3.2. Because this update is rich with social media tools, we asked Jimmy Rodriguez to discuss his views on social commerce and how 3dcart 3.2 helps merchants in this arena:
In today’s wired world, one of the most effective strategies for driving traffic to your site is social media. As a leader in the e-commerce industry and a pioneer in Social Commerce, 3dcart recognizes that social shopping is the new motor driving the e-commerce trend. Based on observations from over 6,000 online businesses looking to tap into the latest social marketing trends, remain competitive and extend their reach; we have found that, when properly used, a close relationship between social media tools and the effects on website traffic and online conversions has been established. For any merchant looking to increase traffic to their site, the 7 social commerce tools listed below will help provide merchants with an easy, simple, yet innovative way to get immersed in the social media and become part of the real-time web.
1) Twitter & Facebook Updates
Without a doubt, the two biggest social media sites on the web today are Facebook and Twitter. With their social networking capabilities at your disposal, you can reach out to fans and friends in a scope that word-of-mouth advertising could never come close to. Use these capabilities to your advantage! For example, post a Facebook status update about your business and product offerings. Announce your promotions by way of a tweet and get your twitter followers (and their followers) to your store.
2) Blog
Most people think of a blog as an online journal. However for business owners like yourself a blog can be a powerful tool to keep your customers “in the loop” about your store’s news and updates! Use a blog to post news about your upcoming products. Post some ideas about how your products can be used, or offer your customers updates about new features within your store.
3) Facebook Store
Rather than using a personal Facebook page, you can create a Facebook Store page for your business, and use it to advertise your products. Acquire fans to your store and post business specific updates about your business to them. But why stop there? With an Online Store Facebook Application, you can easily link your online store directly to your Facebook Fan Page within its own tab! Select which products are displayed, such as products within a specific category, Home Specials or items “On Sale”. What’s more, you can empower your affiliates with the ability to create their own online stores within their Facebook profiles and choose which products will be displayed.
4) YouTube Video Integration
Bring your products to life and improve your visitor experience by adding video footage to your product pages. Product images are important, but a full motion video of your product can really help you sell it to your customers. Many e-Commerce solutions, like 3dcart, allow you to easily search YouTube directly from your store’s control panel, select a video – whether it’s a product review, demonstration or viral commercial – and instantly display it on your product page.
5) Social Bookmarking
Visitors to your site may not always buy at that specific moment in time, but will likely return to your store when they’re ready to purchase. Make it easy for them to return to their favorite products by adding social bookmarking to your products! With Social Bookmarking added to your item listings, your customers can instantly bookmark individual products to their browsers, email, or even to the popular social sites like Facebook and Twitter at the click of a button.
6) Facebook “Like” Button
Add a Facebook “Like” button to your website and let your customers advertise your products for you on their Facebook pages. Their friends can see this and perhaps take enough of an interest in the item to become your customer as well!
7) Embracing Mobile Apps
Mobile phones today are so much more than just phones. In fact, these are essentially hand-held computers complete with Web browsing capabilities used by consumers to share products, information and comments with their friends in real-time. Your online store should provide a complete Mobile Commerce interface for visitors shopping your site on an iPhone, Android or favorite smartphone. This includes optimized pages for Home, Products, Categories, View Cart and Checkout. In this way, Visitors can easily browse and add products to their cart and checkout, all within the Mobile interface.
Making these tools part of your e-commerce strategy will help your business expand into the social era. Thereby generating more traffic and creating an active community of returning customers around your online business.
About the Author:
Jimmy Rodriguez is the CTO and co-founder of 3dcart, a leading Shopping Cart Software provider, that has been helping over 10,000 online merchants grow their businesses and sell online since 1997. 3dcart has grown exponentially in the past 3 years and has just introduced innovative SocialCommerce and mCommerce tools in their new 3.2 release aimed at taking online businesses into a new era.
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Though social bookmarking software can easily boost a site’s traffic levels it is still important to maintain interesting content. Only if the information and pages you have are attractive to web surfers will you be able to get the most from bookmarking and backlinks.
Great post the tips are excellent and essential to get a strong web presence.