Implementing social commerce

Hunter Walk, in his blog, 'Elapsed Time', defines social commerce, as "Discovering goods or service via someone you know, who does not directly financially benefit from the interaction," or more specifically, "The use of social network(s) in the context of e-commerce transactions."

However, this is not as not as straightforward as uploading a 'buy' button in a Facebook post or Twitter link. Social commerce needs to live up to its name and be 'social'.

Building successful systems

Facebook users spend 700 billion minutes per month in an active, yet relaxed environment where word-of-mouth is built into every turn. The traffic generated from a Facebook page to the corresponding website plays an intrinsic role, yet only the social-savvy online retailer is able to convert fans into shoppers.

Chris Bennett and Arrel Gray co-founded Soldsie, a payment system that allows merchants to monetise their Facebook page by allowing customers to purchase through comments. "We know that there are a lot of brands that we've talked to that have invested a lot of money and time into Facebook commerce and haven't seen the results that they would like to see," says Gray. "We're excited about what we're building because we're seeing success here and we want to take what we're learning and take it to brands all over the world," adds Bennett.

On Soldsie, sales campaigns become Facebook posts, fans write 'sold' in their comments in order to purchase the goods, thereafter connect to the merchant's Facebook page to receive an email invoice of their order and proceed to checkout.

Robert Sussman is the co-founder and social payments entrepreneur of ZunguZ, a social app that allows users to transfer money via Facebook, provides the functionality to facilitate automated, immediate online transactions without any hassle or delay. He believes Facebook apps need to remain true to their host. "A symbiotic relationship must exist between the app and the social network it was created and designed for. We have placed the customer at the centre of the shopping experience, giving them the potential to act as brand ambassadors for their favourite store."

Referrals are the future

On the topic of what the future holds for the app and its impact on e-commerce, Sussman believes that there is a massive referral base, "The customer has an influence over his or her friends to promote the brand or store in question, in turn rewarding customers for referrals and 'eyeballs' by way of incentive schemes."

The app has been established to provide users linked with social network websites with the ability to handle payments via the social network channel. In turn, merchants subscribed to the application are able to offer their shoppers an additional payment platform.

With a plethora of Facebook apps available to the online merchant, it all comes back to connecting e-commerce with social commerce and understanding the guiding principles that lead to Facebook's global success. By keeping online sales social and the consumer at the heart of every transaction, less digital ink will be spilled and money wasted.

For more information, go to www.zunguz.com.