December 1, 2010

Social Media and Ecommerce

By:

Hostway Team

By Samantha Gluck

Social media platforms and ecommerce go together like cookies and milk. For years, both brick-and-mortar and online businesses have used the positive brand building effects of social networking to communicate in meaningful ways with customers. Ecommerce sites can now increase sales of their products using Facebook applications created especially for online businesses. Read about some of the best ones below.

Payvment

The Payvment application allows users to develop an online retail store on Facebook. The app converts any online page into an ecommerce site with only one line of code. The program works with PayPal X global open payments platform. This PayPal platform allows visitors to shop at multiple stores with one shopping cart.

Slideshare

Slideshare lets businesses upload product presentations, promotional materials and sales announcements to their pages and profiles. The program even allows for the delivery of coupons to current and potential customers. These features drive more traffic to the user’s ecommerce site.

NutshellMail for Enewsletters

Any Facebook page administrator can use NutshellMail for Enewsletters to create an email newsletter campaign. Users add an email newsletter tab to their page. Fans then opt-in to receive the newsletters via email. The program automatically compiles a collection of page updates, puts them in newsletter format, and sends it to subscribers. Page administrators determine how often the updates go out.

Promotions

Promotions allows ecommerce businesses to launch interactive marketing campaigns, sweepstakes and giveaways right from their Facebook business page. Interested people can try one of the free versions before deciding to purchase the reasonably priced full version.

ShopTab

ShopTab allows businesses to sell products directly from an existing ecommerce site on their Facebook page. The application creates a shopping tab on the Fan page. Owners export products from their ecommerce site using an ecommerce tool and load them onto ShopTab on Facebook. It is priced for small business at $10 to $20 per month.

This recent marriage of ecommerce and social networking provides businesses with a way to communicate in relevant and meaningful ways with fans driving sales higher for ecommerce based stores.

About the Author

Samantha Gluck has had over a decade of experience helping businesses better focus their websites to enhance ecommerce and Internet presence by utilizing Web analytics, relevant design elements, and marketing campaigns.

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