Leveraging Social Networks to Drive Consumers to Your Site

In just a few short years, social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and more recently Twitter, have built not only buzz, but hundreds of millions of users. Facebook recently announced their 300 millionth user. The micro-blogging tool Twitter, which lets users post short, 140-character messages about what they're doing, has seen skyrocketing visitor growth 1,000 percent or more. And MySpace, whose growth has slowed somewhat with the ascendancy of Facebook, still boasts more than 125 million active users. Even shopping specific-sites like Kaboodle and Stylehive have begun popping up, although with much smaller user numbers than the juggernauts listed above.

With the growth of these sites and sheer number of users, it's no wonder online retailers are starting to use them to engage their consumers and grow their brand. Many have created pages that allow users to become "friends" or "fans" of their brand or certain products, recommend the brand to their friends, and learn about upcoming events.

Despite this growth and the benefits social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter afford, online retailers should recognize these sites as a starting point for online interaction with their audience, not as the end-all-be-all of their social marketing strategy. Ultimately, retailers should actively leverage these networks to drive fans back to their sites.

Why Retailers Should Drive Fans Back to Their Sites
While one of the objectives of using social networks should be to connect with consumers and engage advocates, online retailers need to keep in mind the importance of steering them back to their own sites. Following are a several reasons why:

-Online retailers have spent many hours and dollars mastering and merchandising their sites, and on how to up-sell and cross-sell to customers. Retailers should use social networks as the jumping off point for a deeper relationship that can take place at their site where these investments can be leveraged.

-Social networks often have limited options for brand-building or product education. A retailer's website, on the other hand, is a primary vehicle for reflecting their brand personality and hosts much more information on particular products (e.g., product specs, pricing, consumer reviews, sales, etc.).

-The data available from social networks is limited compared to what a retailer can gain from their own site. By driving social interaction back to their site, retailers can gather rich information about what pages and products are popular with social network visitors, what promotions are working the best and which types of social interaction best drive site visits and conversion.

-Consumers are increasingly willing and comfortable 'porting conversations' from one platform to another, i.e., a teenager can start a conversation about their prom with a friend through email, then continue it on IM, and post an update on Facebook. Encourage this behavior by implementing social technology solutions that allow consumers to continue their conversations on your site -where they can interact with your products at the same time.

-Ultimately, the retailer's site - not the third party social network - is where the purchase is going to take place; retailers shouldn't let the social network be the graveyard where a relationship with the consumer (and the chance for a sale) goes to die.

How to Leverage Social Networks to Engage Consumers
Following are some Dos and Don'ts to consider when leveraging social networks to drive consumers back to your site, as well as some real-world examples of retailers doing it right.

- Don't try to radically change consumer behavior. Retailers should understand why certain users are on certain sites and not intrude. Users of social networks are primarily on the sites to interact with friends, family and business interests - not to shop. Retailers should understand this and adopt the proper tone, and avoid a "hard sell" approach. One way to do this is to let your fans easily tell your story.

For example, Charlotte Russe, listed as the fastest growing retailer in the Internet Retailer 500, includes a "share" button on the browser located at the bottom of their site. With a couple clicks of the mouse, fans can send products they like out to their friend networks and include comments. Rather than a marketing message coming directly from the company, the shopper's network of friends and followers is exposed to the product(s) in her own voice. The link included with the product drives interested friends back to www.charlotterusse.com where they can browse more products, and Charlotte Russe can engage a potential new customer.

- Integrate your activities on multiple social media sites to drive site traffic. No. 33 retailer on the Internet Retailer 500 list, Buy.com, displayed how to do this with great success through their 'Tweet and Seek' scavenger hunt held in May 2009. The e-retailer used email and Twitter to alert fans of the contest, and a question posted to the company's Twitter followers led contestants to Buy.com product pages, as well as their pages on other social networking sites, including Facebook and YouTube, where they found new questions and clues. The contest attracted over 75,000 visitors to the contest landing page.

- Understand what demographics are using which sites and tailor your message for those sites. Victoria's Secret, for example, has gained over a million fans of its PINK line on Facebook. Initially used primarily by college students, Facebook is a perfect venue for the brand, which targets college-aged girls. In order to capitalize on this fan base, PINK's Facebook page provides prominent links back to the PINK Nation community section of the vspink.com site.

- Use social networks to alert fans of online sales, new products or new site features and functionality, and continually update the site. Again, Charlotte Russe does a good job of leveraging its social networking presence in this way. The retailer uses their social networking presence to alert fans to 10% off for those who sign up for their email newsletter, which is done at www.charlotterusse.com. They also encourage and educate 'friends' of their social networking pages to shop together in real time on their main site, where they can see and chat about each other's choices and share a favorites list. This functionality has led to significant increases in order sizes, number of items in cart and session times.

- Make sure to link to a page on your site that continues the type of interaction that began on the social network. If you're promoting a specific product, make sure to link to that page on your site and don't drive users to a home page that doesn't directly relate to your presence on the social network. If your customers are sharing products with their social networking friends, let them seamlessly continue those conversations on your site. Companies like Vans, Charotte Russe, and Seven for All Mankind have all incorporated various types of chat functionality to enable this type of real-time communication that can help consumers at the critical time in the online decision-making process.

Finally, the important thing to keep in mind in any marketing effort is to measure the impact. In addition to the obvious ways of measuring your activity on social networks (site traffic, conversion rates, order sizes, etc.), consider measuring the relationship and not necessarily the instance. For example, if a fan brings a friend to your site for advice and the fan purchases but the friend doesn't, it would normally be counted as a 50 percent conversion rate (two visits with only one purchase), but should really be considered a 100 percent conversion rate (two people making one joint visit resulting in one purchase). Additionally, since the fan has exposed the friend to the brand, the friends later purchases should also be included in measuring the impact of the social interaction.

It's clear that the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have created new marketing opportunities for online retailers and a new way to reach fans. However, in the same way retailers have used traditional marketing as a way to drive people to their stores, they should similarly use these new online marketing platforms to drive people to their sites where a deeper relationship and ultimately, higher sales, can result.

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