According to the article, close attention and focus on social media can help merchants determine the pulse of the market. For example, at Supershoes.com, online shoppers can “hate”, “love”, “tag” or “share” footwear styles. The site also has a “live, ticker-like feature” which shows the products customers are looking at. The online shoe store also utilizes Facebook to determine sentiment towards newly released items based on number of views and comments.
Another key point from the discussion was the role of social media to “bring together widely dispersed consumers.” Organize.com, a retailer of storage and organizational products, hosts specifically themed Facebook parties. These two-hour parties are attended by 500 to 1,500 invited customers and it provides the perfect opportunity for the e-retailer to address customer service issues and gather valuable customer insight. In these parties, there is one common theme: no selling. In fact, it is the retailer who rewards the customers for coming by giving them discounts on upcoming purchases and actual products.
The article also notes that another social media marketing tool that can be used are blogs. Blogs are ideal for coming up with SEO-friendly content that can help boost natural search engine results for the e-commerce site. While blogs will perhaps attract less comments as compared to a company Facebook page, the drawback is offset by a “deeper pool of information” such as e-mail addresses and IP addresses. Additionally, if the blog proves to be entertaining because of content and photo sharing options, then the e-commerce merchant can be sure that its customers will hold on to it and build it.
