Social commerce is a compelling idea that has been floating around for awhile. I first engaged with it on AVC.com (thanks Fred!) and have been thinking and talking about it as a way to explore how the community itself can become a business model.
With Facebook arguably the new desktop for the connected social world, all the reasons that fan pages should work as promotional websites for brands, make them work equally as well for social commerce. Huge population of users. Hours spent online per day per user. And social etiquette as the behavioral norm.
What is social commerce?
It is a dynamic online version of shopping with friends…but on the global, real-time Facebook stage. The intersection of community, commerce, social dynamics…and fun, where the influence and opinion of friends drives the transaction. A pure community referral-based economy.
Did this start with social media? Sort of…but I think it is important to make a distinction between social media and community elements that will make social commerce a success. Commerce will come out of community. Social is simply the design language that defines the interaction within the community.
Community storefronts as the commercial doorway for Facebook fan pages
Is social commerce and community shopping the next big leap for Facebook and the social web?
Commerce on Facebook fan pages is popping up more frequently but most pages are not really social in their orientation. More catalog than community. The Gap Lookbook and Travelocity Travel Deals are two interesting ones to check out though. But examples are scarce, and even moreso outside of the large global brands.
But I do believe that social commerce is coming like a storm to Facebook. And sooner than we think.
Three reasons why social commerce could become the new e-commerce platform for Facebook
There are no certainties but these are the top reasons why I’m a believer.
1. Shopping is a large part of socialization…and it’s mostly absent as a community activity within Facebook today. There are hundreds of millions of users spending hours online per day. Why aren’t they shopping with friends? The social need is certainly there.
Marc Pincus, founder of Zynga, created Farmville and a social gaming empire to give people on social networks something to do. Shopping is as natural as social gaming, universal in its appeal and crosses every segment of the Facebook population.
2. Social commerce as a community driven referral-economy is already working today on the open web. The best example is the exploding social selling, deal-a-day, local, discount markets.
Popularized by the Groupon and LivingSocial, scores of people (including myself) are engaging in socially-driven, deal-a-day discount local commerce. Social commerce in the guise of social selling is most certainly thriving on the open web.
Common sense indicates that this approach, adopted to a community brand strategy, could work equally as well (or maybe better) within already established brand communities like Facebook. It’s fun and social on the open web…why not on a Facebook fan page?
3. There is a natural synergy between e-commerce catalogs on the open web and Facebook. The logistics systems and catalogs are in place, all that is needed is to bring it to the community with social understanding and community dynamics. Not very simple but certainly doable.
The basic rule for businesses and marketers is to bring your product to where your customers are. They are already on Facebook in mass numbers. They are already fans of your products and services. And already referring your brands to their friends. It is time to start to figure out how to build a community-based commerce system for your fan page community.
Social commerce today is a big idea but it will become real…and quickly
In a recent post, I called Facebook fan pages the Wild West for brands and businesses. It’s still early and there are no guidelines for success. Social commerce may be even more embryonic.
Or maybe not.
Today most Facebook fan pages are boring. We Like them more out of courtesy and the need to belong, rather than the community value that we participate in. It’s hard to make them interesting because there is little to do there. For an inexplicable reason how we socialize with our friends on profile pages doesn’t seem as natural or fulfilling on fan pages.
Travelocity putting commerce on their fan page is not brilliance…it’s logical (although their design approach is questionable). But purchasing their next trip may be exactly what fans want to do, while they post pictures of their vacations and chat with their friends about where to go.
Maybe social commerce with its built-in ROI is a missing link for the social graph. Transactions are measurable by nature…and the goods and services that we built our allegiance to brands on, were in many cases, based on our purchases and the buying experience itself. Figuring out commerce and its intersection with community is a potential way of building some measurements into the social paradigm. And nothing is more measurable than revenue.
Social media and communities have immense value in their own right. No denying the importance of community for brands and businesses. But if we can figure out commerce as the natural offshoot of community, then truly everyone wins.
Companies will build more brand loyalty and stronger communities. Fans will socialize and shop. And businesses will do what they do best… build value for themselves from the value they provide through their products and services.
