Tuesday 25 October 2011

Brands Need to Prepare For the Upcoming Boom in Commerce Through Facebook, says Punch Communications



With social networking giant Facebook announcing a number of changes to its open graph platform at the recent f8 conference, brands should be ready for a change in the way e-commerce will be implemented on the site, says integrated PR, SEO and social media agency Punch Communications.

Due to this development and the ability to now not only ‘Like’ something on Facebook you will soon be able to ‘Want’, ‘Love’ or ‘Recommend’ things. This development has caught the eye of e-commerce heavyweight eBay and its developer arm X.commerce, as they announce an upcoming partnership that will make Facebook the market place of the future.

A recent study into social commerce by the e-tailing group found that 59% of users rated customer reviews as the most important impacting factor on their buying behaviour. Social shopping aims to capitalise on this by creating visibility and feedback for products and services from the people you trust the most, your friends and family.

Brands using Facebook to promote their products will soon be more in control of the message they push to potential buyers and fans. Using the open graph platform, developing more descriptive and appropriate interactions such as a ‘Want’ button will become easy to implement and promote. This type of functionality coupled with the real time news feed of friend activity provided by the Facebook Ticker will propel the social shopping experience.

Pete Goold, Managing Director at tech PR agency, Punch Communications said, “Facebook provides an important platform for brands and companies to reach and interact with their fans and customers. Social commerce will appeal to an audience who are already familiar with the functions and features of the platform to recommend and create visibility for promoting products and services to their friends and connections.

“Social recommendation carries much weight when acting as a basis for a purchase decision and with the new developments in the f-commerce area users will be instantly notified of their friends purchases; this will encourage them to look at the product and it may influence decision to buy”

Social commerce will become a fully integrated service within social media and e-commerce platforms now that the tools are available to developers. With predictions that more business will be carried out through Facebook than Amazon, brands would be wise to begin developing their strategies and apps now to get a head start and take full advantage of the opportunities that social commerce will afford them.

If you are currently talking to PR and SEO agencies then contact Punch Communications to find out how an integrated campaign would benefit your business. For more information regarding Punch's services, please visit www.punchcomms.com, or call 01858 411 600.

(EDITOR: I have worked with Punch to help promote some of their clients for some trade magazines. A nicer, more professional set of people you could not hope to meet. I can recommend them thoroughly. If you need a PR firm, then Punch should be on your list.)

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