Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Do Consumers Trust Your Web Site More Than Social Networks?

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Do Consumers Trust Your Web Site More Than Social Networks?
Recently I came across two articles which surprised me, in the fact that  both suggest that consumers trust e-commerce websites more than social networks. Maybe it isn’t such a surprise.

One was reporting  on a new survey which found that 55% are "mostly willing" to provide shopping preferences to trusted retailers in exchange for an enhanced shopping experience, while 52% stated they are "much more concerned" or "somewhat more concerned" about providing the same information on social networks.  (This survey conducted by the consultancy The E-Tailing Group and personalization services vendor MyBuys Inc of 1,000 consumers).

The second article, (big surprise) found that visitors to social networks go there to socialize, not to “interact with brands”, then further stated that if consumers want information about a purchase decision, they were four times more likely to go directly to the company’s website! Credit this to research by social marketing firm Get Satisfaction and analyst Incyte Group. From their survey: "when customers want information to make purchase decisions, they are more than four times as likely to go to the company’s website (89%) as they are to use a social network (21%)."

So, e-commerce merchants – what should you do now? Ignore social media and concentrate solely on your website? Hardly! What you should do is to adopt a policy regarding social media that serves to engage and inform your potential customers, like offering them the opportunity to participate in surveys, offer feedback and comment on your offerings, explain the differentiation between your competitors and your business. But, do these things on your own website, rather than on social networking sites – use them to drive traffic to your website!

 

Your website can be fine-tuned to use social media effectively – create communities, offer ratings and reviews, and encourage your customers to share their experiences through an online forum –all these are great opportunities to enhance the value of your website to your customer base, if done well. Bear in mind that the purchase decision occurs on your website, not on your fan page, and allocate your resources accordingly.

Look at social networks from a personal perspective – what do you like about them yourself, and what annoys you about them? Then structure your efforts according to what you would like to see as a consumer, rather than from the perspective of a provider or seller. Ask yourself, would you become a “fan” of your own page? Why or why not? Then you have some basis to evaluate what you should do.

The bottom line – if you provide social networking “tools” on your own website, which allow customers to share content, it is likely that some of them will do just that!
Social media may not yet have attained the "be-all, end-all" of 21st century marketing,  but you cannot deny its impact and potential to generate additional sales, when properly executed and deployed as part of your overall strategy.

The takeaway for small business is this – remember the priority of your online presence is your web site, but never overlook the potential benefit of social network applications, use both in your planning.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, it is possible, but there are still several people that trust social media sites especially Facebook and Twitter than other websites.

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