Facebook Social Commerce and Social Media Shopping Has Arrived

PRLog (Press Release) - Oct 29, 2009 -
Social media is not a fad and popular websites like Facebook and Twitter are utilizing your friends for online shopping. Sites like Facebook and the companies utilizing social media to hawk products are working hard to create a more user oriented shopping experience. The growth of social websites has been rapid does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Facebook now boasts over 300 million users, and is expected to reach over half a billion by 2012.

One of the biggest hurdles facing social shopping is balancing the business selling products without alienating the very loyal and vocal current users, who prefer a small less intrusive approach to their social network. Privacy concerns and consumer buying trends have been big barriers for social shopping, and overcoming these concerns has not been an easy one. Facebook had a public relations nightmare in 2007 when it implemented the controversial beacon program. The program used user profile information to inform potential shoppers and users of the buying habits of their friends in theory to help recommend products. The uproar from the program was felt instantly and within 4 days Facebook terminated the Beacon program.  

Two years later, Facebook and other social media sites have been trying to implement less intrusive methods and shopping applications. Facebook has recently made changes to its homepage that is assumed to benefit companies and brands. Facebook employee Austin Haugen commented in his Facebook blog that the company was still tinkering with its email and privacy policy. Some companies are harnessing social media to their advantage, adding a new source of exposure and sales. Dell is rumored to create over a million dollars in sales from its twitter account, http://www.dell.com/twitter alone. Much of the appeal to social media for companies is the ability to really search and target customers in a way that has never been possible. Search engines have worked hard on getting information targeted to consumers but they don’t have access to real time consumer data like Facebook.

Can social search and shopping be profitable for small businesses? Early adopters of the new social commerce Facebook application, has allowed people to buy products without leaving Facebook, have enjoyed success. Zenagen is probably a shampoo you have never heard of, but it has gathered an impressive following online. Using various widgets and consumer interaction portals including its homepage which has an integrated facebook badge http://www.zenagen.com/. The young hair loss shampoo company has been able to add a new dimension to its online operations and has become a sizable source of revenue, particular in its younger 20-25 male demographic. “We were very skeptical of social media because we had tried some things that ended up being pretty inefficient, but we were offered the opportunity for the new commerce platform and decided to test the waters. The social commerce platform has increased the company’s social reach and sales over 10% within one month of being implemented,” said Sam Freeman of Zenagen. Whether social media shopping will replace search based shopping is yet to be seen, but it looks to have a bright future.