So if you know me, you know I don't believe that headline, but this was an article posted by Mashable this week. Check it out here.
So of course I had a client that forward this to me and I thought I'd take the time to share my response as I feel it's very valuable to all the retailers out there who read this.
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What I keep reading is that Facebook and mobile commerce will become more acceptable sooner than later. Now we use social media to find our market and convince them our brand is a good resource to follow while building awareness and influence. Plus the well educated consumers are wanting to make smarter purchasing decisions, look for deals and share them: the new age referral.
Check out this survey from IBM>. Most people are simply following companies to get offers and deals.
Social media as about providing instant customer service, building brand loyalty and trust. TV commercials, magazines, newspapers and radio ads don't provide any of that or directly lead sales either. What it's about is finding out how people like to be communicated with, and its different for everyone; some via email and some via Facebook and Twitter as they can filter to their liking. So bottom line, you have to be where the people are and converse with them.
Although consumers might not be going directly from the social media platform to make a purchase, there is still a good chance that social media efforts DO influence purchase decisions. More and more people are looking for retail solutions that allow them to pay via mobile and social sites...and if you ask me, that's the next "big thing".
