Effective Social Media Engagement Means Setting a Table of Your Own

For many ecommerce merchants, the idea of engaging in social media means setting up a Facebook Fan Page, securing a Twitter handle or posting videos on YouTube.

While interaction on major social networks is part of the equation, there is another aspect that needs to be given consideration - that is what to do with your company Web site or ecommerce store. How does it factor in?

When describing ways to engage in social media, I often use the analogy of walking into a restaurant and getting a seat at someone else's table.

Imagine yourself standing in line at your favorite eatery waiting to be seated when you overhear a conversation taking place at a nearby table. The topic is relevant and one you feel you could contribute too. You walk over, express your interest, then ask to join in.

That's not unlike what we do when we join a Facebook Group, enter into the stream of conversation taking place on Twitter, or respond to a question asked on a discussion forum. Essentially, we're inviting ourselves into a conversation that's already in progress.

If you are using social media for marketing, any or all of those things may be useful, but are not the whole story. You also need to "set a table of your own." By that I mean, you need to bring the conversation to your own site where it can take place with your brand, products, or services as the centerpiece (and, most importantly, where a business transaction can also take place).

That can be done in any number of ways - via the inclusion of a "community" section, the creation of a well-written blog, or the development of a rating and review system that allows users to express their comments and opinions.

Even more advanced is the facilitation of social sign-on technology such as Facebook Connect or Facebook's new "Like" button application. These allow visitors to stay on your site, while at the same time, sharing the interactions with their network of friends. Tools like Disqus or Echo allow you to aggregate comments from other social networks so they appear on your site.

It almost goes without saying, in order for social media to be ultimately effective, it must contribute to your marketing goals and objectives. There must be deliberate calls-to-action associated with measurable KPIs. For ecommerce merchants in particular, that means it must lead to product sales.

One of the most common sense statements regarding social media ROI that I have ever heard came from a webinar led by Infusionsoft VP of Marketing, Tyler Garns. He said (and I paraphrase), "If engagement in social media does not lead to some type of conversion, then you are just wasting your time and that of others."

In other words, conversation must lead to conversion. Or, to borrow a quote a friend of mine, "If content is king, then conversion is queen."

Conversion means different things to different people. For example, I serve a social media director for Practical Ecommerce, a Web site focused on providing practical resources to help smaller ecommerce merchants succeed online.

For PeC, meaningful social media engagement translates to an increase in traffic to our site, as well as increased newsletter subscriptions, Getting Started in Ecommerce guide downloads, and webinar registrations. If social media can't function in such as way as to serve those ends, it's usefulness to us from a business development perspective is negligible.

If you visit a Vegas hotel, one on the strip, you can hardly go anywhere without passing through the casino. That ideal should apply to social media as well. Each channel needs to bring users back to where your business really takes place, your Web site.

That's not to suggest that business transactions can't happen within social media itself. A number of ecommerce platforms now provide shopping cart apps for Facebook, enabling at least some part of the transaction to take place within the social network.

The approach that needs to be taken is "both/and," not "either/or." You need to get a seat at someone else's table through participation in third-party social networks, for that's where the people are. But, you also need to set a table of your own and bring them back to your Web site. (Of course, setting up a Facebook Fan Page is not unlike setting a table of your own inside the largest restaurant on the planet.)

Regardless of the tactics used, the good news is that social media can contribute to your company's profitability, if not seen as an end in itself.

Go get a seat at a few tables where your customers gather and join in the conversation that's already taking place (of, if need be, get one started). At the same time, extend an invitation for them to pay a visit to your Web site or ecommerce store.

(For further insights into ways to integrate social media into your Web site, view Jeremiah Owyang's Powerpoint presentation, Making Your Corporate Website Relevant.)