Tips for Capitalizing on Social Media Trends

Social media is continuously being mentioned as the most dominant force in the future of the internet. It started with blogs, followed by MySpace, then Facebook and Twitter, and now the latest craze, Pinterest. Social media is an ever-evolving means of online communication and, as an e-commerce retailer, it's imperative to keep up with the trends. Although recent trends have brought social media closer to e-commerce retailers, for the most part they've been unable to capitalize on the social realm quite yet.

The struggle for e-commerce merchants is to have their product pages seen and shared. Although many of the social networking sites are excellent platforms for sharing personal information, they're not always conducive for product sharing. When a person clicks the "Like" button in Facebook, the act is simple and requires very little commitment and effort. However, the impact is very small since it's hardly evident to his "friends."

If that same person adds a comment, the impact is greatly increased. However, this requires much more effort and as such is less likely. Pinterest, on the other hand, is much better suited for consumers to share product or service experiences. When a consumer repins an image it's clearly shared to his network of followers. To repin is as easy as it is to like, but the impact is much greater.

As social media evolves and becomes more product-sharing friendly, it's important to ask how can merchants benefit from this. What do retailers need to do in order to capitalize on these new trends in social media? Consider the following tips:

1. Create a social media strategy. Although many businesses have Facebook pages, few of them have a strategy for their page — or the rest of their social media activity for that matter. They tweet, blog and set up a Facebook page because "everyone else is doing it" rather than as a way to engage their audience.