????Facebook的上市和隨后在股市上的表現(xiàn)繼續(xù)受到媒體的廣泛關(guān)注。同時有一個不那么引人注意的消息：Facebook放棄了自己的虛擬貨幣Facebook Credits，轉(zhuǎn)而使用當?shù)刎泿哦▋r，這其實是Facebook向提供全方位在線付款功能邁進的關(guān)鍵一步。這也是“社交銷售”（在社交網(wǎng)站發(fā)生的金融交易）成為現(xiàn)實的最明顯信號。

????多數(shù)公司在社交領(lǐng)域的早期努力只不過是把它當作“宣傳冊”發(fā)放的另一種形式（和他們上世紀90年代在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上的所作所為如出一轍）。雖然復雜程度有所升級，比如戴爾（Dell）通過Twitter實現(xiàn)了600萬美元的銷售，大多數(shù)社交商務實驗還遠非完善。實際情況經(jīng)常會是這樣：當購物者已經(jīng)準備好在零售商的社交主頁上購物了，結(jié)果卻被轉(zhuǎn)到其它網(wǎng)站去完成交易，本來天衣無縫的購物體驗被活生生地打斷了。

????商家的目標是通過包括社交渠道在內(nèi)的所有渠道實現(xiàn)、保持和消費者之間的完整對話，從而建立起能推動社交銷售的互利關(guān)系。怎么實現(xiàn)這個目標呢？

????第一步就是要認識到，雖然在社交網(wǎng)絡中，很多影響產(chǎn)品知名度和需求的因素不再受到商家的控制（而是進入消費者之間的交流空間），社交對話帶來的關(guān)注仍是一個重大的競爭優(yōu)勢。某家知名汽車廠商就很理解這一點。公司一直在社交媒體上監(jiān)視顧客的看法，實時獲得他們對產(chǎn)品的批評意見，并據(jù)此迅速采取行動，而不是等到下一個產(chǎn)品發(fā)布周期。最近的例子是，通過分析顧客在社交網(wǎng)絡的反饋，這家公司確認了他們對某款汽車坐墊舒適度的不滿，進而在新車型中引入了新式座椅。

????社交媒體在顧客從產(chǎn)品認知到考慮購買的轉(zhuǎn)化過程中同樣起著重要的作用。大約90%的消費者相信他人的推薦（而僅僅14%的人相信廣告），而商家也能通過參與這種消費者之間的對話來實現(xiàn)價值。主要的目標是幫助創(chuàng)造社交資本，同時增強潛在顧客和他們的圈子內(nèi)那些喜歡推薦專門產(chǎn)品的人之間的社交聯(lián)系。

????其次，調(diào)查如何使用社交媒體來壓縮銷售周期，使得購物者能夠迅速地（和完全數(shù)字化地）實現(xiàn)從認知到推薦再到購買的轉(zhuǎn)變。公司如果能夠控制這一過程，創(chuàng)造從營銷漏斗到電子商廈的便捷、快速的旅程，就能降低銷售和推廣成本，同時增加銷售量。

????購物一直就是一個社會現(xiàn)象。社交媒體增強了這一體驗，讓考慮、挑選和購買的整個過程更具互動性，更富于樂趣。選對方法，實現(xiàn)便捷，就能為公司帶來強有力的新工具：也就是在數(shù)碼世界促進沖動購物的能力。

????最后，公司應該把社交商務看成他們與顧客交流和交易方式中不可分割的一部分。這意味著開發(fā)自洽的社交戰(zhàn)略，承認社交在營銷漏斗的各個階段的作用，而且還要了解社交商務和電子商務以及實體環(huán)境的交叉領(lǐng)域。所以這些都可以同時發(fā)生，比如在店內(nèi)，社交平臺可以用來教育購物者以及推動交易的完成。

????社交商務需要成為“合心協(xié)力”，而不是“非此即彼”。商家將通過掌握社交媒體、管理社交工具而獲利。創(chuàng)造一個單一、集中和工業(yè)化的電子商務網(wǎng)站來實現(xiàn)大包大攬已經(jīng)過時了?，F(xiàn)在的做法是：通過在各種網(wǎng)站、應用、平臺和論壇使用共同的工具和戰(zhàn)略，向目標顧客提供專門而豐富的體驗。

????這就需要迅捷的努力，不斷演變以適應顧客要求的變化。強大的分析工具將起到關(guān)鍵作用，幫助商家了解在特定的社交環(huán)境中什么形式的營銷效果最好，使得他們能夠分析精細數(shù)據(jù)并開發(fā)優(yōu)化的解決方案，始終與顧客的需求保持同步。

????Facebook's IPO and subsequent stock market performance continues to be widely reported. What has attracted less coverage is that it soon will be dropping Facebook Credits in favor of local currency pricing -- a vital step towards offering full-service payment functionality online. A clearer signpost to the reality of "social sales" -- financial transactions taking place within a social site -- is hard to imagine.

????Most companies' early efforts with social have been the equivalent of "brochureware" (just as they were on the internet back in the 1990s). And although levels of sophistication are growing -- Dell's (DELL) $6 million-plus in sales via Twitter, for example -- most social commerce experiments have a long way to go. All too often, when shoppers on a retailer's social pages are ready to buy, they're sent elsewhere to complete the transaction, disrupting what should be a seamless experience.

????The goal is to enable and sustain integrated conversations with consumers across all channels – social and otherwise – establishing the mutually rewarding relationships that drive social sales. So how to get there?

????The first step is to recognize that while social moves many of the factors influencing product awareness and demand beyond providers' control (and into the C2C space), the buzz of social conversation is also a great competitive advantage. One well-known car manufacturer understands this. The company monitors consumers on social media to learn their criticisms in real-time -- and acts on them at speed, instead of waiting for the next product-launch cycle. In one recent example, the company used analysis of customer feedback on social networks to corroborate evidence of dissatisfaction with the comfort of seats in one of its vehicles, before introducing new seats to future models.

????Social also plays a key role in moving consumers from awareness to consideration. Some 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations (just 14% trust advertisements)* and businesses can start to realize value through participation in these peer-to-peer conversations. The key objective is to help create social capital and increase social connections between potential customers and those within their networks who are naturally inclined to recommend specific products.

????Next, investigate how social can be used to compress the sales cycle so shoppers can move rapidly (and entirely digitally) from awareness to recommendation to purchase. Companies that can control that journey, creating easier and faster trips down the marketing funnel to the digital mall, will lower sales and marketing costs and boost sales volumes.

????Shopping has always been a social phenomenon. Social amps up the experience, making the whole process of consideration, selection and purchase more interactive -- and more fun. Getting it right, and making it easy, opens a powerful new tool for businesses… the ability to enable impulse buys in a digital world.

????Ultimately, companies need to see social commerce as integral to the way in which they communicate and transact with consumers. This means developing a coherent social strategy, acknowledging social's role at each stage of the marketing funnel and understanding where it intersects with e-commerce and physical environments. It can often coincide -- in-store, for example, where social platforms can be used to educate shoppers and close transactions.

????Social commerce needs to become an "and," not an "or." Marketers will benefit from mastering social media and managing social tools. It's no longer about creating a single, central, industrialized e-commerce site to serve every possible function. Now, it's all about common tools and strategies deployed across multiple sites, apps, platforms and fora to give targeted customers specific and rich experiences.

????This will call for agile efforts that evolve to match consumers' changing needs. Powerful analytic tools will play a vital role, helping marketers to understand what forms of marketing work best in particular social environments, as well as enabling them to analyze granular data and develop optimized solutions that sustain relevance to customers.