Take the best of social web, mix it with ecommerce and you get social commerce, a new trend that is changing the face of online brands and retail. Over the last year, this e-mashup has been on the rise and presents online stores a new way to engage customers and increase sales.

Social commerce isn’t just a new buzzword or merely spamming your fans on Facebook, it’s a new way to do business online and engage customers. This interactive form of e-commerce came about as a result of brands communicating with consumers via social media and wanting to use that platform to leverage sales and bolster ROI. When done right, social commerce can strengthen existing consumer loyalty whose influence can be used gain new customers.

In an April 2011 survey by Shop.org, 56% of the U.S. consumers polled say they have clicked through to a retailer’s website because of a Facebook post.  Marketing experts and basic intuition tells businesses to gravitate toward a population of potential consumers. With over 700 million users on Facebook, not to mention other social media platforms it’s clear  —potential consumers are being social on the web.

With a little creativity, sky is the limit when it comes to social commerce. Brands are finding new and innovative ways to share and sell via the social web. Within the last few months, many companies have shared insight and analytics regarding their escapades in the social scope.  Here are some tried and true ways to build your business with social commerce:

Post Purchase Sharing – Post purchase sharing is somewhat like good old fashion peer pressure. With simple sharing tools added to the checkout process, customers can share with their established networks during the “honeymoon” phase of a purchase. Studies have shown that people are more likely to purchase, attend or like something after their friends have tried it out or recommend it. By programming sharing functionality into the post-purchase communication, you will be exposing your business to an array of potential new customer.

EventBrite, an event marketing and planning company built a customized suite of analytics to measure the effect of social commerce. The results are clear: The post-purchase point in the consumer funnel is significantly more conducive to social activity. As a result, post-purchase sharing drives a much higher ticket-sales-per-share percentage.

Group Purchasing – Group buying is a quick and easy option for businesses looking to acquire new customers and hop on the social commerce train. Companies like Groupon, LivingSocial and TownHog are social platforms built to encourage word-of-mouth marketing and allow groups of people to purchase discounted goods and services.

Let’s be clear, the group buying option is not designed to help you rake in the big bucks or boost profit lines. Many businesses have reported that they did not make a lot of money with a group buy. This tool is best used for businesses that want to expose their brand or business to a larger audience through the social web. If you are going to try out this option, make sure you ask lots of questions and read all the fine print and to be prepared for questions and added customers.

Selling on Facebook – It was only a matter of time… With so many people logging on to Facebook each day, the logical next step for business was to sell directly to consumers ON the platform. Over the last year we’ve seen many big brands open up shop on Facebook and the numbers keep growing.

Through Facebook Stores, Facebook Deals and Facebook Credits, there are several ways in which brands and companies can leverage the popular social network. Each of these unique features offer different ways for brands to interact and sell directly to consumers. Check out the HATHWAY Blog article, F-Commerce: Selling on Facebook for more information.

These are just a few ways to build your business online using social media. Bottom line – there are several ways in which you can use the social web to gain new customers and increase sales. The best way to figure out what will work best for your business is to get out on the social web: participate, research and see what other companies are doing. {Shameless Plug} You can also give us a call.

Sign up here to receive an email each time a new blog is published.