Social Commerce Blog | Open your store in Facebook

The Importance of Social Integration and F-Commerce

Posted in: Social Commerce Blog by Teamvoiyk on 09/08/2010

by: Matt Blum

The jury is still out on whether social media can drive sales, but one thing is becoming very clear, sales are happening on social media sites (e-commerce), especially on Facebook (f-commerce). Let us examine the importance of Social Integration and F-Commerce, along with the importance of Facebook friends sharing items with their friends and asking friends, before they buy something.

Facebook, now being a place where goods are sold will actually help their primary revenue strategy (advertising), as ads on their site will be closer to a potential purchase- with the focus on not just being a marketing tool, but a sales tool as well.

Facebook has given free reign to leading developers such as (www.voiyk.com) to develop commerce apps. This allows the full social interaction and user contributions to assist in the online buying of products and services. But why is F-Commerce so important? There are a lot of folks out there who desire a more comfortable, easy shopping experience and in a way wanted to avoid the overcrowded shopping mall. Online F-Commerce offers a friendly and attractive environment along with polite answers to the customer’s questions. More specifically, F-Commerce just got a big boost when the announcement was made that Facebook was partnering with PayPal, the world’s leading online payment option. Also, the sheer scale and weight that 500 million users can leverage is very exciting. We expect F-Commerce to continue to flourish. Read more…

3 Great Ways To Use Facebook for E-Commerce

Posted in: Social Commerce Blog by Teamvoiyk on 09/01/2010

by: Matt Blum

Are you taking full advantage of the social media marketing machine Facebook?

Not sure how to use Facebook for your E-Commerce Site?

Facebook allows E-commerce sites to leverage their customers and fans to engage, interact and send people directly to their e-commerce page (e.g.. www.voiyk.com).

Lets take a look at 3 ways to use Facebook in E-Commerce….

1. Discussion Boards (Link)

First, discussion boards enable your fans to get their thoughts and ideas out into the open. The boards also let you know what your customers and fans think and want. There are a number of things to remember when you use the discussion boards on Facebook:

the discussion boards are your platform to tell your story to the community, sometimes good, sometimes bad
the boards allow you to provide cohesive branding, matching up with your other branding efforts across the board, most importantly providing a consistent message Read more…

The Importance of Social Media in E-Commerce

Posted in: Social Commerce Blog by Teamvoiyk on 08/26/2010

We have all seen the explosion of corporations creating online communities, but let us take a look at how easy it can be to connect with your e-commerce customers and how important social media is to your customers.

First, we have to ask the question, how do you take the seemingly limitless social media conversations and turn them into actionable insights? Also, how can you understand what is being said and the context of those conversations?

Social media in any context offers incredibly good (and free) feedback on a variety of goods and services. Online Retailers need to use this information to their advantage. Using it to your advantage means using both the good and bad comments. Here are some practical tips we can take a look at. Most importantly, keep the conversation going and make sure your social media content is relevant and current. Do remember that the end goal is product sales and customer connections. Also, rekindle the passion for your brand consistently using social media methods. For example, if you a leading e-commerce website (www.voiyk.com) and you are involved in a social media forum, why not hold weekly or bi-weekly chat sessions about the experiences with ordering product via www.voiyk.com? You will get invaluable responses from doing something like this. Read more…

Econsultancy: F-commerce is here. Make big wins if you play the game right.

Posted in: Social Commerce Blog by Teamvoiyk on 08/05/2010

05 August 2010 by Jake Hird via Econsultancy

A few months ago, I wrote about how a large chunk of e-commerce’s future is extremely likely to lie with Facebook. The recent announcement of half a billion active members should be enough to have any e-commerce or marketing professional chomping at the bit to seize the opportunity, get engaged and start selling.

Surprisingly though, there seems to be a lack of exploration into the existing possibilities…

I’m not suggesting that setting up shop on Facebook is suitable for everyone, but I am suggesting that there is potentially an enormous and currently untapped opportunity for retailers that they need to explore.

There *are* examples of companies experimenting with Facebook as a platform to sell products and services, but they seem to be few and far between. Leaving aside the well-worn and over-cited 1-800-Flowers.com example, there only seems to be a handful of the larger companies getting in on the act.

Disney recently begun selling cinema tickets for Toy Story 3 across Facebook and Procter & Gamble has reportedly dipped its toe into f-commerce, including setting up an impromptu store to make the most of the Old Spice buzz.

Smaller organisations are also trying to get in on the action. For example, the cosmetics company, Mark, now has online shop on their Facebook page and Fashion company NineWest is toying with an f-commerce store. Kudos for these guys taking the first steps into relatively unchartered territory. Read more…

Practical Ecommerce: Six Facebook Applications to Sell

Posted in: Social Commerce Blog by Teamvoiyk on 07/20/2010

20 July 2010 by Paul Chaney via Practical Ecommerce

Screenshot of Voiyk’s integration with Facebook.

Voiyk provides merchants with the ability to create a Facebook fan page store.

The setup is straightforward. Merchants input some basic information, agree to the terms of use, create a welcome page, and then set up the product catalog. They can upload three images for each product and pick up to three items to include in the top showcase.

Currently, transactions are not carried out from within the fan page. Rather, purchasers are rerouted to the original source. This can be listings on Amazon, eBay and the merchants’ own ecommerce sites. And anyone who is on Facebook and “Likes” the page can browse and share products. Voiyk says it is working on a fully functional version that will allow payment and shopping cart functions within the Facebook page.

Voiyk expects the rollout of that service in about a month. Voiyk is free for the first month of use, and $69 per year after that. There are no per-item fees, transaction fees or extra charges.

Example store: Salud Cast Iron Cookware.