{"id":4288,"date":"2012-08-17T16:58:44","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T16:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=4288"},"modified":"2012-08-17T16:58:44","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T16:58:44","slug":"social-commerce-is-relationship-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/social-commerce-is-relationship-commerce\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Commerce is Relationship Commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/12.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4289\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"189\" \/><\/a>We\u2019re hearing more and more about \u201cSocial Commerce\u201d these days \u2013 but how many of us actually understand its implications?\u00a0 I\u2019ve spent years in the midst of the evolution of commerce: As traditional commerce shifted into a digital world, becoming e-commerce, and now evolving through the evolution of social media into Social Commerce. The implications here are huge because the maturing of Social Commerce is\u2026 Relationship Commerce.<\/p>\n<p>There are some guiding principles to Relationship Commerce.\u00a0 None seem drastically different on their own; though they seem radically new when applied to the realm of commerce:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Relationships matter.\u00a0 Discovering something you love is great, learning about it from someone you trust is even better.<\/li>\n<li>Buying from someone you like is way more fun and rewarding than buying from someone you either do not like, or have no feeling one way or the other.<\/li>\n<li>Shopping can be better.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Relationship Commerce is simple yet novel, it\u2019s buying from people, brands, and entities you know and trust and learning about through social channels in a way that is authentic, natural and a part of your daily interactions. If marketing is relevant, it is a \u201cservice\u201d NOT a \u201cpromotion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But in a fast paced, digital world, defining and maintaining our relationships has become unexpectedly difficult.\u00a0 Social Media has enabled us to connect with an infinite number of individuals; it has given us the tools to extend relationships that years ago would have been impossible.\u00a0 But in many respects we are failing and simply starting to believe that a \u201cfollow\u201d or \u201clike\u201d is a relationship and after that we can simply move on to the next. This is not an email list or a database. We must be certain to remember: \u201cSocial Media is a facilitator of relationships, but it is not the relationship itself.\u201d\u00a0 You have to give to get.\u00a0No relationship can survive without trust; it\u2019s so simple in concept yet not always easy to execute.<\/p>\n<p>With effort, a relationship may begin from the request of a Facebook friend or following someone on Twitter; but make no mistake \u2013 that initial request or follow will never create the relationship. \u00a0Trust is built upon interaction, when you\u2019re true to your word, authentic, and genuine.\u00a0To build relationships online, you (as a brand or individual) have to offer value in return.\u00a0Be it via valuable information and content, or personal introductions, engagement and interaction\u2026 connection will remain key.<\/p>\n<p>By asking questions and proposing ideas, you can\u00a0<em><strong>engage<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0your followers in such a way to give them the ability and reason to respond.\u00a0Then when they do respond,\u00a0<em><strong>interact<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0with them to solidify your relationship, lest it fade away.\u00a0Directly acknowledge their response, ask follow-up questions and share their insights with others. \u00a0Follow me on Twitter (@tedrubin) and you\u2019ll see what I mean. The more responsive you are to your audience, the more responsive they\u2019ll be to you.\u00a0And that\u2019s where relationships are born. It is this interpersonal exchange, the relationship, which differentiates Relationship Commerce.\u00a0 You might even consider picking up the phone sometime and actually talking to someone\u2026 or even to many. Life is not just about financial exchange, and neither is commerce\u2026 especially in today\u2019s hyper-connected \u201cclick here to share\u201d world.<\/p>\n<p>The way I see it, we\u2019re overdue for a revolution in retail.\u00a0 So many of us have been sharing our passions and discoveries, it\u2019s about time brands and retailers took notice, gave us a voice, embraced the consumers perspective, and realized how our social presence can enhance their bottom line.<\/p>\n<p><em>Originally posted at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.collectivebias.com\/2012\/05\/04\/social-commerce-is-relationship-commerce\/\">Collective Bias<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re hearing more and more about \u201cSocial Commerce\u201d these days \u2013 but how many of us actually understand its implications?\u00a0 I\u2019ve spent years in the midst of the evolution of commerce: As traditional commerce shifted into a digital world, becoming e-commerce, and now evolving through the evolution of social media into Social Commerce. The implications &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/social-commerce-is-relationship-commerce\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1458,1413,530,480,1691,796,3],"class_list":["post-4288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tedrubin","tag-tedrubin-2","tag-featured","tag-relationship-commerce","tag-return-on-relationship","tag-shopper-marketing","tag-social-commerce","tag-ted-rubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4291,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288\/revisions\/4291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}