If you're a regular reader of my Blogs you will see I've written a number of articles about so called 'Influencers' and the rise of 'Social Commerce'.

If it's a new term for you perhaps this will help; 

In simple terms the continued rise of 'Social Commerce' means that you and me will now be able to make that purchase directly from our social media feed, effectively cutting out the website destination, all influenced by authentic social media 'content creators'.

So, whats that going to do to search engine land, Google, and of course your shiny corporate brochure ware website?

Social Commerce is already firmly embedded in eastern culture with China leading the way with 'We Chat', so it's not surprising that western social networks will follow suit.

Facebook, which owns Instagram and Whatsapp, said this week that the future of shopping would depend on content "creators".

Hiring so-called influencers to shift goods is nothing new. Royal warrants have been sought after for centuries.

They used to be a way to know a product was probably safe and reliable long before consumer protection laws were common. If you got one, your product was literally fit for a king.

Influencer's today are not necessarily the 'Kim Kardashian's' of social media land, they can be anyone who regularly produces good content, adds value to an audience, and has built up a level of authenticity and trust, they might even be one of your employees!. 

If your in B2B and sell 'big ticket' items your probably thinking 'so what?'

Well, if your reading this article I might argue that on a very small scale I am potentially influencing your view on 'Social Commerce', and if I wanted to 'commercialise' this blog I could provide you with the ability to go and buy the toolkit to do 'social commerce' from your competitor where I would get a cut of the sale - affiliate marketing for the modern age you might say.

The rise of social commerce isn't going away, it's impact is being felt by all market sectors not just eCommerce. What we do know is that social media has already changed the B2B buying journey forever.

We can evidence that 68% of pre-purchase research has been done by a prospect long before any direct contact with a vendor is made. And there are between 8-10 people involved in that research phase, they have probably got a 'Millennial' doing the early review work as well because they understand social best of all, they are also influencers in the direction a company might take in deciding between you and your competitor whose also selling the best legal advice services, accountancy packages, or Cloud solution.

At DLA Ignite we specialise in helping companies and the internal 'Change Makers' deliver on many of these points, and I'm pretty sure we can help you as well. 

We have a tried and tested methodology, we hold you and your colleagues hand throughout, ensuring we not only 'teach' you what to do, we also make sure its firmly embedded into your firms and employees DNA.

We don't do retainers, we are not an agency that creates and produces copy/content or sells ads for you.

We are active 'practitioners' of what we do, we already know and can evidence the ROI of a robust and internally aligned 'Social' strategy.

Part of that evidence it that you are reading this blog, just like many others - including your competitor!

We also don't do outbound pushy, salesy marketing, so if you would like to explore more, please contact the author of this blog.