Social selling and marketplaces: influences of the users

On social networks as well as on service marketplaces, the consumer is placed at the center of the actions.

When business matches with social inquiry 

With the digital revolution, social networks are now at the center of studies conducted by companies and service marketplaces that are looking to maximize their profits through several channels. Lets focus on one of these practices: social selling. 

What is social selling? Social selling involves the use of social networks to make sales. This includes identifying prospects, connecting with consumers, disseminating qualified information, recommendations made by third parties, competitors and business intelligence. It is therefore used to both monitor what the company does via social networks and the visibility provided by this.

 Social selling is made up of a couple components: prospecting and personal branding. The seller is a reference in their field, as well as employee advocacy. Employees are the keystone here, and they act as privileged intermediaries talking about their company on their networks. The most convincing example of this can be observed with influencers. Influencers often promote service companies on their networks, which gives them greater exposure. Firms can also organize their own advertising on networks. We can see this with the use of Instagram by the company Ink me up. Influencers and employees of the company can talk about their brand via their social networks giving the company better exposure. 

Service marketplaces meet current customer needs: the consumer is king 

Social selling puts the consumer at the center of production. Supply is made according to demand. In terms of services, we create a marketplace that targets the consumer more precisely. 

Ubereats for example now inquires about allergies and offers consumers the ability to make special requests. Uber offers  “pool” and “X” options instead of its usual service. 

Service marketplaces and social networks put the consumer experience at the center of their focus

For Uber and Ubereats, the customer experience is one of the main focuses of the company. The goal is to create a unique experience between the customer and the company. The concept of customer experience is interesting. In addition to simple consumption that the marketplaces offer, we want the consumer to have an enjoyable experience and be at the center of the whole process. The search bar is symptomatic of this phenomenon. When the user navigates on a site, he or she is directly led to search for their specific needs. Here, we can use the example of Labtoo – a service marketplace that links laboratories and companies that want to outsource their R&D. When the home page of the site is opened, the customer is led to express what they are looking for. All navigation on the site will be based on the searches made. 

We can consider service marketplaces and social networks to be third parties in this economy of experience. However, both platforms rely mainly on the consumer, a consumer king. They are both an influencer and the influenced. 

Conclusion

Service marketplaces and social networks put the consumers at the center of their studies to build their market, notably through social selling. They then build tailor-made buying groups from this data. The off-marketplace experience and quality of service are key. 

Resources :

Dabi-Schwebel, G. (2017, October 6). Le Social Selling, c’est quoi ? Agence 1min30. https://www.1min30.com/social-selling/le-social-selling-cest-quoi-27768

Magnetic Way. (2016). Le Social Selling, définition et usages Business (#2) [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BePGPd9BkTw

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