8.3.3. Improve customer loyalty. In a day when customers are one click away from doing business elsewhere, the importance of increasing customer loyalty and lifetime value cannot be overstated. By building relationships with new customers and strengthening relationships with existing ones via social networks, it stands to reason both will increase.
8.3.4. Provide marketing insights. Even retailers who choose not to pro-actively participate in social media can benefit by listening to the groundswell of opinion expressed by consumers on such sites. If it’s true that people trust recommendations and advice from other people online, then it behooves merchants to make a practice of hearing what these folks have to say about their brand, products and services.
8.3.5. Support search engine optimization. In her Practical Ecommerce article, “SEO: 5 Reasons Not to Ignore Google+,” search marketing expert Jill Kocher cited a report from search marketing tools vendor Moz, which stated there is a correlation between higher search rankings and Google +1s. “Though Google denies that +1s are an algorithmic factor in search rankings, some speculate that sharing content on Google+ has a causal relationship with higher Google rankings. As Google’s social network becomes more main stream, we can expect its social signals to be incorporated into Google’s search algorithms,” said Kocher. If that is the case, or soon will be, then social media participation merits consideration for SEO purposes alone.