It’s Social Media Atlanta week and the ShopVisible team attended several panel discussions including “Social Media for Start-Ups,” “Social, Viral, and Experiential is the New Boom Boom Pow of Marketing,” and “Social Media Innovations.” We came away with some great information about social media strategies for ecommerce companies.

With worldwide broadband access increasing from 55 to 90% in 2012 and over 1.7 billion internet users worldwide, there’s no denying the importance of an ecommerce strategy. How do you best reach those users and potential customers?

Social media presence is no longer optional, its a necessity. Yvette Evans, director of business development at Vitrue, notes that the average time spent on social media sites increased 82% from 2008 to 2009. Facebook and Twitter are easy and affordable ways to reach a captive audience. The key to success and measurable increases in sales is to build relationships with your fans and encourage loyalty by keeping them active. What are the five important things should you consider when building your social media campaign?

(1) Improve Customer Service

Think of social media as another avenue for customer service. Respond to tweets and posts that have complaints, suggestions, or compliments. Listen to what consumers are saying and respond accordingly. Your customers will appreciate the individual attention and remember it the next time they purchase.

(2) Leverage Your Social Network

Build personal relationships with influential followers. Seek out consumers that have a large social media following and take the time to get to know them. Offer a giveaway on their blog, or an exclusive discount code they can give their readers. You’ll reach a new audience and potential customers you did not have access to previously.

(3) Create Content

Keep your content fresh and up to date. Nicole Jayne, Social Media Manager for Scoutmob, stresses the importance of identifying your voice and keeping it authentic to your brand. Once you’ve found it, produce relevant and compelling content often to keep consumers engaged.

(4) Offer Incentives

Run promotions, contests, discounts, and ads on Facebook. Consumers will share deals with their friends and expand your advertising reach exponentially at little cost to you. According to a study by BBDO, 82% of Facebook users say that businesses could improve their page by adding more deals and coupons. Listen to the people, leverage opportunities during slow periods and holidays to increase sales.

(5) Give Your Customer A Voice

Add customer reviews to your site. Dean Trevelino of Trevelino Keller notes that 72% of people trust peer reviews and only fourteen percent trust traditional advertising methods. Not only do these reviews give new customers guidance when purchasing, but they naturally increase your SEO by providing fresh content to your site on a frequent basis.

What can we expect to see in 2011? The panelists focused a great deal on the opportunities brought about by mobile devices. With the explosive adoption of smartphone and tablet use, consumers will do a large portion of their shopping with these mobile devices. Implementing a mobile solution like ShopVisible’s Mobile Commerce solutions ensures that your customer stays connected to your site, wherever they’re searching.

Additionally, panelists discussed social media innovations in the form of twitter payments, targeted coupon offers through Facebook, and blog search engines. With the ability to reach 500 million consumers on Facebook and 145 million consumers on Twitter, this is an exciting time for social media. Retailers and brands should join the conversation.

ShopVisible believes the time of tacitly sitting on the sideline has passed. You have to get in the conversation, and begin to engage customers in ways that will end up providing a great return on investment - returns on your dollars, and your customers' time spent.