Social Media Support

In your ShopSite E-commerce store you can easily enable social media features to work with your social media accounts. Facebook like, Facebook store, Facebook Registration, Twitter Tweet, Google+, Google Plusone, and Pinterest. All of the social media features are built into the ShopSite themes. If you are using a custom template you will need to make sure that your template supports these features.

Facebook Fan Page Follow

Facebook is an interactive way to connect with your customers. To setup Facebook for your business you will want to either create a Facebook account, or just login to your regular Facebook account. Within your "Account Settings" section there will be a link to "Create a Page." Create a page for your store, naming it, adding your company logo to the page, and add a few posts. Now you are ready to promote your Facebook fan page on your ShopSite e-commerce website. In your ShopSite backoffice go to Merchandising > Social Media > Facebook, and enter your Facebook Fan Page information. Once setup, a Facebook icon (similar to the icon to the right) will be added to all of your store pages.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Facebook Fan Page tags to your custom template

Facebook Like
Everyone has seen websites with the "Like" icon that shows how many people 'like' your website, or a specific page, or a specific product. Often times these "like" buttons will even list which of your facebook friends 'likes' the site, page or product. You can add a "Like" button to both your ShopSite pages and your ShopSite product more information pages by simply turning this feature on under Merchandising > Social Media > Facebook. You do not need to have a company Facebook page for this feature, but customer's using this feature will most certainly have a Facebook Account, so if your company does not have one also, I would suggest setting one up. Test out the Facebook Like button on the right (it's for the ShopSite website :) ).
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Facebook Like tags to your custom template

Facebook Store
Think of your Facebook Store as a "Specials" or "Promotions" page. This single page will be shown on your company Facebook Fan Page as a way of promoting your website, promotion a discount or special, or promoting specific products. To set this up, first go to Pages > Add A Page. Name this page something catchy, something that sets the tone for your store. If you sell cupcakes, you could name this page "Tasty Designer Cupcakes" or if you sell funny t-shirts you could name your page "Clothes that literally make a statement." After naming your page, add some text, products, images, or anything that will draw customers in and make them want to look at your website. Last, click on "Edit Page Layout" and assign one of the "Facebook" templates as the template for this Facebook Store page. Now you are ready to link this page to your company's Facebook Fan Page. To set this up go to Merchandising > Social Media > Facebook. There is also a video tutorial (see below) for visual instructions.
Video Tutorial: How to setup a Facebook Store using ShopSite

Facebook Connect
Facebook Connect is a feature that allows your customers to login to your ShopSite store using their Facebook Account. People have tons of account logins these days; many people have email logins, a facebook login, a twitter login, and many logins specific to a single website. By adding Facebook Connect to your websites, customers aren't afraid to register, having yet another site login they have to remember, instead customers can use a login they likely already have, their Facebook Account. You can turn on the option for customers to register using Facebook Connect by going to Commerce Setup > Customer Registration > Configure. With this option, you will need to first have your company's Facebook Account setup to support this. Make sure to follow the steps outlined in the ShopSite Help for Setting Up Facebook Connect before enabling this feature.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Facebook Connect tags to your custom template

Twitter Follow
Twitter Follow example iconTwitter, like Facebook, can be used as a tool to be interactive with your customers. Companies like Doritos and TacoBell include requests in their commercials for fans of their product to tweet about them using specific hashtags (jargon translator below if you need it :) "tweet" and "hashtag"). Some companies will directly 'talk' with their customers on Twitter, such as JetBlue who has a team who's only job is to respond to customer questions on Facebook and Twitter. ShopSite uses twitter to update merchants on going-ons in the world of web and e-commerce, such as when Google makes a new announcement that may affect online merchants, tips on online marketing, and each time there is a new release in ShopSite. If you setup a Twitter Account for your company, you can easily link to it by adding your Twitter ID in ShopSite under Merchandising > Social Media > Twitter. This will place a logo, similar to the one on the right, to all of your ShopSite store pages.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Twitter Follow tags to your custom template

Twitter Tweet
It's not only your own company that you want to be tweeting about your website and your products, but you want your customers to tweet about your website as well. Enabling the Twitter Tweet/Share feature in your ShopSite store will add a "tweet" image to all of your ShopSite pages and ShopSite product more information pages allowing customers to easily tweet about your page or product. A Twitter Tweet button looks like the one on the right; feel free to try it out (it tweets a nice blurb and link to ShopSite.com). You can enable the Twitter Tweet buttons by going to Merchandising > Social Media > Twitter.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Twitter Tweet tags to your custom template

Google +1 Button
Google +1 or Google Plusone Buttons can be used by anyone who has a Google Account. The Google +1 Button works very similar to a Facebook Like button. Google Account holders can add their vote for a page or product. These buttons have the Google +1 fan count totals as well as will display if any of the customer's Google friends or Google contacts vote for that page or product as well. The added benefit of Google +1 Buttons is that they are now show in Google search results. To enable the Google +1 Buttons on your ShopSite pages and ShopSite product more information pages, go to Merchandising > Social Media > Google. You do not need a Google Account to enable the Google +1 Buttons on your website.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Google +1 tags to your custom template

Google+ Page
Google+ Pages are used similar to a Facebook Fan Page but without all the pizzaz of a Facebook Fan Page. Google+ Pages have pictures, and list a company's information as well as many of the Google +1 votes. This is a good resource for customers to get a basic outline of what your company is, what you talk about, and maybe some interesting images. You can setup a Google+ Page from your Google Account. Once your page is setup you can login to your ShopSite store and go to Merchandising > Social Media > Google. After you enter in your Google+ Page URL and publish your store, a link to your Google+ Page will be displayed on all of your ShopSite pages and ShopSite product more information pages.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Google+ tags to your custom template

Pinterest Follow
Pinterest is yet another social media site that has seen tremendous growth. Currently, Pinterest appeals more to women. It is great for sharing recipes, fashion trends, decorating ideas and so forth. It does this by pinning to your Pinterest page a photo of, say, the finished dish for a recipe, thereby sharing it. Pinterest is a highly visual site. In order to use this feature you first need to have a company Pinterest Account. Once you have a Pinterest Account you can login to your ShopSite store, go to Merchandising > Social Media > Pinterest, and configure your Pinterest Follow icon.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Pinterest tags to your custom template
ShopSite Blog Post: Pinterest as Another E-commerce Channel

Pinterest Pin
To get your products pinned you need an engaging, high quality image. If you are using ShopSite v11 sp2, then from within ShopSite you can tell it to automatically put the "follow me on Pinterest" image on your pages and the "Pin it" button on your More Info (product) pages. To enable these buttons, go to Merchandising > Social Media > Pinterest.
Merchants using custom templates: How to add the Pinterest Pin tags to your custom template
ShopSite Blog Post: Pinterest as Another E-commerce Channel


Social Media Jargon Translations

With new social media comes new lingo used in regular everyday speech. Below are some common words or phrases and an explanation of what they mean.

  • Tweet - "A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter, a microblogging service. Because Twitter only allows messages of 140 characters or less, "tweet" is as much a play on the size of the message as it is on the audible similarity to Twitter." - about.com
  • Hashtag - "The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages." twitter.com
  • Pin - "A pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be a dded from a website using the Pin It button, or you can upload images from your computer. Each pin added using the Pin It button links back to the site it came from." - pinterest.com