eBay’s Marketplaces division is continuing to pursue innovative new ways to leverage the power of social media, including adding Facebook “Like” buttons to key online pages, which allow users to share their interest in products and notify Facebook friends with one click. Recent research showed that Facebook users are highly interested in eBay-driven deals, and many e-commerce sites are making increasing use of Facebook “Like” buttons to encourage information sharing.
“Facebook plug-ins are some of the best marketing tools going right now,” said Julie Haddon, Senior Director of Social Media and Integrated Marketing at eBay. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal recently noted that Facebook “Like” buttons are rapidly increasing in popularity across many types of sites. “We can’t ignore the opportunity to reach 500 million people,” said Haddon. "The eBay Product team has done an awesome job staying ahead of the innovation curve and working on ways to drive social shopping by taking our platform and extending it across the social graphs of Facebook users to drive commerce.”
eBay’s Fashion Vault includes a prominent “Like” button, as seen below.
In another example of eBay's commitment to leveraging social media platforms, the company recently launched eBay Daily Deals “Like” buttons, as seen below.
So how do Facebook “Like” buttons work? When a user is logged into Facebook and clicks on a “Like” button on any page online, that action is logged on the user’s Facebook profile, and may run in the news feeds of the user’s friends.
eBay's latest Facebook initiatives are part of a much larger "social commerce" effort to leverage many social media channels, including Twitter. "In many ways, eBay was the original social network and we've always been rooted in the notion of community. Social is core to our DNA of our brand," said Haddon. " We have a vibrant and powerful community of customers around the world we can engage with thanks to new social tools, platforms and channels. It’s a great time to be part of this social commerce revolution and we’re excited about the future."