Today, online shopping and social media go hand in hand. Suppose you are on Facebook and see an item you just have to have. You can make your purchase immediately online, in just a couple of clicks. This is the sort of experience social commerce provides. It streamlines the buying journey by removing additional steps and encouraging shoppers to complete their purchases.
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Social commerce (aka “social shopping”) is essentially selling and purchasing products and services directly through social media. This means consumers can use their preferred social media platforms to search and buy instantly.
Shopping directly on social media is a simple, convenient way for consumers to discover and buy services and products. For companies, it’s an excellent way to increase their customer base and reach rapidly.
How Does Social Commerce Work?
Social commerce entails brands providing products for purchase within social media platforms, showing product descriptions, costs, and availability. In a complete social shopping setup, consumers can search for and buy a product or service without leaving the social media platform.
Brands can make their products simple to find by placing shoppable content on social media. Based on the platform, a company may even be able to create a shop within the social media app. Consumers can also talk with customer support directly through the social media app's messaging feature, getting a quick and frictionless shopping experience.
Shoppers can also often interact with AI-driven chatbots that function as their stylists or personal shoppers during their social shopping experience. These chatbots deliver a conversational experience for consumers while guaranteeing fast response times.
Types of Social Commerce
Here are some different types of social commerce that can be included in your marketing or sales strategy:
Influencer marketing - Social media influencers endorse services or products via their channels, usually getting a commission on every sale.
Social media advertising - Advertisements on social media (Instagram and Facebook) can be aimed at particular consumers, featuring a ‘buy now’ offer and offering a customized user experience.
Content marketing - Generating content (videos, articles, blog posts) can help foster relationships with new customers and build a brand as a leader in its industry. The content can be included on social channels, functioning as a gateway for social selling.
Live streaming events - Hosting live events on social media platforms, like Facebook or YouTube, allows viewers to engage directly with the brand by asking questions and offering feedback during the stream.
Shoppable video is known for leading to higher sales as it includes a purchasing option as part of the live stream.
The Benefits of Social Commerce
There are several benefits to having a social commerce strategy in place, including:
- Generating web traffic
- Boosting online sales
- Increasing brand recognition
- Offering a unified shopping experience
- Leveraging significant shopping events such as Black Friday and holidays
- Driving loyalty and customer retention
- Turning social media into an efficient revenue stream
Various sellers of consumer products can benefit from social shopping. If you have a huge following on social media, social shopping allows you to monetize it using your current audience. If you're beginning to build a social presence, your activities and followers can increase together by incorporating social selling in your social media strategy.
The products that typically work the best are retail, beauty, consumer electronics, automotive, and fashion.
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Examples of Social Commerce
Brands across multiple industries have leveraged social commerce in various ways, from targeting their audience to multi-channel approaches. Here are examples from a few top brands:
Nike - Nike has several social media accounts aimed at various consumers, making their posts very engaging to their community. Adhering to social media trends and working with celebrities and athletes, their reach and social shopping strategies are top-notch.
Sephora - The trendy brand is always trying to enrich the shopping experience for its online customers and shoppers who visit its stores, offering customization at every step of their consumers' journey. Sephora is one of the best when it comes to engaging its audience due to its work with beauty influencers.
Coach - Amazing photographs that include a shoppable link make for a lavishing social shopping experience for individuals who like and follow Coach on Instagram.
Tiffany & Co - If you’re a luxury brand and want to maintain your high-end image on social media, check out Tiffany & Co’s social shopping strategy. Using its Tiffany Blue moniker for an attractive Instagram homepage, many designs have shoppable links to promote friction-free purchases.
Building Your Brand with Social Commerce
E-commerce is continuously changing. Creating content and anticipating customers will come to you is no longer enough. Today's businesses need to know where their customers are. This is where social media comes into play. There are many reasons why brands need to use selling and purchasing on their socials as a sales and marketing strategy.
Enhance Brand Awareness
According to research from Sprout Social, one in three consumers learn about new products via social media. While most people purchase from brands they already know, it is vital to enhance your brand's profile as much as possible, and social media is an excellent way to do this.
Boost Website Traffic
It is crucial to make your social posts shoppable.
A shoppable storefront is a landing experience that links the gap between commerce and social. It is crafted to continue the social experience that first enticed the prospective new shopper to your brand.
Creating a shoppable storefront can provide a customer experience that makes the buyer journey as pleasant and engaging as possible. By guaranteeing the products advertised on your socials are available for buying with just a few clicks, with correct pricing and seamless checkout, you’re more than likely to see your sales and conversion increase.
Increase Sales
Website traffic and brand awareness work together to increase sales and customer acquisition.
Enhancing brand awareness and improving the landing page experience for your visitors will allow you to use a new sales funnel to boost your revenue like never before.
If you want to discover how social commerce and video commerce can help your business earn more conversions, book a demo or video call with one of our representatives. We’ll show you how a customized plan will help your company boost conversion and customer engagement, all in one go.
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