What is social commerce? When smart marketers combine the powers of eCommerce and social media simultaneously, that is when social commerce comes into display. In simpler words, making purchases through social media directly.
Ever since eCommerce was introduced part of shopping was made much easier. Sitting in the comfort of our home and shopping without having to visit the store physically (except we are unable to grab Starbucks).
Even after most businesses are now using eStores, there are just too many steps to go through before we can purchase the item that we need. Secondly, some websites are just too complicated to understand, thanks to their developers.
Social commerce eliminates all these worries for the consumers. Consumers can make purchases directly from their social media without leaving the application. From viewing catalogs to making it to the checkout, all can be done whilst staying on your favorite social application.
Why Social Commerce is Much Better?
In the next three years, social media sales will increase by $735 billion. Using social commerce will surely skyrocket your brand’s revenue. Social media is a place where audiences already exist, all you need to do is use the right strategies to massively increase your sales.
Researching what your consumers use and prefer can greatly help you plan your next step. According to some researches, the following are some social media user stats:
- Facebook exclusively draws 1.47 billion daily users on its application.
- 30% of the users prefer purchasing from social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
- According to studies, 60% of Instagram users, interact with most new products on that platform
The above researches prove why it is sensible to sell on the social media application itself. Each number of steps to make a purchase greatly reduces the consumer’s will to purchase.
E-Commerce Social Media Marketing
The role of social media in eCommerce is a very important one. Social media helps brands to introduce themselves to new audiences. It helps them establish their business better and provides them with sales leads.
Advertisement through social media is an impressive way of portraying your product to a larger audience. Users on social media applications scroll to hundreds of posts and videos in a day. If your ads are present between those posts, the chances of someone reviewing it and later purchasing it is extremely high.
We need things from time to time, advertisements help consumers skip the part from where to buy the product from. Smart marketing strategies for eCommerce using social media make your brand visible and a must-try for customers.
Some brands are skeptical about bringing their brand to social media and are missing so much extra revenue. Business is all about looking for ways to increase your revenue. Social media eCommerce provides that luxury too easily.
YouTube has helped build so many brands through advertisement. YouTube is the hub for our favorite movie trailers and shows. Showing ads on an application that is so mainstream, is guaranteed to help you skyrocket your product sales.
Consumers usually want to know how a product has worked for other customers. Social commerce allows them to go through the comments regarding a product which makes it easier for them to decide. Similarly, the sellers can read the reviews of the customers. No brand or identity can be 100% perfect (except if you are Chris Hemsworth). Reviews allow sellers to see places where improvement is necessary.
Social media has provided the opportunity for sellers to contact their customers privately and serve them according to their needs. Direct messages and answering queries made on comments are ways of providing great customer service. Customer service is regarded as the backbone of a business. Social media has provided platforms for such an important necessity.
Using hashtags of your brands or products is another great way of eCommerce social media marketing. After posting spectacular pictures with brand hashtags on social media, you will be laughing while you are calculating the profit it has given you. Hashtags are used too much by millennials, which is why they give out great responses to brands.
Social media Influencers have made it very easy for brands to have their products introduced to a massive number of audiences. Consumers personally trust individuals more than brands. Influencers can bring certain products to trends, which surely will help you shoot your sales up. For example, how many of us want to try out a restaurant which was in Tom Holland’s story. Similarly, viewers love trying products that are being used by their favorite influencers.
Top and Important Social e-commerce Platform
To this date, few of the top social media applications are offering the service of social commerce. But, as the revenues are rising higher as fast as Usain Bolt, applications are to make their way towards social commerce. The current applications providing social commerce are:
1. Facebook Shops
You are already using Facebook’s business page to portray your product’s sales and use. So why not just sell them there? If a consumer feels impressed by the product at that instant, the Facebook shop is so easily accessible, just by clicking the buy now option. And within two quick minutes, you have selected and even checked out with the item you just found impressive.
This is how social commerce impacts a brand’s sales. Most of the time viewers are impressed by a product but they do not feel like leaving the application to purchase it. This results in you losing a lot of extra revenue.
When the consumer has selected the product, just tap shop now. And the messenger application can also be opened to ask about queries directly from the seller. Your Facebook shop can be launched from your Facebook page, Instagram profile, Instagram shopping ads, stories, and shoppable posts.
Another amazing feature that a seller has on the Facebook shop is a test shop. One of the greatest ways of learning is putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. This test shop allows adding items, managing orders, and testing out the consumer experience.
2. Instagram Shops
Instagram is one of the most successful social commerce platforms. Users on this application stop to admire the amazing pictures and videos. About 60% of users have discovered new products on the platform. So why is your product not present there yet?
Setting up an Instagram shop can do bonkers to your product sales. The great part about it is how easy it gets with this specific social commerce platform. But remember, you first need to set up your Facebook shop as Instagram will be pulling the data and catalog from it.
Your shopping tags can be used to tag the product in your stories or posts. Spectators which have found your product amazing in a glimpse can simply swipe up and they are two steps away from checkout. This is how easy it gets.
Social commerce helps customers enjoy their social media experience while shopping at the same time. You like a product, you bought it without leaving the application and now you are back with one tap stalking your crush’s profile with the same excitement.
3. Pinterest
Pinterest is the place for you to find spectacular arts and crafts, elegantly designed vases, and great products. Who would not want to buy from Pinterest? This is another social commerce platform.
But there is a difference between other social commerce platforms and Pinterest. Pinterest does not specifically allow you to shop in the app itself. It does offer Buyable Pins (now known as “Product Pins”). But if you were to tap a beautiful painting that would look amazing on your living room wall, it would take you to the brand site for checkout.
So, is Pinterest still the place for selling your products? Definitely, according to research, 89% of Pinterest users are present there for shopping inspiration. So, head out there and do wonders for your revenue.
4. Snapchat
The 203 million daily users (according to a 2019 study) show how popular Snapchat is. It helps us show our friends and family our vacation or daily life experience in small snaps with many beautiful filters.
In July 2020, Snapchat also introduced a closed beta of Brand Profiles. A store experience (powered by Shopify) gave users the accessibility to browse and purchase products within the app.
This feature was launched with the help of five official approved influencer accounts, thanks to Kim Kardashian, Shay Mitchell, Spencer Pratt, or Bhad Bhabie, and obviously Kylie Jenner. Nobody wants to miss out on Kylie’s cosmetics, be it any platform.
Conclusion
If we are a brand, our utmost priority in a business is revenue. The above article shows how social commerce works miracles for your eStore. If eCommerce is said to be gasoline, then social media is its fire. Considering how social commerce is developing every single day. More and more brands are moving towards social commerce. Because who doesn’t love more profits?
Join Our WhatsApp Group
Nazim Khan (Author) 📞 +91 9536250020
[MBA in Finance]
Nazim Khan is an expert in Microsoft Excel. He teaches people how to use it better. He has been doing this for more than ten years. He is running this website (TechGuruPlus.com) and a YouTube channel called "Business Excel" since 2016. He shares useful tips from his own experiences to help others improve their Excel skills and careers.
