How can your online commerce benefit from social commerce?
With social commerce, the user’s entire buying experience – from generating a need to searching for product information to completing the purchase – takes place directly on social media. Not sure if this would be a good idea for your business? Here are some reasons why it’s worth a try:
⇒ Buying on social networks is a much more interactive experience than ordering from an online shop. This is because, unlike traditional advertising of goods and services, the user does not have to go to the company’s website to make a purchase.
⇒ The simplicity and entertaining form of selling in social commerce attracts their attention and increases the conversion rate.
⇒ The number of actions a customer has to take is reduced to a minimum.
⇒ Competition in the segment of social commerce is still much lower than in other channels of online commerce;
⇒ The further spread of high-speed mobile internet will further increase the audience and revenue potential of social networks;
⇒ Extensive options are available to control advertising down to the smallest detail.
The high level of audience engagement and the length of time people spend on social media make these platforms the ideal place for your online retail business to interact with customers.
Social commerce tools
Many social networks add useful features that can help users get started with e-commerce.
Let’s take a look at what tools some of the most popular social media offer to increase online sales:
- Facebook is known as the first platform for social commerce. Today, it offers the Facebook Shops feature.This tool allows businesses to create online shops that are accessible through both Facebook and Instagram.
In this way, users can buy goods from the shop catalog without leaving the platform.Additional tools such as WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct also offer customers the possibility to contact managers of the online shop if necessary.
- Instagram also enables brands and businesses to increase their sales in online commerce.For social commerce, the platform offers an Instagram shop tool as well as the ability to tag products not only in posts in the feed, but also in Stories, videos and live streams.
Your e-commerce shop can benefit from this to get the visibility it needs to increase sales. This way, users can buy a product with every piece of content published on the platform.
- Pinterest offers “product pins”, i.e. images with purchase tags that relate to the e-commerce of the referring company. To further enhance the shopping experience, the platform has signed an agreement with Shopify.The tool allows users to upload their product catalogue directly to the social network and simplifies the social commerce selling and buying process.
In addition, businesses now have the option of using the “Buy” tab in their profile.
This allows you to present your products in an organised way. This way, users can see all the goods by profile, which undoubtedly has a positive impact on their shopping experience.
- The popular social network TikTok is also developing online commerce features. Today, the platform allows its users to add links to their e-commerce in the bio and use the “Buy Now” button in video ads.To develop social commerce, TikTok also offers the potential of the Hashtag Challenge Plus tool. This allows users to buy products related to a sponsored hashtag.
If you want to make social commerce your profitable sales channel, these tools can help increase your sales and make your e-commerce business more visible.
Social commerce as a trend in modern online commerce
Social media are an integral part of the modern age. They are actively penetrating all areas of life. E-commerce is no exception. On social media, users not only generously support their friends with likes, but also actively buy.
Social commerce is one of the leading trends in modern online commerce. This is not surprising, as people spend more time on digital platforms than anywhere else.
Social commerce is the use of online sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as a means to promote and sell products and services. In other words, social media is becoming an important sales channel and not just another tool for communicating with audiences.
The success of social commerce is measured by the extent to which consumers interact with a company’s marketing through likes and shares. The boundaries between social media and e-commerce are becoming increasingly blurred.