Social commerce refers to the practice of buying and selling products on social media platforms. Since one in four customers uses social media to shop, brands must focus their efforts on this area.
We live in a strange world where everyone leads a busy life but can still spend hours scrolling through their social media feeds. With more than half the world’s population using social media, it is a great time for businesses to promote and sell their products and services on these platforms. This has led to the birth of social commerce, which is rapidly transforming how consumers discover and purchase products.
Social commerce refers to the practice of buying and selling goods or services directly within a social media platform. Basically, businesses leverage social media platforms to interact directly with their customers and create a seamless shopping experience within the user’s preferred social network. With social commerce, users can quickly move from discovery to purchase without leaving their favorite apps.
Major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest, now offer dedicated social commerce tools for retailers. You can use these tools to build digital storefronts within the respective platforms. This will help you make your products and services more discoverable to the right audience on the platform, boosting your sales and website traffic. For businesses and creators, social commerce can work wonders.
In the US market, social commerce is predicted to reach a value of $79.64 billion by 2025. If you are interested in using social commerce tools to boost your retail business, this is the best time to start your social commerce journey. This practice also brings several benefits to retail businesses:
More than 5 billion people around the world use social media in 2024. When you explore your business options on these popular social media platforms, you are more likely to reach a wider audience. Besides, consumers are increasingly using social media to discover new brands and products through social media.
Now that social commerce is integrated into social media apps, it has become easier for consumers to research products on social media. They can also discover products when someone in their friend list shares a post about a product. You will be surprised to know that in-app social media purchases and direct purchases via a link are becoming popular on these platforms.
With social commerce, retailers can promote their products to a massive audience and convert them into paying customers. The estimated number of social media buyers in the US is projected to reach around 110.4 million by the end of 2024.
Social commerce features on major social media platforms are designed to make the shopping experience a lot more convenient. Users can take advantage of in-app checkout, instant messaging tools, and Buy-now buttons while exploring products on these platforms. With these social commerce functionalities, users can eliminate unnecessary hurdles in purchasing.
For example, the “Checkout on Facebook” option allows users to purchase a product within the app. They do not need to get redirected to the retailer’s website from the Facebook app. Users can continue exploring different products on the social media platform and complete the purchase without leaving the app.
Social media platforms are one of the best sources for learning about customers. Your business can use this information to improve your marketing campaigns and product development. If you take a look at Instagram Insights, you will find demographic data like age group, gender, and geographic location.
On the other hand, Facebook Audience Insights allows marketers to gather more in-depth information about their target audience. Its demographic overview gives a clear idea about the gender breakdown of the audience, job titles, education levels, relationship statuses, and more. Brands can also discover the users’ interests and hobbies.
With the help of such data, retailers can develop highly targeted ad campaigns so that their products appear in front of the right audience. You can use social commerce to connect your products with specific and highly targeted users in certain ways that traditional eCommerce sites cannot use.
Social commerce offers integrated social proof in the form of user-generated content. According to a recent report, 9 out of 10 online shoppers check reviews before making a purchase. If you want people to trust your brand, you need to make sure users leave positive feedback in the form of likes, comments, shares, and follows for your products. Potential customers generally look at customer reviews, compare products, or even chat with other customers before making a purchase decision.
When customers interact with and promote your brand, other social media users also start to trust your brand. You can incentivize your customers with discounts, coupons, and other giveaways when they share your product-related content. This is a great way to build social proof. You can even explore influencer marketing options to build trust and increase your brand’s credibility.
On social media, it is really convenient to interact directly with your customers and get their opinions about your brand and products. In most cases, customers love to share their feedback as it helps them feel more valued. Brands have the option to run polls, ask customers for their opinions on specific topics in the comments, and chat using the messenger tools.
With the help of valuable feedback, brands can personalize their offerings to meet customer expectations. If you run an apparel business, you can use the feedback to deliver better customer service, more product size options, or a new collection of clothes. When you have insights into what your customers are thinking, you can take the right actions.
Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest were the pioneers in social commerce. Later, other popular platforms such as YouTube and TikTok jumped on the bandwagon and took their social commerce features to new heights. Let’s learn a bit more about these platforms and how they can help you boost your revenue in this competitive market.
For most marketers, Facebook is the preferred platform for driving retail social commerce sales. According to a Statista report, one-third of social media commerce buyers prefer to buy through Facebook. One of the major reasons for this is the low barrier to entry through Facebook’s social commerce tool, Facebook Shops. You can set up shops for free on Facebook, and they are accessible through your Facebook business profile.
If you access the Facebook Shop tab from the Facebook mobile app, you will find products based on your user preferences. As you may realize, this feature helps users to discover relevant brands organically. Once consumers discover your products, they can purchase them without leaving the platform. Also, sellers can communicate with customers using Messenger to ask relevant questions, resolve queries, and offer support.
Even though Instagram initially started as a photosharing platform, Facebook bought it in 2012. This is why Instagram Shopping is directly linked to Facebook Shop. To set up a shop on Instagram, you need to link your Instagram business account to your Facebook business profile. After linking the profiles, you can upload an existing product catalog or create a new one.
According to Instagram, 70% of shoppers use the platform to discover their next purchase. You can use this platform to build brand awareness and a better online shopping experience. It helps you reach a larger audience and sell more products. The Instagram Product Tags feature lets you make your content shoppable and the products easier to discover.
There is also a “View Shop” button that allows users to browse your other listings for a seamless shopping experience. Similar to Facebook, purchases on Instagram Shopping take place within the app. However, if users want to visit your online store using the product link, they can also do that and purchase the product from your business website.
Even though TikTok is comparatively newer in the scene, it is predicted to reach the 48.8 million user mark in the US by 2025. TikTok users are not just scrolling through the app for entertainment. Around 43% of Gen Z audiences start their online product searches on TikTok. It is estimated that the number of TikTok buyers in the US will reach 39.5 million by 2026.
Since TikTok introduced social commerce features, it has become much easier for retailers to make money on the platform. Businesses can set up TikTok Shop to display their products and encourage users to purchase directly within the app. With TikTok Shop’s features, you can create shoppable videos and enable viewers to purchase products directly on your TikTok LIVE broadcasts.
TikTok’s partnership with Shopify was a major step in the platform’s success in social commerce. Merchants with a TikTok for Business account can add shopping tabs to their brand’s profile, displaying a virtual storefront for users to browse without leaving the app.
Pinterest Shopping has simplified the process of selling products on Pinterest for retailers. You can easily upload your product catalog to your business page on the platform. Then, you need to tag the products in your Pins so that users can click on those tags to learn more details about them.
Around 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded. While Product Pins play a crucial role in making the shopping experience on Pinterest more hassle-free, they are not direct social commerce tools. Users will be redirected to a product-specific landing page to complete their purchase.
It is important to note that around 31% of people in the US with a household income of $100,000 or more are on Pinterest. When a retailer uploads product listings from their online store to this platform, they can reach potential customers who may not be aware of the products but have the disposable income to spend on such products.
The field of social commerce is constantly evolving. To keep up with these social commerce trends, you need to update your strategy more frequently than you think. However, you should follow a few practices that are proven to deliver positive results for retailers in their social commerce ventures.
The choice of the right channel is crucial in social commerce. A specific group of people prefer certain social platforms to discover and buy products. By focusing your efforts on the right social commerce medium, you can get the best results. As a brand, you must understand that every audience group is different. You need to find the best platforms to reach a specific target audience.
You may also need to target people across multiple demographics and interests if required. All you need to do is find out where your target audience spends most of their time and how they use the platform. For example, people between 18 and 24 years old are more active on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. So, if your target audiences are primarily young adults, you need to target these platforms.
Live streams are considered one of the most widely used social features among consumers. If you want to gain more popularity among social media users, you need to find ways to incorporate live streaming into your social commerce efforts. Most social media platforms these days come with the feature to add product tags in your live broadcasts. You can host live shopping events with these features and showcase products that people can instantly buy.
Live streams are a great way to combine the interactive aspect of in-person shopping from the comfort of your home. You should make the most of the live-streaming feature by hosting regular live shopping events and announcing them ahead of time. You could host Q&A sessions, introduce new products, and offer tutorials and demos.
On social media, brands seem more approachable to the users. So, when someone asks you a question about a product or service you are promoting through social media platforms, you should try to respond to them as quickly as possible. Your response may help convert a lead into a customer who can refer and bring more customers in the future.
There are certain questions about a product or service that only the brand can answer. You may receive questions about a specific order, specific details about a product, or which options are available in stock. While answering these questions on instant messenger, you can recommend a product related to the query. You may also share a direct link to buy the product.
As you may realize, social media platforms are ruled by influencers. If you are trying to introduce a new product in the market through social commerce or want to penetrate a highly competitive market, a collaboration with the right influencer(s) can help you achieve your goals. When you partner with an influencer, you can ask them to tag your products in their posts. This would allow them to introduce the products to their loyal followers, who are most likely to buy them instantly.
You can boost the level of social engagement on your posts when you work with influencers. Since these influencers usually have a massive following, their posts about your products bring in a significant amount of engagement. As a result, the algorithm of the social media platform starts showing the posts to new users who might be interested in your product. For desired results, you must collaborate with influencers within your niche.
The impact of social commerce on the retail industry is undeniable. Even though its growth has not been as rapid as some marketers predicted, it is definitely here to stay. As social media platforms continue evolving along with audiences, businesses need to take advantage of social commerce if they want to expand.
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