What is social commerce? Social eCommerce is when social media platforms are used to make more personalized and targeted shopping experiences for customers.
Most purchase journeys have too many unnecessary steps in the conversion funnel.
Each one massively increases the chance your potential customers are going to abandon their purchase and leave your store forever.
The problem lies in poor execution of social advertising tactics and unnecessary funnels.
We’re too concerned with making sales through cheap tactics instead of solving consumer problems, wants and needs.
We will tell you this upfront, you only need two things to create a successful online business.
A product that helps people solve a problem.
A product that satisfies the needs or wants of a person.
A streamlined purchase journey. One that makes it easy to purchase, without any obstacles in the transaction process.
First, you have to examine how you can use technology to create a better customer experience. Social media by far is one of the most popular platforms to increase sales for an online business, hence the rise of Social eCommerce.
There are 1.47 billion daily active users on Facebook alone.
60% of Instagram users say they find new products on Instagram (so it makes complete sense to also sell them on the platform).
30% of online shoppers say they would be likely to make a purchase from a social media network like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat.
Social Media Messenger sales are massively outperforming the current ROI champion of email.
Your audience is on these social media platforms and they want to purchase through those networks.
The smartest option would be to implement a social commerce strategy that engages users where they are and turns their social media engagement directly into sales!
Social Commerce Tactics You Can Use Right Now
Social commerce sells products directly through social media networks. Knowing which social media platforms your users are using and which is right for your business can set you on the right track when utilizing social media advertising.
Thanks to chatbot checkouts and autofill for payment and delivery details, it means purchases take no more than 2-3 minutes.
1. Manage social commerce with your eCommerce platform.
If you are running your store on Shopify there’s a number of tools allowing you to quickly integrate your products to your Facebook store, Instagram tags, and buyable Pinterest Pins.
Shopify itself has a built-in integration channel that allows for easy access to your social media advertising efforts. We love the visual of Shopify's social media advertising, however the best way to actually use Facebook and Instagram advertising effectively is using Facebook Business Manager itself.
2. Cheap products sell fast on social media
Haven't you noticed a lot more social media ads that are trying to sell you clothing, frames, school supplies, vitamins.. you get the point.
You rarely see fridges, diamond necklaces, or anything over a $1,000 dollars on social media ads. There is a major reason why. High-ticket items are hard to sell and are especially hard to convince impulse buyers to make the purchase.
Imagine you’re an avid marathon runner.
When walking down the street you pass a store selling a $1,000 pair of high-performance shoes.
Are you going to buy it on an impulse?
Definitely not.
However, if you’re walking along and you see the new high-performance shoes for $125, new socks to go with your new shoes that go for $10, or an awesome headband that boasts "new technology sweat-absorbing" for $20 are you likely to buy them?
If you are a die-hard runner, most probably, yes.
Social media shoppers are there to enjoy themselves. 8/10 social media users are not willing to drop $1,000 on a product they really want.
You’re more likely to make the sale if you focus on low-cost products and impulse buys. This will attract those impulse buyers that love to shop, I am sure you can name a few.
If you check most social shopping campaigns, you’ll notice how the products are generally lower priced.
Below is the average order value of referrals by social platform.
Are they not ready to buy? Collect an email address
“Hold on, that $1000 pair of shoes is my main money maker. If it won’t sell through social commerce then it’s useless to me, I quit”. – You
We actually get this a lot.
You don’t have to stop selling those higher-priced items. We just adjust the sales funnel for those customers that need to think long and hard for that purchase.
No one is going to buy a $1,000 pair of shoes on an impulse, especially if their first interaction with your brand is that ad on Facebook.
You’ve got to create a relationship and build trust before you can ask for the big sale.
This is what you need to do.
You first get people to buy something from your store or express interest in what you are trying to sell.
Once you’ve established interest, in the immediate follow up you grab their email address to utilize in an email marketing strategy.
Once the user opts-in to the email, you can start nurturing them over the coming weeks and months.
Before long, that initial purchase or engagement is followed up with a purchase or other form of interest. Then after a couple of encounters and the trust is established, those $1,000 shoes will be sold!
Benefits of Social Commerce
1. Business metrics from Social Platforms
With any part of your business marketing, you should be able to analyze your efforts and see if the results provided a positive ROI. The objective you decide upon should be kept in line with company key performance indicators (KPIs), such as finding a lower CPC on Facebook or expanding sales. Whether you are an eCommerce business or even service business, the goal should be aligned with your objectives.
Social media commerce makes it easy to measure and evaluate performances. Facebook pages, Instagram business accounts and tweets on Twitter have built-in metrics for impressions, engagements and reach.
Additionally, most social media posts allow for the measurement of traffic to your website. Other basic measurements to determine a positive ROI might include your total numbers of fans/followers, likes, and overall engagement, again, depending on your goal.
2. Growing your audience
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, there is A LOT of people on social media. One of the most important considerations for any business is how to reach and sell to its target customer audience. For companies that use social commerce, their followings are continuously growing and accessible.
Many businesses, including eCommerce businesses, have a separate social media campaign just for the growth of their social media accounts. This will ensure the steady growth of followers and the longevity of your brand. Having a loyal audience is paramount for a successful social media strategy.
3. Higher Search Engine Ranking
Engagement on social media can lead to more than just direct transactions. It has been proven that social commerce actually increases traffic to your website which will eventually affect your ranking on search engine results.
Sharing links to content on your website through social media is an excellent way to drive traffic from social media users and people that have never been to your website. This allows for a larger audience to be tapped into that you may have never thought of reaching.
Social commerce is no doubt shaking the way eCommerce stores function and how they grow. When using social commerce effectively, your business can find new ways to start selling, growing and evolving. Make sure your online business gets the full benefits of social commerce with a professional digital marketing agency.