What is Social Commerce and How is it changing the way Businesses Sell

Social Media has been the major player in promoting brands and services for businesses. With the abundance of social media tools, businesses are shifting to social commerce to make more sales. And with more businesses joining social media, it’s undeniable that social commerce will forever change the way businesses sell.

In this article, we’ll look into how social commerce is shaping sales as well as what you should prepare for your business.

What is Social Commerce?

Social commerce is not like traditional social media marketing, where people look at a brand's content and then go to their website to start shopping. With social commerce customers can look up brands, find products, and buy them all without leaving the app. Social commerce is a type of e-commerce where people sell things directly through social media. From finding products to paying for them, the whole shopping process happens on a social media platform.

Social commerce vs. eCommerce

Selling on social media is about making connections with your prospects, talking to them, and getting to know them so you can learn about their problems and how your products can help. While ecommerce and social commerce may seem similar, there is a distinct difference between the two.

Ecommerce is selling a product through a website or a mobile app while Social Commerce is selling of products and services directly through social media experience. You may consider using eCommerce as a store but typically, you can also go for social commerce for your business and customer relationship-building. But if you want to generate more sales and leads, social commerce is best suggested.

Social Commerce Statistics - What does it say?

• Almost 50% of mobile users purchased something through social media
• Customers research products, services, and reviews using Social Media before buying.
• There is about 45% of businesses who wanted to use social media to drive more sales. 
• “Word of Mouth” spreads like wildfire with social media influence. 

The biggest benefit of using social commerce is it helps generate sales directly on social media in a streamlined, all-on-platform way. Another is when customers visit your brand on social media, they do not have to leave your platform to make a purchase. This makes the process go much faster and makes it less likely for a customer to change their mind about purchasing.

Social Commerce Practices that Sell

Social commerce has made social media marketing an effective digital marketing strategy framework. It's not just because your business competitors are doing business on social media but because your target customers are on social media. If you want to make more sales, simply do what your customers do.

1. The use of Marketing Automation and Chatbots 

Automation and Chatbots are common on Messenger where owners, can set FAQs and corresponding answers to your FAQs. With the advancement of technology in the market, these tools have become popular among businesses. By using automation and chatbots, your business response rate doubles, and customers are readily assisted. 

2. Selling made Easier with Facebook Shops

Facebook shops is the image of your site. You can tag products directly on your Facebook posts and when customers like what they see, they can simply hover over the icons or captions to see other product information. Try to be creative in your Social Media posts to attract target customers and increase your brand reach.

3. Partnering with Influencers

A good social commerce campaign for your business is to work with people who have a lot of followers on social media. Influencers can help you sell more products by putting shoppable tags on their posts and sending customers to your store. When a customer sees a story or feature from an influencer, it piques their interest and makes them more likely to buy your product or service.

4. Discounts and Lower- priced items Sell Faster

Obviously, discounts attract customers to visit your platform and then create traffic. Giving people discounts or presenting your items at a lower price can draw curiosity from new and existing customers which may lead to new opportunities for cross-selling and upselling. More sales, more revenue.

5. Use Pinterest Shopping 

Catalogs on Pinterest can be turned into product Pins that customers can browse through. Pins are pictures or videos of the products that are for sale that people share on the site. On these pins, you can find out about prices, what sizes and colors are available, and other relevant information.

Social commerce is here to stay because both users and brands love the personal, in-app shopping experience. Since the trend still keeps increasing, you will want your brand to join the bandwagon, so you don't fall behind your competitors.

There's nothing to lose, so why not get started right away?

Want to find out more about social media advertising for online stores? Schedule a FREE call with us today. Let us help you make your business dreams into a reality!