Have you noticed that brands have been actively selling on social media platforms lately? That’s social commerce, and it all comes down to connecting shoppers where they already spend time, like on TikTok and Instagram.
It’s not a trend anymore, it’s expected to be worth $141 billion in the next 5 years.
Many Chinese platforms are currently ahead of other platforms, such as WeChat and Douyin. Even Meta has started social shopping, with annual sales projected to be around 94 million dollars.
Sounds exciting. But what’s the impact on your company, and how can you take advantage of this? That’s what I’m discussing today.
Best Social Commerce Platforms
Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube, as well as TikTok, include features for social commerce, making them the leaders in the field. One of the first websites to spread awareness of the idea was Pinterest. The greatest place to start for someone who wants to enter this channel is through such platforms.
Facebook Shops allows you to create a free storefront on your Facebook business profile that easily syncs your items. Products are shown on the Facebook Shop tab of the platform’s mobile app according to user preferences. Customers can finish their purchase on your website or through the app after they’ve found your product. Sellers may interact with buyers through Messenger by addressing queries, assisting, and more.
Facebook Shop links to Instagram Shop. After connecting, you will be able to use the hashtag in your post and video description to link your products. Consumers get to shop right from the App, or they may be directed to your website.
TikTok
Businesses can use TikTok Shops to sell their products through live streaming and videos. It also lets users make direct purchases. TikTok Shop to showcase their products and, then, purchase them using the app. This implies that when you do TikTok LIVE streaming, you will have the ability to sell directly within your videos and allow viewers to make purchases.
Pinterest Shopping makes it possible to add tag pins to products. Clients can click to learn more and purchase. As such, these Product Pins are not, themselves, social commerce features. Customers will still be sent to a landing page tailored to that product to complete the transaction. However, it makes buying easier since consumers can get the information they need within Pinterest.
WhatsApp Commerce presents an effective way for businesses to engage with their customers in a way that is similar to traditional shopping as you would in real life. Brands may improve the self-service experience by integrating tools like chatbots and virtual assistants, which let customers effortlessly move from discovery to purchase within WhatsApp.
Benefits Of Social Commerce
1. Expand your network of potential customer
With over 5 billion users worldwide, social networks are experiencing rapid growth. New brands and products are usually found through friends’ recommendations.
Social commerce makes it even easier, people can make purchases through links or from within the application.
In the US alone, the projection hit 110. 4 million by 2024, meaning they have half the users.
Using social commerce ensures that your products reach many people so that they convert followers into customers.
2. Customer Conversions
Because customers can place direct orders on social media platforms, it’s simple for them to convert into customers. It saves the time that would be used to search for a new app or website where they can find what they want to purchase. It makes the purchasing process shorter.
3. Use social proof to improve reviews and suggestions
In the early stages of your business, social media is the best channel for establishing social proof. This is quite useful because consumers cannot physically inspect it before buying it.
Managing the social media journey of clients leads to a growth cycle. Your fans are attracted to your material, buy your product, and provide feedback, all of which increase engagement. This helps reach a wide audience by using social media algorithms to improve visibility and conversions.
4. Collect insightful data on customers’ social behavior
Social commerce features give you direct access to consumers’ social media profiles, along with helpful customer data to improve your existing strategy. By combining this with social media listening, you can better understand your audience’s behavior and interests, gaining even more insight into your customers.
5. Generate more revenue than conventional e-commerce
Social commerce generates more revenue overall through a marketing-driven revenue strategy. For the US, retail social commerce sales are expected to exceed $100 billion only in the year 2025.
Retail social commerce is expected to increase to triple by 2025, so getting into the social commerce trend is a great move. Social commerce provides new platforms for your business to initiate sales and generate more revenue.
Conclusion
Not a long time ago, if we look around, it was all about e-commerce, but now it is not so. Social commerce is all about providing consumers with ways to purchase what they always wanted.
It lets brands reach out to customers in one of the purest ways possible – a perfect win-win really.
The future has never seemed brighter for social commerce. Since more customers are utilizing it, brands should think about how it fits into their marketing strategy, learn the latest trends, and implement complementary techniques like social media SEO to get the most out of it.
FAQs
What is a social commerce platform?
A social commerce platform is thus a social media application that has features where users can directly purchase or sell products. TikTok Shop can be the best example of this.
How big is social commerce?
Big and it is still in the process of getting even bigger. It must reach 6. 2 trillion dollars by 2030.
Before then, it is projected that the sector will grow by more than 30 percent per annum.
Why use social commerce?
Social commerce platforms help your business use data to sell products to a specific audience and directly sell products on social media. By doing this, you can reach out to a large audience and at the same time get closer to customers.
