Social Commerce: How to Leverage It to Grow Your Business
By Shane Barker
When social media platforms first came around, the main focus was to help people stay in touch. While they have managed to do that effectively, the platforms have evolved a lot too.
With more than 3.6 billion active users globally, social media makes it possible for brands to reach out to a broad audience. Furthermore, it can also be a great platform for directly selling your products.
That’s what social commerce is all about.
It’s like a step ahead of social media marketing. It enables you to shorten your sales cycle and sell your products directly via social media channels.
If you want to gain an advantage over your competitors and grow your business, it’s time to leverage social commerce. Additionally, you need to follow conversion optimization tactics while creating ads or other promotional content to get better results from your social media campaign.
In this post, let’s take a look at what exactly social commerce is and how you can benefit from it.
What Is Social Commerce?
Social commerce refers to the ability to make product purchases from third-party companies within a social media platform.
This concept is rooted in convenience. A user who is already scrolling through Facebook or Instagram can shop for their favorite products without having to leave the platform. In this way, Social influencers can earn money from their Instagram account.
However, do not confuse social selling with social media marketing.
Typically, you redirect users to your online store when you’re promoting your products on social media. When it comes to social selling, you give users the ability to checkout directly from the social media platform. It is the best and cost-cutting strategy to grow your online business with no inventory.
In a nutshell, it’s like opening your shop on a social media platform. For ecommerce businesses, it can be a great way to expand their reach and boost sales. Also, an eCommerce owner can start an affiliate program and boost their sales.
How to Leverage Social Commerce to Grow Your Business
Realizing the potential of social commerce, social media platforms are constantly adding features that help brands sell their products effectively on their platforms.
In this post, let’s take a look at how you can make the most out of social commerce on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.
Social Commerce on Instagram
Sponsored posts are great for marketing on Instagram. But when it comes to social shopping, the platform offers a great feature- Shoppable posts.
This feature enables brands to easily tag each product that is shown in an Instagram post. When a user taps on a product tag, they can see all the details listed clearly. Also, create an optimized Instagram post size to get better results for your IG posts.
Through this sticker, they can also go to the checkout page within Instagram.
Once they place an order, Instagram saves the order details securely. Furthermore, it also sends notifications when the product is shipped and delivered. While there are other methods and tools for B2B sales boost, social media still remains the most productive technique."
To give you a better idea of how Shoppable posts work on Instagram, here are screenshots of the ordering process:
Image via The New York Times
Pro Tip: High-quality visuals and direct CTAs can go a long way in boosting your Instagram sales.
Social Commerce on Facebook
Just like Instagram, Facebook goes a step further than paid advertising to facilitate shopping on the platform.
Facebook enables advertisers to add a “Buy Now” button on Messenger. This feature makes it possible to make a purchase without exiting Messenger.
Image via Professional Jeweller
As you can see in the screenshot above, users can receive updates on their orders within Messenger itself. It makes the entire shopping experience extremely smooth.
That’s not all.
Facebook also allows brands to open their own virtual stores. By opening a “Facebook Store,” brands can showcase all of their products. In addition to this, a business page enables brands to make tab applications for direct purchases.
If your Facebook advertising account disabled then you can increase your dropshipping store selling using other available strategies.
Social Commerce on Pinterest
Another platform that is great for social commerce is Pinterest. Through the “Buyable Pins” feature, users can make a purchase without having to leave Pinterest.
Image via Social Media Today
Just like Instagram and Facebook, Pinterest also redirects users to a payment page within the platform when they click on the option for “Buy It.”
The best part is Pinterest doesn’t charge extra fees every time you make a sale from their platform. Plus, the feature works both on mobile and desktop devices seamlessly.
However, there is one big limitation. This feature is currently available to only a few retail partners and merchants in the US. If you use Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Shopify, or BigCommerce, you can also apply for Pinterest’s Buyable Pins.
Pro Tip: You can boost your product sales as well loyal customers base if you create effective explainer videos for your products and services and share them with your products so customers can get understanding in a better way. Ultimately, it increases your products sales.
Ready to Increase Your Sales with Social Commerce?
Social commerce is constantly evolving as platforms recognize the potential of providing a marketplace on social media.
Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest have already come up with advanced features that make it easy for brands to sell their products directly from their platforms. Your customer can avail of your latest offer through social media platforms.
If you still haven’t leveraged these specialized features, it’s time to get started. They can help you get more leads, increase your sales, and boost your revenue.
Do you have any questions about social commerce? Please feel free to mention any questions in the comments section.
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