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Is your business making the most of social commerce? This new approach has been gaining a lot of traction lately and is becoming increasingly popular among businesses and consumers alike. And guess what? It's not just a passing trend in the wake of the pandemic - it's here to stay!
In fact, even back in 2019 87% of consumers felt that social media informed their purchases, with 30% of consumers saying that they’d buy directly from these channels. Those percentages will only increase, so, if you’re not optimising your social media platforms, think about how much revenue you could be missing out on.
Plus, in these challenging times, social commerce is becoming an even more important tool for businesses. It's allowing them to quickly and easily launch an e-commerce store and checkout within their social media platform, which is especially useful for those who don't have the means to build their own website.
We’re not surprised this form of contextual commerce is on the rise, but let’s take a look at the benefits and how you can integrate it into your business strategy and increase the amount of ways you can accept online payments.
Social commerce is a type of ecommerce that allows consumers to make purchases via social media platforms. It is a way to shop that's more convenient and personalised to your needs. Imagine scrolling through your social feed and being able to make a purchase of something that catches your eye without having to leave the app. Pretty cool, right?
It’s designed to work in a way that feels natural and intuitive for customers. It's all about creating a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience that fits into our daily lives. So if you need a way to improve your customer experience, social commerce might just be the answer you've been looking for!
There are a range of ways you can use social commerce to advertise your business. Let’s take a look at some of the examples:
Platforms like Facebook and Instagram partnered with Shopify and BigCommerce to create social shopfronts. For merchants, the possibilities are endless.
With Facebook Shops, you can organise your product catalogue by collections and categories, just like any other e-commerce site. Shoppers can save and order products either through the app or directly through the merchant's website, depending on the merchant's preference. The best part? You can manage everything from within the social media site itself, without having to go back and forth between different platforms.
And that's not all - Facebook Shops and Instagram can integrate with Messenger and WhatsApp, making it easy for you to communicate with your customers and provide great customer service. You can even get insights for each product within your shopfront.
Regular, organic posts like Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels, Pinterest pins, Facebook images and carousels, and TikTok videos can be shoppable too. They just look like a normal post adding to the natural and seamless experience. The only indication that the products shown can be purchased via the channel is the icon or a label in the corner showing that the products are tagged.
A big trend for social media these days is user-generated content (UGC). Content creators can even be more influential than celebrities these days. UGC can also reach a wider audience than any ads you create – One study by LTK found that in 2022 alone, this type of content made $3.6 billion and a huge 75% of Gen Z shop via these creators. So, it’s safe to say, especially if you have an e-commerce business, merchants can’t afford to ignore this type of commerce.
Social media users have seen a 79.1% jump in just five years. This means that the possibilities for social commerce are also growing, and it's becoming even more user-friendly and interactive.
Facebook Shops is not just a game-changer in the world of e-commerce, but it has the potential to revolutionise this type of commerce on a global scale. But how? Why is social commerce so important? Let’s take a look at the benefits of social commerce to retailers.
So, if you’re not making the most of your social media platforms, now could be a good time to start! But if you’re already on top of it, why not see what other types of commerce you could optimise, for example, voice commerce.
To learn more about the future of payments, get in touch with Total Processing today!
