What is Social Commerce? Benefits, Strategies, and Examples

What is social commerce? It’s the latest trend on social media platforms where customers buy directly from your social pages. They love the convenience and seamlessness that comes from social commerce. 

Your business can benefit from expanding on social commerce platforms too. You’ll increase your sales and stay relevant in an increasingly digital world. Social commerce marketing is the future. 

Keep reading and we’ll teach you everything from the social commerce definition to providing you social commerce examples and social commerce trends.

What is Social Commerce?

Social commerce is when you perform commerce on social media. When consumers engage in social e-commerce they browse and buy products directly from you on social media. Social e commerce sellers include both individual sellers and brands. 

Social media commerce started in the early 2000s with users creating content like testimonials, reviews, and questions about products. Social commerce eventually grew from these trends. 

Nowadays, social commerce is a huge part of how consumers make purchases. Social commerce is common on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms. 

Social commerce vs ecommerce? Social commerce is a type of e-commerce that depends on social media platforms.

The Benefits of Social Commerce

You’ll gain these benefits from integrating social commerce into your business model. 

1. Targeted Advertising and Audience Segmentation

You can perform precise ad targeting to reach specific demographics through social commerce. You’ll create tailored content that increases relevance for audience segments which maximizes conversion rates.

This way you’ll achieve cost-effective advertising.

2. Increased Brand Visibility and Engagement

You’ll integrate your brand within your users’ social experiences through social experience. This way you’ll increase brand visibility and provide engaging content to users.

Creating engagement content encourages users to interact with your brand. The increased engagement will build brand loyalty for you. So you’ll receive increased customer recommendations and purchases.

3. Access to User-Generated Content and Reviews 

Users share experiences and reviews on social commerce platforms. You can access these reviews and experiences to better understand your customers.

You can also use this information to improve your products and services. Posting positive user reviews will also improve trust in your brand. 

4. Improved Reach 

You can use social commerce to take advantage of reach on social media. In the best-case scenario, you can use social commerce to achieve virality. If your posts go viral you’ll improve your brand’s visibility. 

You’ll also spread awareness of your products and potentially transform them into a trending item. 

5. Improved Customer Experience

Social commerce simplifies how consumers purchase from your brand. Buying on social commerce platforms is a seamless and convenient experience for customers. 

Your customers will have quick access to products in a social environment. This way they’ll have improved satisfaction, and you’ll encourage them to make repeat purchases. 

6. Improved Customer Trust and Loyalty

You can use user-generated reviews and feedback to improve transparency with your customers. This way you’ll build customer loyalty because shoppers will have more confidence in their purchase decisions. 

So you’ll improve your brand-consumer relationship. 

Key Platforms and Strategies for Social Commerce

These are the most important platforms and strategies for social commerce.

TikTok Shop

You need the TikTok Shop for TikTok social commerce. You’ll want a TikTok shop as your digital storefront to be relevant to modern buyers. You can use TikTok shop to showcase products directly on TikTok. 

You can sell products on TikTok Shop in three ways: 

• LIVEs
• In-feed videos 
• Product showcase tab

TikTok shopping is extremely popular. Users share the products they’ve bought because of product recommendations under the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag. This hashtag has been used over 7 billion times. 

The TikTok Shop is currently available in the North American, UK, and parts of the Asian market. 

Facebook Shops

You can improve your Facebook social commerce through Facebook shops. Facebook Shop lets you use your Facebook business page to sell your products on the platform. 

Facebook Shops is a very customizable application. You can choose which goods to include, what font you want, and the images and colors you want for your brand. 

You can also import existing catalogs of your products from your website or create new ones. 

At the point of conversion, your customers can do an in-app checkout, chat with your business on Messenger, or direct them to your website. 

Instagram shopping

Around 60% of people discover new products on Instagram so Instagram social commerce is profitable. You can use Instagram shopping to let users buy products in your Instagram posts. 

You can use Instagram shopping to create a storefront for your products. Each product in your Instagram Shop will have its own details, including pricing, media, and a description. 

You can sell products in multiple ways on Instagram. You can use Shopping Tags to tag products in your stories or posts. If you’re a U.S. brand, you can also highlight your products in your captions and bios. 

You can also use the dedicated Shop tab. Your customers will find your products listed through your dedicated Shop. You can also create an Ad with a Shop tab. Your ad will appear with a sponsored label in user’s feeds. 

Meta is also introducing a new feature for shopping through DMs. So Instagram shopping will take your social commerce Instagram to the next level. 

Pinterest Buyable Pins

Around 89% of Pinterest users are on the platform for shopping inspiration. 

Pinterest offered shopping features all the way back in 2015. That said, they don’t strictly have social commerce. 

Instead, Pinterest lets you create Product Pins for business accounts. You’ll display your Product Pin in your Pinterest Shop. 

If you’re a US customer and see a Buy button below a Pin, you can purchase the product without leaving Pinterest. For non-US customers, you’ll be redirected to eCommerce sites to complete your sale. 

Success Stories in Social Commerce

These are the 5 best examples of social commerce success 

Au Revoir Cinderella

Au Revoir Cinderella post user-generated images and videos instead of self-made images on their products page. 

J. Crew

J. Crew share their customer’s feedback on the front and center of their product pages to make purchase decisions easier for customers. 

They do so because 93% of customers state online reviews significantly impact their purchase decisions. 

Sephora

Sephora personalized their customers’ shopping experience by introducing their ‘Fragrance IQ’ quiz. The quiz includes questions that help brands decide the best scents for their customers. 

Kylie Cosmetics

Kylie Cosmetics uses its chairperson, Kylie Jenner’s social media. Kylie Jenner promotes her products on her social media, especially her Instagram. Following this approach lets Kylie Cosmetics achieve higher profits and avoid traditional retail. 

Fashion Nova

Fashion Nova uses influencer partnerships to promote their social commerce. They collaborate with a diverse group of influencers to showcase their clothes online. This way they’ve seamlessly integrated their social media and e-commerce. 

They’ve achieved massive success by depending on their social proof. 

Best Practices for Implementing Social Commerce

Follow these best practices to ensure you achieve the best social commerce success and maximize your sales. 

Understand your target audience 

Thoroughly research your target audience, including their social media behavior. You should understand which platforms your audience use and what content appeals to them. 

Create Visually Appealing Content

Create visually compelling content including high-quality images, videos, and high-quality copy to encourage users to explore your products. 

Use Influencers and Brand Ambassadors

Collaborate with relevant influencers and brand ambassadors to access larger audiences. Their endorsements will improve your purchasing decisions.

Provide secure payment options 

You need to provide trusted payment options so your customers experience a smooth checkout process. Customers may abandon their cart if they meet complicated payment options. 

Regularly analyze your data 

Perform regular data analysis about your social commerce to improve your campaign. Analyze metrics like your engagement and conversion rates. You’ll use this data to decide how to improve your social commerce campaigns. 

You should experiment with different approaches and improve your approach based on your results.

Essentially, to succeed in social commerce you need to create high-quality content that’s boosted by influencers, and you regularly analyze your data. 

The Future of Social Commerce

Social commerce is becoming increasingly popular. Emerging trends in social commerce include interactive shopping experiences, augmented reality (AR), and AI-based personalization. 

We’ll likely also see direct purchasing included on social platforms to make purchases easier. 

Social commerce is rapidly growing into a dominant sales channel and these social commerce statistics prove it.

McKinsey reports that the U.S. social commerce market will grow from $37 billion in 2021 to $80 billion in 2025. This figure represents around 5% of all US e-commerce. 

For e-commerce businesses, it means they’ll have to adapt to changing technologies. They’ll want to use data analytics, build partnerships with influencers, and improve mobile experiences. 

E-commerce businesses will have to embrace these new trends to succeed in today’s competitive market and become social commerce companies.

Elevate Your Online Selling Today!

Social commerce is a game-changer for today’s e-commerce businesses. Today’s consumers value the convenience that comes from shopping on social media. The goal of social commerce applications is to increase conversions and brand loyalty. 

As an ecommerce business, you need to embrace this future. Social commerce is here to stay, so it’s best for you to also embrace this trend. You’ll achieve continued success and growth by investing in social commerce.