Social commerce – Trend you need to know
What is Social Commerce?
There is a very simple way to put it: Social Media+eCommerce= Social commerce. This is a new kind of eCommerce where customers buy goods and services directly on social media platforms. Social commerce is still not widely adopted by brands and consumers but it is about to become another successful model in business world, so monetization experience makes sense and every business has to be careful with it try not to miss the change to fit in.
Businesses predicted that eCommerce would find its way to social media platforms a long ago and there is a logical reason for that: Shopping is a social act and technological improvements and its usage. Buying goods and services offline has been a social activity. Consumers tend to buy items that their friends, family members have also purchased. Sure, most purchasing decisions can be influenced by other people’s opinions through online reviews, but those reviews are not people you know. So, combining social and eCommerce increases the power of influencers who – part of the consumer’s social network. Social commerce adds a level of interaction that eCommerce has been missing. This new social interaction is changing how eCommerce is being conducted and allows brands to engage in real-time in order to influence and monetize their customers.
Creating a Social Commerce Strategy
Social commerce should be considered as an extension of your eCommerce strategy. You should implement these few elements when adding social commerce strategy to your eCommerce plans:
- Right Platform: Almost every Social media platform enabled social commerce features, but you should decide and chose the right one for you: Which platforms your audience is using and which feature benefits your business.
- High-Quality Content: You need to make sure that the content you put on social media—whether it is text, images or video—looks great and works well with the platform properly.
- Payment system and easy Delivery: Creating seamless experience will build brand trust. No delays or difficulties with payment is must. These customers will then start to share their great experiences with your brand with their friends on social media.
Building a Social Media Following
In order to effectively engage and monetize your customers on different platforms, you need the following. There is no perfect plan for creating it but basically, for every channel, the tactics are the same:
- Great Content: The content should be What makes content great for followers is that it provides value. This is not that difficult as it sounds. Do not forget to entertain your audience: The pictures that are enjoyable to look at or funny copy works. The better the content, the more people will follow and engage. And the higher your engagement rate, the more likely you are to be seen by people who do not follow you. This is because social media algorithms usually place high importance on engagement and will display your posts to others, which will drive more awareness and likely more followers.
- Hashtags: Hashtags are a way to select the content that is similar. Choose hashtags that are related to the product or service you offer. Think from the perspective of someone who is searching for something particular and use hashtags wisely.
- Location tagging: This is another way to grab attention. People tend to look at what is happening in a certain area. When they search the location, they will now be able to see your content and engage with it. If it is great content, they may become a follower.
- Cross-Promote: Promote anywhere you can. Promote to your current customers through your physical stores, packaging and all other marketing efforts, but it isn’t enough to just say you are there. You need to transform the value your customers will receive by following your brand on social media. If they do not follow you, you will never be able to engage and monetize them through social commerce.
Consider your social media channels like a window into your online store. You do not want only window shoppers., you want to monetize using social commerce. You have to try your best tactics, test and find the most effective ways to reach your prospective buyers. Do not underestimate the power of the content. By creating valuable content that showcases your products, or services, customers will be able to see your value and will be more likely to engage and monetize.
