How Social Commerce is Reshaping Customer Experience
Social media platforms have become an essential aspect of daily life. Users are still interested in their feeds on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest, among others, by providing them with relatable material.
Brands use mobile commerce more effectively because nearly 90% of people in Asia and the Pacific do so, creating the relatively new idea of social commerce.
Previously, companies have only used social media to strengthen their brand presence and engage consumers. But it has evolved into much more in recent years. These networks have developed into a new internet retail channel today.
Social Commerce: Definition and Trends
Social commerce is the practice of using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to advertise and market things. Although the definition can appear complicated, putting it into practice is pretty straightforward. To put it into perspective, brands use social presence to successfully achieve their marketing objectives as users engage with original content.
These procedures consist of
- Giving discounts and incentives to consumers who post things on social media
- Offering individualised purchasing alternatives and a smooth browse to the checkout process
- Grabbing customers’ attention through eye-catching visuals, including videos and photos, attractive product descriptions, intriguing posts, etc.
- Promoting user-generated content, such as reviews, recommendations, product endorsements, etc.
Simply said, social commerce delivers a miniature shopping experience right on users’ social media sites and encourages them to shop by allowing them to interact with the goods and services. Customers can directly purchase items, share them with friends and followers, or provide other direct product reviews on these social media platforms.
Now that you know what social commerce is, how can it help you?
Benefits of Social Commerce
Although the overall sales volume is significantly impacted by social commerce, that is not the only advantage you can obtain. The other benefits of using Social Commerce are:
1. Increased Client Engagement
Social media sites provide two-way communication between your business and its clients. It aids in promoting your goods and helps your target market connect with them. On these channels, users are more likely to read customer feedback, such as reviews, comments, and opinions. It strengthens your company’s legitimacy even further and assists customers in making informed decisions.
Some channels go above and beyond this, assisting you in creating a smooth purchasing experience. For instance, Instagram just unveiled Shoppable Instagram Feed. This enables you to tag your products found in user-generated content or your posts and embed them straight into eCommerce websites. Customers may easily navigate to the appropriate product page and make that special purchase with just two or three clicks.
2. Reliable Audience Development
Building a loyal audience is the primary goal of social commerce. According to Kiepo’s data, the rate of new user generation in Southeast Asia is 16.98%. These figures unequivocally demonstrate the significance of social media channels in the lives of Generation Z. And how your company may broaden the scope of its advertising and marketing efforts, ultimately exposing your sales efforts to a continually growing user base.
Maintaining the same level of engagement with every user who interacts with your business is crucial, given that you gain new customers through these channels. By employing the appropriate communication techniques, you may help customers connect with your brand and increase the likelihood that they will promote your goods to others.
Therefore, having a social commerce plan enables you to roll out new audience growth and reliably keep your current customers.
3. A rise in the standard order value
There is no doubt that millennials are the primary social media users. Businesses and brands are now aware of the characteristics of the millennial market. And they know how to appeal to it.
To persuade these customers to shop more online, offer them conveniences like direct checkout, interactive lookbooks, and seamless shopping experiences.
Additionally, it raises your average order value (the typical amount customers will spend in one transaction) based on the social media posts from your target market, the simplicity of the purchasing process regardless of the device they use, what their friends and followers are purchasing right now, and other factors.
The point is that social media can encourage consumers to spend more money, and you can utilise this data to create better product recommendations for your customers.
You may also turn the datasets into valuable insights by linking your multichannel management software with your social media platforms.
4. Improved Search Engine Position
It has been demonstrated in the past that social media can increase website traffic and help with direct business transactions. How? The ability to adapt content according to users’ interests motivates them to make additional purchases. Thanks to increased engagement.
By adding links, suggestions, feedback, and comments, among other things, you can further profit from this. These organic actions broaden your online presence and improve your search engine ranking.
5. Better Consumer Insights
Social commerce makes your efforts to analyse and assess company insights more accessible. You can measure these channels regularly because they all have ready-made metrics for impressions, engagement, and reach. It enables you to properly segment your audiences and distribute relevant material to each group.
Set your goals and KPIs for social commerce. Create an effective plan and decide what is advantageous for your business.
You can gain precise insights by A/B testing your most recent projects, analysing the relevance of your material, and researching your followers and prospects.
Key takeaways
In the upcoming years, social commerce is a trend that will only gain strength. The Social Commerce Global Market and Trajectory Report predicts that this trend will reach $ 604.5 billion in the following seven years. You can develop successful retail strategies and increase your brand’s visibility.
Social commerce benefits all parties, i.e., Sellers and Buyers. It offers a smooth and hassle-free customer experience, and its potential to increase profits is highly intriguing.
Savvy marketers are starting to recognise the potency of social commerce models with powerful growth tactics.
Make sure to put in the correct amount of time, money, and effort as the competition increases to increase your chances of succeeding with social commerce.
