Social commerce: boost your sales

Social commerce is a great business opportunity and is growing three times¹ faster than traditional eCommerce.

Social commerce is the act of using social networks to generate sales: 73% of businesses² are already using it for this purpose and 79%² intend to use it as a selling channel within the next three years.

To get the most out of social commerce, it is important to choose the most relevant social networks, to know the specifics of each one and to use their features properly: message services, augmented reality filters, tag systems, purchasing options…

Find out how to get the most out of social commerce and increase your sales.

Social networks: an unavoidable selling channel

Social networks have become an essential channel for increasing selling opportunities.

More and more shoppers are using these platforms with the three most popular platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) boasting 6 million users³.

On each social network that they use, shoppers are more likely to recommend a brand⁴ to their « circle of influence ». They also tend to be looking for « inspiration and/or solutions⁵» and are therefore really in a shopping dynamic. In 2021, 64% of shoppers⁶ made a purchase through a social network.

Social commerce: get the most from the social networks

Choose the right networks

There is so much selling potential in social commerce, but to get the most out of it for your business you must choose the right networks for your products.

Each social network has its own characteristics, and it is important to understand them. For example, Facebook is the most popular platform with 2.89 billion active users each month⁷. It aims to create contact between its users and is characterized by the diversity of its user profiles⁸. More specific, Instagram is great for sharing the brand's universe and targets a younger audience with 81% of its users⁸ aged between 16 and 25.

The business also needs to work on its content to adapt⁹ it to the specifics of each social network. As Facebook is the platform reaching the widest audience, it is important to use content that encourages shoppers to react and to interact (shares, comments, likes…). The more « visual⁸» Instagram requires high quality photos and publications that showcase the brand's identity and visual specifics.

Use the features of each social network

To take full advantage of social commerce, a business must make use of all the potentials of each social network platform and exploit their specific features.

One example is Instagram Shopping where a company can directly import their product catalog⁵ into the platform and offer up their references through the « shop tab » in their profile. Through a « tag⁵ » system, they can also identify products in each publication: photo, story, video… This feature is an essential means of increasing sales as 62% of shoppers say they are more interested in a product after having seen it in a story.

Instagram Shopping also has features intended to simplify the buying process for shoppers. Through the platform, they can create a « wish list », click the « Add to cart » button and pay with « Facebook Pay ». Thanks to these features, every month 130 million Instagram¹⁰ users click on a shopping publication.

Create connections with shoppers

To generate revenue through social commerce, it is important to encourage dialogue between the customer and the brand.

To create this « dialogue¹² », companies can use the social network's message service¹³ to answer the questions that shoppers are asking « before, during and after their purchase¹⁴ » : product availability, returns policy, order tracking… They can also regularly post engaging publications to encourage interaction with the brand: customer testimonials, competitions, sharing of user generated content (UGC)…

It is essential to make these efforts to customize and individualize relations with customers as they spend a lot of time on social networks (147 minutes per day¹⁵ on average) and want to feel close to the brands they follow.

Social commerce: get noticed in 2022

To remain competitive, businesses must keep up with the latest trends on social networks.

For example, Snapchat's « augmented reality filters¹⁶ » are attracting an increasing number of shoppers.

To help companies get the most out of this trend, the platform launched « Catalog-powered Shopping Lenses ». Through an « augmented reality shopping » interface, shoppers can access a brand's product catalog and try on products virtually. If they like the product, they can then access additional product information and buy the product through a clickable URL link which will take them automatically to the brand's website.

For businesses the Snapchat interface brings a real competitive advantage improving an eCommerce site's conversion rate¹⁶ and reaching a wider audience with a daily figure of 200 million consumers¹⁶ using the platform's filters.

Social networks bring your business to a wider audience and increase your sales. To get the most from this selling channel it is important to implement a real social commerce strategy, to keep up to date on the trends on each social network and to provide the right information at all times.

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