Winning In The Social Commerce Game In 2022: Strategies & Tactics

Winning In The Social Commerce Game In 2022: Strategies & Tactics

Winning In The Social Commerce Game In 2022: Strategies & Tactics

Updated on: 8 March 2022

Winning In The Social Commerce Game In 2022: Strategies & Tactics

Social media became an effective marketing tool for small and medium enterprises and multinational companies. It made it easier for advertisers to reach out to a wider audience without exerting too much effort. Similarly, social media channels gave consumers easy access to information that can help them with their buying decisions.

In short, social media has and will continue to play a pivotal role in people’s daily lives in the years to come.

With social commerce on the rise, businesses are now able to sell their products directly through social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Social commerce, in other words, has made it much easier for companies to not only promote their brands but also to sell their products and services.

Understanding what social commerce is

In a gist, social commerce is the process of selling your products through your social media accounts. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have started the lead in offering e-commerce features where users can directly purchase products without leaving the app and while still in an engaged state.

This is completely different from the traditional social media marketing strategy where users need to log in to a brand’s website to start shopping. Social commerce allows consumers to gather information on a brand, view its products, and make a purchase all without needing to exit the app. This makes it so much more convenient for both consumers and brands to achieve their goals.

With social commerce, the middleman is eliminated. Instead, consumers are able to purchase within the social media apps themselves. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are taking advantage of the FOMO (fear of missing out) concept, wherein consumers are believed to be afraid of missing out on what’s trendy on social media and thus, are more than willing to purchase anything.

What makes social commerce worth the investment

Social commerce will continue to become more popular because more and more people are using social media. Research shows that social media users spend about 15% of their waking hours using apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, etc. While an estimated 30% of internet users in the United States have already engaged in social commerce, China remains the global leader with 50% of its retail purchases being made directly through social media apps.

It’s important for companies to note that buyer experience or buyer journey can make or break e-commerce purchases. How a buyer feels about their shopping experience tells a lot about a brand’s intention of improving its user experience (UX), which is a huge deciding factor amongst buyers. Social commerce gives brands the rare opportunity to own the customer experience and build a strong relationship with them. Unlike selling on third-party sites, like Amazon and eBay, companies have the opportunity to put their brands out there because that is a crucial aspect in generating gaining people’s trust and increasing sales conversions.

How to win in the social commerce game

Social commerce is becoming more prevalent these days and it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. So, if your business hasn’t started with social commerce just yet, now is the best time to do it.

To help get you started, check out these tips below.

1. Align social commerce strategy with your audience

Keep in mind that personalization is a key factor in winning in the digital marketing game nowadays. This is why it’s important for you to get to know your audience profile to get the best engagement rates. By doing so, you can align your brand’s message with your target audience.

Use analytics to keep yourself up-to-date with demographic and performance data so you can identify which products to sell through your social media profiles and how best to position them. A major retail store, for example, has used a smart listing based on hashtags and content engagement, which allows them to upgrade product offerings and provide followers with a fantastic browsing experience.

2. Be creative with your social storefront

In the social commerce age, your social media profile serves as your digital storefront. This is why you need to make sure that it’s not only presentable but also leaves a lasting impression on your followers. By being creative with your social media profiles, you’ll be able to create a great buying experience for your customers and attract new and repeat business.

You can add product pages for your Facebook Shop account to provide users with useful information, like size, material, and shipping details. All of these will help them decide whether to go ahead and purchase the product they are eyeing or not. Moreover, doing so provides value to your customers and at the same time builds trust, which is essential in driving new customers and followers.

3. Take advantage of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is effective – so much so that more and more customers trust the views and opinions of these social media personalities. In fact, a lot of people look to reviews of influencers before they make a buying decision.

This means that it’s high time you team up with an influencer if you want to drive your sales. By combining user influencer marketing with social commerce, you’ll not only gain highly qualified leads but also enjoy increased revenues almost instantaneously.

4. Dominate Instagram

Statistics show that the average Instagram business account increases its followers by 1.69% every month. Aside from that, over 130 million users engage with Instagram shopping posts on a monthly basis. This means that Instagram is an immensely effective social media platform that can help you increase your sales.

To dominate and get more attention on Instagram, you need to use user-generated content to build trust amongst your followers. This can be done by asking your followers to use your hashtags and tagging your profile. By doing so, you are providing your audience with realistic depictions of your products, reducing buyer apprehension, and converting skeptics into loyal customers.

5. Don’t forget Facebook

Facebook is still the dominant social media platform and digital marketing channel with over two billion users worldwide. To ensure that you’ll succeed with using Facebook for your social commerce, first, you need to determine who wants and needs your products or services to avoid marketing to the wrong people and wasting your precious marketing dollars.

6. Jump in on the TikTok bandwagon

TikTok is becoming more popular as a social commerce platform. Brands and creators can now add a shopping tab to their TikTok Shopping profiles. This allows them to draw products from Shopify accounts, letting followers browse through their products without having to leave the app.

Final words

Because social commerce is tied with social media, it would make a lot of sense to optimize your content for mobile. This means that you need to ensure that you provide your followers with a mobile-friendly experience. This means that it helps to review your buyer journey to determine what you need to improve and what you need to delete completely.