Social commerce – using social media to increase sales

It’s easy to sell your products and services on Facebook. A business or fan page with images, graphics, videos and text is usually enough to get you started. Facebook even rolled out a “shop now” call-to-action button so customers can check out straight away. But there are also plenty of specialist e-commerce tools brands can choose from such as dynamic ads. Dynamic banner ads are a great tool to automatically adapt ad content and campaigns to specific target audiences. With over 2.4 billion monthly active users globally, the potential reach of these marketing tools is enormous. Activities relating specifically to selling on Facebook are also referred to as f-commerce.

According to its own data, the photo and video sharing app Instagram now has over 1 billion users worldwide. The app has evolved to include extended storytelling capabilities using Instagram Stories, and it is even possible to live-stream events. The most popular advertising tools on Instagram include shopping ads, Stories ads, video ads, and swipeable carousel ads. Instagram is well-known for its influencer marketing which predominantly engages younger people – 60% of its users are aged 18 to 24 years.

Lifestyle brands (e.g. those in entertainment, fashion, beauty, design, and food) are particularly fond of using the app to promote their products. According to Adobe research, Instagram now drives 10.7 percent of social referral to retail sites. Another study found that brands were able to boost their traffic by 1,416% using shoppable posts on Instagram.

As of 2019, Pinterest, the online pin board for graphics and photos, had over 300 million users globally. Pinterest is a great platform for people actively looking for product and shopping inspiration. Given its focus on hobbies and DIY, it’s hardly surprising that lifestyle and fashion are among its main categories. Brands can now easily link their images (called Pins) to their web shop. And in 2019, Pinterest officially unveiled Pinterest Ads across multiple countries. Marketing and sales on Pinterest have since benefitted from the use of carousel and video pins. As part of a social media marketing strategy, Pinterest is primarily used to drive traffic to a website because ads can be connected to an online shop. Women are the key target group on the platform, but the number of male users is growing.

The micro-blogging platform Twitter now has more than 330 million monthly active users. Its USP is that it’s always up to date. Twitter has great potential for retailers and brands whose audiences actively use the platform, including media, local services and service providers. Many user profiles feature links to online shops. Businesses can also embed campaign and product videos. But not all companies use Twitter for commerce. Lots of businesses use it to boost their image, connect with marketers and customers, and promote their brand and products using tweets and hashtags.

A dedicated strategy is essential for success in social commerce. Retailers need to establish a loyal community that regularly visits their social media profiles and clicks on calls-to-action. Here are the six key pillars of social commerce to focus on:

1. Relevant content: Companies should provide content that their customers are interested in. Content should be high quality, visually engaging, and tailored to your target audience(s). Aim to provide added value to customers with your social commerce content, e.g. by offering advice, tips and tricks. When it comes to cross-channel and multi-channel concepts, content should be created to suit the chosen platform. However, it also needs to work in synergy with posts across other channels.
    
2. Community: The basis of social commerce is the community that you want to establish a long-term relationship with. Businesses should nurture their audiences and harness the fact that customers talk to one another on social media. A great way to engage your audience is by speaking to individual customers. This may sound time-consuming but it tends to pay off. Events and special activities provide further opportunities for bonding with customers. In addition, brands and retailers should always be easy to reach, whether a customer is demanding a return or has product questions.
    
3. Communication: By encouraging communication and activities in a community, businesses get to know their customers and are able to optimise their products accordingly. Likes are an excellent way to measure preferences and target them subsequently. You can even use social commerce to actively include customers in product development, ensuring that products are improved.
    
4. Creating and strengthening connections: Businesses should strengthen customer engagement through dedicated activities. In other words, it’s helpful to become an active player on social media and create a firm foundation for social commerce. The basis of a multi-channel concept can occur on three levels: professional (Xing, LinkedIn), social (Facebook, Instagram), and informational (Twitter).
    
5. Context through data: The success of a social commerce strategy can be assessed through data. This helps to put results into context and uncover customer habits. Defining the audience you want to reach is referred to as targeting. Data on potential customers’ search and shopping behaviours and their social media usage can help brands target them. With mobile end devices, brands can now track a customer’s geographical location – also referred to as geo-targeting. One of the big advantages of social commerce’s data focus is that in contrast to classic advertising (TV, print), a company can target customers who are more likely to purchase their products. In the long term, this saves businesses money. But customer needs should be at the heart of any data-based approach.
    
6. Innovative commerce through digitalisation: Social commerce forms part of an internet-based sales strategy and can make a vast range of products and services available. Customers are no longer restricted to shop opening times. Similarly, brands can send emails and post on social media at the weekend. The rise of social commerce has increased flexibility across many sectors, including business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) communication. Amazon is a great example because the e-commerce group regularly expands access to its product portfolio using digital tools (e.g. voice assistant Alexa), going far beyond traditional retail approaches.