It boggled my mind when my colleague first told me that she doesn’t Google recipes, she searches them on TikTok – same goes for restaurant recommendations, makeup hacks, you name it. TikTok has the answer for it, in a short-form digestible format – which is preferred for so many people (not just Gen Z).
The constant digital transformation we are experiencing right now is reshaping the way we shop online.
Social Commerce is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot but what does it actually mean? It’s this evolution of social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok into their own ecommerce platforms. It’s being able to make purchases without having to leave the platform. Instead of concentrating on driving traffic to the seller’s website, “Social Commerce” targets shoppers directly on the platform. For digital marketers this is an absolute game-changer!
Not only does social commerce eliminate certain barriers to conversion in the purchase journey it also allows for a more seamless route to building brand integrity and trust.
You are able to see reviews, organic posts, how a company interacts with their customers and make a purchase all in-platform, direct. That’s a powerful thing considering ‘brand mistrust’ is often one of the top 10 reasons cited for not making a purchase.
So what should you be doing now?
- Of course the first step is to get your social business accounts set up, whether it’s meta, TikTok or both.
- Next, it’s time to get your Shop live across all of your organic platforms. The best way of doing this is to use an automated feed directly from your website, personally I am a big fan of Data Feed Watch for this.
- Data Feed Watch not only allows you to manage your feed directly but it also allows you to optimise easily to ensure you are sending all the right data to your in-platform shops and any ads you run off the back of those feeds. Then you can:
- Start tagging your products in all of your organic posts.
- Encourage customers to leave reviews on your products. (HELL-O UGC!)
- Test out using your Shop in a Live (especially powerful on TikTok).
Additional Tips:
Integrate your Social Commerce with your eComm platform.
Integrating the two platforms saves time in the long run as you can manage your social commerce from within your ecommerce platform. Additionally you can ensure that the inventory is always accurate.
Build a tailored social shopping experience.
Meta is completely customisable, meaning that you can build an experience that it consistent with your brand from fonts to colours. Similarly, once you have created your facebook shop, you can create a visual social storefront with instagram. Note that Instagram will pull product data from your facebook catalogue, so you must have a facebook shop set up first.
Leverage UGC.
We all know the value of product reviews, but 79% of consumers say that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. Encourage your consumers to review and post about your content. That could be something as simple as asking them to post a photo of your products and tag you in it.
Even negative reviews can work in your favour. Use it as an opportunity to publicly resolve the situation to showcase the level of your customer service, that you care about your customers and that you listen. It’s a great way to turn what could be a bad situation into a positive.
Invest in a Social checkout.
For a seamless in-app checkout process, leverage the native, in app checkout features of each platform. Reduced friction in the sales process will increase sales and reduce cart abandonment.
Working in digital marketing you know that the least amount of barriers to conversion the better. Any barriers to conversion mean missed conversions and opportunities lost but social commerce offers a solution to resistance we see to leaving social platforms. Because of this we foresee huge growth in social commerce over the next few years (and beyond).
Social commerce is here, and it’s here to stay. Don’t get left behind.
To understand how Overdrive Digital can support your Social Commerce Strategy, contact our team today!
