Integrating Social Commerce: Leveraging Social Media for Increased Conversions

The news is always talking about e-commerce and social media. People spend a lot of time both shopping online & scrolling through their social media feeds.

E-commerce sites let us buy everything from trendy clothes to groceries, jewellery to furniture, and more. Social media sites let us keep in touch with our friends and family.

If you haven’t already set up a social media presence online, now is the time to do so if you want to stay competitive. With social commerce, marketers can leverage social media and ecommerce to help you grow your business and make more money.

Social commerce is a booming industry, expected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025. The industry already showed its boosting glimpse in 2021 by reaching a market of $492 billion worldwide, as per the statistical data of Accenture.

Use the superpowers of live social media feeds from Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Promote your brand, set up strong social media marketing campaigns, and increase brand awareness. Things only sell or stick in people’s minds if shown repeatedly.

This blog explains the importance of social commerce integration for enhanced growth and conversions. So, let’s explore ways in which you can do so-

Understanding Social Commerce

Social commerce is directly exchanging products and services on a social media network. It entails going beyond social media’s conventional role in the discovery process. Users will instead be able to finish the entire purchasing process on the same platform. This implies they may easily transition from discovery to purchase without going to a different app.

Leading social media sites now provide retailers with specialized social commerce capabilities. Among them are websites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. You can build digital stores within the respective platforms by using these technologies. In this manner, customers may use these storefronts to browse and purchase goods without going to another website.

Many people need help distinguishing between the two concepts; Social Commerce and Ecommerce. These two are alike but have a lot more differences.

Difference between Ecommerce & Social Commerce

Ecommerce broadly refers to purchasing and reselling products or services online. It involves selling through various digital channels, including websites, specialized store applications, and online marketplaces.

Social commerce, on the other hand, entails making direct sales on a social media platform. Social commerce is a subset of ecommerce but is distinct from ecommerce because social media is an online medium.

Features and Offerings of Social Media

Buy buttons

Purchasing buttons make going from social media to the product or purchasing page easy. Sometimes the person can buy without leaving social media.

Businesses can use Instagram story swipe-ups as buy buttons. Story swipe-ups are available to business Instagram accounts with 10,000+ followers. Your tales can connect to your ecommerce store or related product pages.

Multi-tagging

Tagging involves @ or #-ing another social media account. Most social media platforms allow you to use various hashtags to help customers find your products. That alone supports social media for ecommerce.

Some sites allow numerous image tags, including links. Shoppable tags are visible to Instagram shoppers. A fashion ecommerce shop may upload a picture of a woman and tag her pants, purse, and shoes so viewers can click to learn more or buy them.

Shoppable galleries/stories

Shoppable galleries and tales enhance commerce. These galleries can sell things directly.

For instance, Pinterest is a shoppable gallery. You can display your products on product category boards with links to purchasing sites. Instagram and Facebook are adding shopping options to posts utilizing product visualization in ecommerce.

User Engagement

Social commerce is social. Traditional ecommerce is passive, requiring you to list and market things. Your site attracts shoppers who buy things.

Social commerce requires user engagement. Like, share, and comment on your Facebook postings. They may engage with your brand before buying or become an unofficial brand advocate by promoting your products.

Messenger support

Customers like live chat because it’s instant. Chat assistance makes more than 90% of customers happier than other channels. Social commerce requires chat and direct messaging, which are popular on social media.

Benefits that Social Commerce Offers

Beyond only boosting sales volume, social media for ecommerce offers many benefits. Let’s examine a few major advantages:

An increase in customer engagement

Social networks serve as an effective medium for creating deep connections between your company and its clients. Establishing a relationship with your audience is important rather than just advertising things. Customers frequently read testimonials, remarks, and opinions left by past customers, which gives your brand more credibility and equips them to make wise choices.

Even further, certain social media networks offer a seamless buying experience. For instance, you can tag your products in user-generated content or posts on Instagram’s Shoppable Instagram Feed, quickly driving users to your eCommerce website. This ease of use enables customers to find the goods they want and buy them easily.

Regular Audience Growth

A devoted and consistent audience is the foundation of social commerce. According to studies, Southeast Asia has a fantastic 16.98% new user generation rate. This emphasizes the crucial role social media platforms play in Generation Z’s life and the opportunity for your company to broaden the scope of its advertising and marketing efforts by reaching new users with each campaign.

While expanding your customer base through these channels is crucial, keeping your existing consumers happy is just as important. Instilling a sense of resonance with your brand through successful communication techniques encourages customers to return and suggest your goods to others. You may continuously expand your audience with social commerce while keeping your current customers.

A higher average order value

Businesses have learned to appreciate the tastes and routines of the generation that dominates social media. Brands use strategies like frictionless shopping processes, direct checkout choices, and interactive lookbooks to persuade these users to make more online purchases.

The information posted on your audience’s social media pages, the simplicity of the purchasing process, and the influence of friends and followers all work together to promote spending, which raises the average order value. By utilizing this priceless data, you can create customized suggestions and recommendations for your customers that will improve their overall experience.

You may also turn valuable data into useful insights by combining your multichannel management platform with social media platforms.

A better ranking on search engines

Beyond only increasing website traffic, social media has a direct impact on transactions as well. The more interaction you encourage on social media networks, the more relevant material you can provide customers based on their preferences, encouraging them to make repeat purchases.

This dynamic process helps with link development, referrals, feedback, and comments, increasing your online presence and raising your search engine rating.

More accurate customer insights

The process of measuring and analyzing ecommerce business insights is streamlined by social commerce. You can routinely evaluate your performance thanks to the readily available analytics for impressions, engagement, and reach. You may efficiently segment your audience with this data, allowing you to share the appropriate material with the appropriate audiences.

You can create a successful plan suited to your organization’s requirements based on your social commerce objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). You’ll get particular insights to fuel your growth and success by A/B testing your most recent projects, keeping an eye on content relevancy, and researching your followers and prospects.

Types of social commerce

To properly implement social commerce strategies within social networks, it is important first to understand the platforms that support social commerce.

• Facebook: Businesses that use Facebook Shop can create highly customizable business pages. Like e-commerce stores created on Shopify, retailers can select different collections or products to feature and import products from a website.
• Instagram: On Instagram, a lot of product discovery takes place. Product discovery and purchase are both possible within the Instagram Shops app. On this channel, you can also access the Facebook shop.
• Pinterest: In 2015, Pinterest was a pioneer in social commerce, allowing product pins on business pages with a buy now button that allows customers to finish their transactions without ever leaving the platform.
• YouTube: In order to support influencers and brands, YouTube has already implemented several features in the burgeoning social commerce market.

To exploit the expanding social selling market, YouTube intends to increase its investment in shopping programs. YouTube, creators, and brands all gain from this programme since all three share in the profits.

• TikTok: This social network, widely regarded as the third largest after Facebook and Instagram regarding audience size, includes social commerce features. It is necessary for brands looking to connect with their target market. With in-feed video purchases, product showcase tabs, and the TikTok LIVES tool, shoppers can shop while streaming.

How to Leverage Social Media for Increased Conversions – Best Practices

Social commerce doesn’t work like magic. You need to use social media and utilize conversion strategies. Below are the ways to leverage social media to fulfil your conversion needs.

Give your clients more control by sharing user-generated content.

To start a dialogue, share user-generated content and urge your clients to do the same. Some suggestions are:

• Posting surveys and queries to prompt discussions
• Making competitions or giveaways where participants share content or images
• Selecting hashtags associated with your brand and urging others to utilize them when posting. This entails replying to them, disseminating their material, and expressing gratitude when they do.

Use influencer marketing to drive development.

Almost 90% of marketers claim that their ROI from social media influencer marketing is on par with or greater than from other channels. This is probably because customers are more prone to believe online reviews than brand advertisements.

Offering influencers money or free stuff in exchange for their posts about your goods may be profitable, especially on Instagram. Additionally, you can locate customers who are already devoted to your brand and eager to promote it if you participate in social commerce and interact with your customers.

Use multiple measurement tools to track success.

One of the risks of social media is how simple it is to become fixated on incorrect statistics. If you aren’t converting any of those users, a million likes and shares are worthless. Ensure your analytics strategy is comprehensive and utilize tools like insights to measure reach and results. In order for social commerce to be successful, you must:

• View your postings
• Genuinely care about your posts to interact with them
• Add likes, shares, and comments to your posts.
• Respond to your calls to action and buy things.

Set up shop on Facebook.

Facebook Shops helped small businesses sell online in 2020. Facebook’s “shop” area lets brands run online stores. It shows a 66% higher average order value via Shops than its website. There are 250M Facebook Shops worldwide.

Facebook Shops require a Business Page. If you have a Shopify storefront, you can sync and manage both. If a consumer buys an item on Facebook, Shopify automatically deducts it from inventory.

Tag your Shop products in photographs & videos to make Facebook posts shoppable. If followers click on a tagged product in your post, they can view pricing and checkout from Facebook.

Offering deals

Social networking allows direct client contact. To boost conversions, enhance this. Offers and discounts should be frequent. Discounts and offers attract new customers and excite existing ones. Offers and deals can be in the form of instant discounts, coupons or any other non-monetary deals. People buy faster when there’s a sense of urgency.

Invest in social media ads.

All the above tips may only help if you’re reaching the right audience or a lot of the right clients. Instant boosts and brand awareness can be built with the help of social media ads. Thus, plan your ads in such a way that you can reach your target audience.

Instagram offers video and carousel ads for marketing. Facebook lets you customize campaigns and reach a large audience. Choose and target your audience effectively.

Take advantage of FOMO.

When viewing social media content, people often feel FOMO. Watching peers enjoy an event or show off a new product creates desire and urgency. As a result, they feel the need to participate in similar activities and experiences quickly.

Business owners can use FOMO to boost sales and engagement.

Customers using your product or tagging your brand while doing something interesting can cause FOMO. It’s up to you to create engaging online content.

Create an exciting giveaway contest. Most people want to enter a giveaway when there’s a great prize. Your followers will sign up for your giveaway after sharing it on social media.

Make product pages shareable.

Add social sharing CTA buttons to your product pages to make sharing easy.

Add social share buttons, but also ask customers to act. A simple sentence asking customers if they’re happy with their purchase and will share their experience will help.

Encourage customers to share your products and their experiences with you. Such activities increase brand awareness.

Final Words

Any effective e-commerce strategy now absolutely must include social commerce. The combination of social media and e-commerce has been demonstrated to be an effective tool for attracting customers, increasing brand recognition, and increasing conversion rates. Businesses must pay attention to social media’s enormous potential, as the statistics and trends show.

We at Twinr know how important social media is to e-commerce businesses. The seamless integration of social media features into your e-commerce app shows our dedication to your success. We help businesses connect with a larger audience, forge soldier customer relationships, and ultimately increase revenue by utilizing the power of social media.

Let us integrate social media into your ecommerce app so you can take your company to new heights of success in the online market.